We continue, referencing a radio talk in 1948 by Abul Ala Mawdudi

ISLAMIC SOCIAL ORDER

The foundations of the social system of Islam rest on the belief that all
human beings are equal and constitute one single fraternity.

EQUALITY OF MANKIND

    God created a human pair to herald the beginning of the life of mankind
on earth and all the persons inhabiting this world today have sprung from this
pair. For some time in the initial stages the progeny of this pair remained a
single group. It had one religion and spoke the same language. There were
little or no differences among them. But as their numbers gradually increased,
their diversifications and growth and were divided into various tribes, and
nationalities. Their languages became different; their modes of dress varied, and
their manners of living also became distinct from one another.

    All these differences are said to be signs from Allah. They do exist in
the world of reality. Hence, Islam recognizes them as matters of fact. It does
not seek to wipe them out or to ignore them but affirms that their advantage
consists in affording the only possible means of distinguishing one from the
other. But Islam disapproves the prejudices, which have arisen among mankind out
of these differences in the shape of groupings and organizations based on
race, color, language, nationality, etc. Islam regards all distinctions of birth,
of high and low among men, of upper and lower classes of natives of the soil
and aliens as the manifestation of their ignorance. It declares that all men
in the world have sprung from the same parent and therefore, are equal in their
status as human beings.
    After propounding this concept of equality of mankind, Islam adds that if
there can be any real difference between man and man it cannot be one of
race, color, country or but one of their relationship with their Creator. The most
honored of people in the sight of God is the most righteous. On the basis of
this fundamental tenet, Islam seeks to build principled society as against the
racial, national and parochial societies existing in the world. The basis of
cooperative effort among men in such a society is not one's birth but a creed
and a moral principle. Any one, if he believes in God as his Master and Lord
and accepts the guidance of the prophets(the essence of which is embodied in
Islam, the message of the last Prophet Mohammad {peace be upon him}) as the law
of his life, can join this community, whether he is a resident of America or
Africa; whether he belongs to the Semitic race or the Aryan; whether he is
black in color or white skinned; whether he speaks a European language or Arabic.
All those who join this community will have the same rights and social status.
They will not be subjected to any racial, national, or class distinctions of
any kind. No one will be regarded as high or low. There will be no
untouchability among them; none could be polluted by the touch of anyone's hand. There
will be no handicaps for them in the matter of marital relations, eating and
drinking, and social contacts. None will be looked down upon as lowly or mean by
reason of his birth or profession. Nobody will claim any distinctive rights by
virtue of his caste, community or ancestry. Man's merit will not depend on
his family connections or riches, but only on whether he is better than others
in moral conduct or excels others in piety and righteousness.
    Such a social order, outstepping the geographical boundaries and limits
of race, color, and language as it does, can spread itself in all parts of the
world and on its foundations can be raised the edifice of the universal
brotherhood of men. In societies based on race or nationality, only those people can
join who belong to a particular race or country and the door is closed in the
face of those who do not belong to them. But in this highly principled
society anyone who accepts the creed and its moral standard can become its member,
possessing equal rights with everyone else. As for those who do not accept this
creed, the community, while it cannot receive them within its fold, is
prepared within the limits laid down by law and decency to give them all the basic
human rights on condition that they are from the people of the Book or those
who are classified under their category.

    After appreciating these foundations of Islamic social order, we would
like to cast a glance over the principles and patterns of social relationship,
which have been fostered by Islam.

