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Education and Sincerity

Islam has devoted great attention to truthfulness, and urged on taking to it for its being a priority of the noble traits and the good qualities. It is one of the four pillars of the social system. Likewise, it is the title of the nations’ maturity and, meanwhile, the evidences of their degradation in case people abandon.

In the Quran:

In many Quranic texts, the importance and high-ranking of veracity are exposed. God describes His Essence of veracity. He says:

And who is truer of word than God is?

We are surely truthful.

He praised the prophet Samuel by saying:

Surely, he was truthful in his promise, and he was an apostle, a prophet.

Truthfulness is also a quality of the pious believers. God says:

The believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Apostle then they doubt not and struggle hard with their wealth and their lives in the way of Allah. They are the truthful ones.

Sincerity is also the key to success on the Resurrection day. God says:

Allah will say, this is the day when their truth shall benefit the truthful. That Allah may reward the truthful for their truth.

God also orders of pursuing the truthful in this world. He says:

O, you who believe! Be careful of your duty to Allah and be with the true ones.

Many Quranic texts call to using and adhering to sincerity.

In the prophetic traditions:

The Prophet and the Imams worded many sayings inciting Muslims to be true-tongued and avoid fabrication.

The Prophet (s) said, “Hold fast on sincerity. It guides to the benevolence that guides to the Paradise. Man is still saying and inspecting the truth until he is recorded as a veracious to Allah. Beware of untruth. It leads to licentiousness that leads to the hell-fire. A man is still lying and inspection fabrication till he is recorded as a liar to Allah.”.

Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Regard not the elongation of the genuflection –Rukuu- and prostration –Sujoud-. This may be a habit, without which one may feel bored. You should regard the truthfulness and the fulfillment of trusts.”. “God the Elevated had never sent a prophet but with truthfulness and fulfillment of trusts to the pious and the licentious.”.

Advising his adherents, Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Be solicitors to good doing with means other than your tongues so that people will notice your solemnity, veracity, and piety.”

Necessity of sincerity:

Sincerity is the individual component and the genuine affair on which the systems and equanimity of the cultural and economic life depend. International economy is managed by truthful transactions. National and individual capitals, banks, and commerce are proceeding on the light of sincerity and factuality that are within the peculiar elements of the transactional processes and effects. Sincerity is the pivot of the international economic movement. It is impossible for the fraudulent and duplicitous economic movements to develop.

Sincerity is a basic component in the cultural life, too. Culture is grounded upon the method of factuality and sincerity. It will be vain and meaningless if students and teachers are untruthful in their tests, courses, and lessons.

The same thing can be said about the political life. Policy is being continuous and valid only when it is fixed upon sincerity. Insincere policy will eventually fail. The best example in this regard is the behavior of Imam Ali, the pioneer of the right and justice on this earth, to the Kharijites after they had discovered Muawiya’s fraudulence in the question of the arbitration. They insisted on demanding the Imam with declaring the repentance from (the guilt) of accepting the arbitration. The Imam declined since he had originally not committed any guilt. They perpetrated that guilt. Had the Imam accepted their demand, he would have been saved against the mutiny of his army. He rejected the political life that is based upon fabrication, cheating, and fraudulence. He pursued the completely sound path. Similarly, had the Imam kept abreast with Abdurrahman bin Awf, who specified pursuing God’s Book, the Prophet’s practice, and way of the Sheiks –Abu Bakr and Omar-, as the condition of holding the position of leadership after the death of Omar bin al-Khattab. Had the Imam accepted that condition, he would have saved the Islamic nation from Othman bin Affan, the chief of the Umayyads-- the real foes of Islam. The Imam, however, insisted on veracity disregarding the results. He preferred God’s satisfaction to everything. Thus, he rejected to pursue the course of the two Sheiks and insisted on the fact that the Islamic policy and management should be grounded upon God’s glorious Book and the Prophet’s practices.

Categories of sincerity:

The categories of sincerity are elevated and honorable:

Honesty:

Honesty is one of the firmest pillars on which the sound society rests. It is the guide to all of the virtues and moralities, and comprises God’s rights, including precepts, obligations, and the abandonment of illegalities. It also contains the respect of the publics’ rights by preventing from using the deposits, cheating, defrauding in measures, and pursuing people’s flaws. People’s rights are guiding them, testifying, and conveying the missions completely in addition to many others. God ordered of fulfilling the trusts to their owners. God says:

Surely, Allah commands you to make over trusts to their owners.

He also reckons honesty with the qualities of the pious believers. He said:

And those who are keepers of their trusts and their covenant…

The Prophet (s) said, “Honesty brings subsistence. Dishonesty brings poverty.”

Advice is a sort of honesty. In fact, the seekers of advice entrust the advisers.” “The individuals that are asked for advice are entrusted. Those who are asked for an advice should provide the best as if they were the doers of that act.” “He, whoever advises of a matter other than the accurate, is defrauding the seeker.”

Likewise, keeping the others’ secrets is a sort of honesty. People, who unveil their secrets before others, should trust one another because they have presumed each other without any form of concern or care. Both are warned against deceiving through conveying the secrets. The Prophet (s) said, “The two associates communicate each other by the trust of God. It is illegal for them to unveil the secrets.”

The Prophet (s) affirmed that the safety and continuance of this nation is kept only when people care for their trusts, apply it to the factuality, and take it out of their benefits. He said, “My nation is still secured as long as people do not regard the trusts as profits and the almsgiving as debts.”

Adapted from the book: "The Educational System in Islam" by: "Baqir Sharif Al-Qireshi"

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