TRANSLATION
God does not like that evils or hurtful speeches be mentioned in public, except by whoever has been wronged. God hears, and He is Aware [of all that we do, say, or aspire to]. When you do good openly or in secret and forgive an evil [done to you], [you are aligning with] God, who is Forgiving and Powerful.286
Those who deny the truth in God and in His Messengers and endeavor to make a distinction between God and His messengers by saying, “We believe in some and deny the others,” are the true deniers of God and truth. God has prepared shame and suffering for such deniers. But for those who believe in God and in His Messengers and make no distinction between any of them, God will reward them in due course. God is Forgiving and Merciful (to His creation)!287
INTERPRETATION
286. Ensuring unity in our community, establishing peace and harmony, and ensuring justice are some of the cornerstones of God’s teaching. These also align with our innate human nature. Publicly exposing someone’s wrong or evildoing to score a point or defame someone is strongly discouraged, as it creates tension and disharmony among people and in the community, and the eventual outcome is always destructive to the individuals involved and for the community. On the other hand, repelling evil and establishing peace are foundational responsibilities of each and every human being. As such, help should be extended to those who have suffered wrong or evil done to them to expose such evils so that society as a whole can prevent such evils. There has to be appropriate deliberations prior to such exposure, and due consideration has to be given to forgiveness and dealing with such evils in private if that would be a better course, because there is power in forgiveness. This aspect was seen in action in our contemporary time by how Nelson Mandela dealt with the practitioners of apartheid in his country of South Africa. Each and every society, its leaders, and its citizens can learn a lot from such Qur’anic guidance and practical demonstration by people like prophets of God and contemporary leaders like Nelson Mandela.
287. Unity of our faith in the universal guidance of God through all the prophets who came to various generations is a foundational part of our belief system. Making artificial distinctions among the messages of prophets such as Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad, to name the last several prophets whose teachings are in front of us from the Torah, the Bible, and the Qur’an, is strongly discouraged. This is something that Jews, Christians, and Muslims need to reflect on and endeavor to resolve with strong conviction, mutual respect, and unifying faith in One God, the God of Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad. Islam calls for such unity, and Muslims should be proactive in starting and sustaining such dialogue for the betterment of humanity.
REFLECTION
Negative political advertisements, false PR to fool consumers, grand schemes to create chaos, and environmental disaster in the pretext of untamed development and consumer choices are all playing havoc with our human condition on this planet. Unity of vision and alignment of our common purpose has to be foremost in the mind of citizens, social leaders, politicians, business leaders, and entrepreneurs to deal with the pervasive occurrence of bad politics, continuous environmental degradation, erosion of consumer privacy, and income disparities in the emerging digital world, to name a few of the modern-day problems that need serious attention and corrective endeavors from all of us.
ACTION
The Qur’an provides sound principles and guidance on which we need to build our human society. Equipping ourselves with appropriate knowledge, wisdom, tools, technology, and above all a strong desire to change the status quo and restore human dignity in all spheres of our existence will be needed to change the current course of history.