THE INSTITUTION OF FAMILY

    The foremost and fundamental institution of human society is the unity of
family. A family is established by the coming together of a man and a woman,
and their contact brings into existence a new generation. It then produces
ties of kinship and community, which gradually develop into a large society. The
family is the institution through which a generation prepares the succeeding
generation for the service of human civilization and for the discharge of its
social obligations with devotion, sincerity and enthusiasm. This institution
does not merely recruit cadets for the maintenance and development of human
culture but its guardians. They earnestly desire that those who have to replace
them in the future should be better than themselves. In this respect, the family
can be truly called the fountainhead of the progress, development,
prosperity, and strength of human civilization on the earth. Hence, among social
problems Islam devotes much attention to those relating to the family and strives to
establish this important social unit on the healthiest and strongest
foundations. According to Islam the correct form of relationship between man and woman
is marriage that is, they and which results in the emergence of a family
undertake the one in which full social responsibilities. Free sex-license are
irresponsible behavior are not condoned by Islam as innocent pastimes or ordinary
transgressions. Rather, they are acts which strike at the very roots of human
society. Hence, Islam holds every form of extra matrimonial sex-relationship as
sinful, forbidden (haram) and punishable under the criminal law of Islam. It
prescribes severe punishments for the offence so that such unsocial behavior
may not become common. At the same time it aims at purifying and purging the
society of all activities, which encourage such irresponsible actions or provide
opportunities for them. Regulations of Hijab (For Muslim Women), ban on free
mixing of men and women, restrictions on filthy music and pictures, and
discouragement of the spread and propagation of obscenities and aberrations, are all
intended to guard against this. Their sole object us to protect and
strengthen the institution of the desirable form of social contact as just permissible
but holds and affirms it as a good and virtuous act, indeed, an act of
worship. It does not simply look upon celibacy of an adult person with disfavour, but
it calls upon every young man to take in his turn upon himself the social
responsibilities of married life just as his parents did so in their time. Islam
does not merely regard asceticism and perpetual celibacy as no virtue at all
but as aberrations and departures from the true nature of man and acts of
revolt against the Divine plan of things. It also strongly disapproves those rites,
ceremonies, or restrictions which tend to make marriage a difficult and
tedious affair. The intention of Islam is that marriage may become easy and
fortification the most difficult thing in society, and not vice versa as it is in
most of the societies today. Hence, after debarring a few specified relatives
from entering into matrimony with one another, it had legalized marital relations
with all other near and distant kith and kin. It has removed all distinctions
of caste and community and permitted matrimony of any Muslim with any other
Muslim. It has recommended that the amounts of mehr (dowry) should be fixed at
a low and easy figure, the burden of which can be easily born by the husband
and has dispensed with the necessity of priests and offices of compulsory as
can be performed anywhere before two witnesses, though it is essential that the
proceedings should not be kept secret. The idea is that the society should
know that the couple is now going to live a matrimonial life. The family itself,
Islam has assigned to man a position of authority so that he may maintain
order and discipline as the chief of the household. Islam expects the wife to obey
and look after the comforts and well being of her husband and expects the
children to behave according to their parents. Islam does not favor a loose and
disjointed family system, which is devoid of any authority, control and
discipline and in which someone is not pointedly responsible for the proper conduct
and behavior of its members. Discipline can only be maintained through a
central authority and in the view of Islam the position of father in the family is
such that it makes him the fittest person to take over this responsibility. But
this does not mean that man has been made a tyrant and oppressor in the
household and woman has been handed over to him as a helpless chattel. According to
Islam the real spirit of marital life is love, understanding and mutual
respect. If the woman has been asked to obey the husband, the latter has been
called upon to exercise his privileges towards the welfare of the family and treat
the wife with love, affection and sweetness. Islam makes the marital bond
strong but not unbreakable. IT aims at keeping the bond intact only so long as it
is founded on the sweetness of love or at least the possibility of lasting
companionship still exists.  When this possibility dies out, it gives man the
right to divorce and woman the right of separation, and under certain
circumstances where married life has become a source of misery or nuisance, gives the
Islamic courts o justice the authority to annul the marriage.

RELATIVES AND NEIGHBOURS

    Beyond the limited circle of family the next social sphere which is
sufficiently wide is that of kinship and blood relationship.  Those who are one's
kith and kin through relationship with common parents or common brothers and
sisters or relations through in-laws, Islam wants them all to be mutually
affectionate, cooperative and helpful.  In many places in the Qur'an good treatment
of the Zawil Qurba (near relatives is enjoined.  In the traditions of the Holy
Prophet (peace be upon him) good treatment of one's (Silat Al-Rahm) has been
emphasized and counted among the highest virtues.  A person who cold-shoulders
his relatives or treat them in an indifferent manner is looked down upon by
Islam with great disfavour  But this does not mean that it is an Islamic virtue
to be partial or unduly lenient towards one's relatives as may result in
injustice, is repugnant to Islam which, condemns it is an act of Jahiliyyah
(ignorance).  Similarly, it is utterly un-Islamic for a government official or
public trustee to support his relatives at public expense or to be partial to his
kith and kin in his official decisions: this would actually be a sinful act.
Fair treatment of ones enjoined by Islam, should be at one's own expense and
within the limits of justice and fair-play.
    Next to relations come the neighbours.  The Qu'ran has divided them into
three categories:
    1). A neighbour who is also a relative;
    2). An alien neighbour; and
    3). A casual or temporary neighbour with whom one had occasion to live or
travel for some time.  All of them are deserving of fellow-feeling,
affection, courtesy and fair treatment.  The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) has said:
    Ayesha and Ibn Omar reported from the messenger of Allah who said:
Gabriel did not stop to advise me about neighbours til I thought that he would soon
make him an heir. - (Agreed Upon)

    In another translation the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

    Abu Hureira reported from the Messenger of Allah who said: "By Allah he
does not believe, by Allah he does not believe, by Allah he does not believe".
The companions asked who is he O Prophet of Allah?  The holy Prophet replied,
"One whose neighbour is not immune against his mischief".
    Again, he (peace be upon him) said: that a person who enjoys a full meal
while his neighbour is starving really possesses no faith in Islam.  The
Prophet was once informed of a woman who used to offer prayers regularly and keep
fasts very often and give alms frequently, but her neighbours were sick of her
abusive tongue.  The Prophet (peace be upon him) said that the woman deserved
only the fires of hell.  He was also told of a woman who did not possess these
virtues, but did not trouble her neighbours either, and the Prophet (peace be
upon him) said the she will be rewarded with paradise.
    The complete saying goes as follows:
    Abu Hurairah reported that a man asked: O Messenger  of Allah! Such and
such a woman is reputed for much prayer, and fasting and alms-giving, but she
offends her neighbours with her tongue.  He said: She will go to Hell.  He
enquired: O Messenger of Allah! such and such a woman is reputed less for her
fasting, alms-giving and prayer but she gives alms of the remainders of curds and
she does not offend her neighbours by her tongue.  He said: She will go to
paradise (Narrated by Ahmed and Baihaqi)

    The Prophet (peace be upon him) has had so much emphasis on this virtue
that he has advised the whenever a Muslim brings fruits for his own children he
should either send some to his neighbours as a gift or at least not throw the
peelings outside the door so that the neighbours may not have a feeling of
deprivation

    The complete Hadith reads as follows:
    It was narrated by Amro Bin Shueib who repoved from his father who
repoved from his grandfather that the Messenger of Allah said: Do you know what the
duties of a neighbour are?  Help him if he seeks your help; give him succour
if he seeks our succour; give him loan if he seeks your loan; give him relief
if he is needy; help him if he falls; follow his bier if he dies; cheer him if
he meets any good; sympathize with him if  any calamity befalls him; raise not
your building higher so as to disrupt his air without his permission; harass
him not; give him when you purchase a fruit; if you do not do it, take it
secretly; and let not your children take it out to excite thereby the anger o his
children.

    On one occasion the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that a man is really
good if his neighbours regard him as such and he is bad if they consider him
so.  The complete Hadith goes as follows:

    Ibn mas'ud reported that a man asked the Holy Prophet: O Messenger of
Allah! how can I know when I do good and when I do bad?  The Holy Prophet said:
When you hear your neighbours say - you have done good you have done, ad when
ou hear them say - you have done bad, you have done bad.

    I brief, Islam requires all neighbours to be loving and cooperative with
one another and share one another's sorrows and happiness.  It enjoins that
they should establish social relations in which one could depend upon the other
and regard his life, honour and property safe among his neighbours.  A society
in which two persons, separated only by a wall, remain unacquainted with one
another for years and those living in the same area of a town have no interest
or confidence in one another can never be called Islamic.

    Next to these is the wider circle of relationship which covers the entire
society.  The broad principles on which Islam seeks to regulate the general
gamut of our social life are following:
    1). To cooperate in the acts of virtue and piety and not cooperate in
acts of sin and injustice.  To this point Allah says in the Holy Qu'ran:

    "Help ye one another
     In righteousness and piety,
     But help ye not one another
     In sin and rancour;
     Fear God; or God
     Is strict in punishment"
     (Qu'ran, 5:2)

    2). "One's friendship and enmity should be or the pleasure of God only;
because whatever you (Muslims) give should be given because God likes it to be
given, and whatever you (Muslims) withhold should be withheld because God does
not like it's git. (Sayings of the Holy Prophet)
    3). "You (the Muslims) are the best community ever raised unto mankind,
your duty is to command the people to do good and prevent them from committing
evil." Allay says in the Holy Qu'ran:
    Ye are the best

    Of peoples, evolved
    For mankind
    Enjoining what is right
    Forbidding what is wrong
    And believing in God
    If only the People of the Book
    Had faith, it would be for the best
    For them: among them
    Are some who have faith,
    But most of them
    Are perverted transgressors
    (Qu-ran 3:110)

And the Prophet in various of his other teachings said:
"So not think evil of each other nor probe into each other's affairs nor
excite one against the other.  Keep yourself away from mutual hatred and jealousy.
 Do not unnecessarily oppose each other.  Always remain the slaves and
subjects of Allah and live like brothers among yourselves.  Choose for other what
you choose for yourself"
These are some of the social values which Islam affirms and establishes and
which it wants to see enshrined in human society.

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