In the first part of this book, we have studied some Qur’anic verses and traditions that constitute the code of social life and now in the second part, we are presenting without any elaboration some more traditions, which talk of moral, ethical and spiritual uplift of an individual and ultimately of a society.
The first and foremost condition for the vitality of a nation is acquisition of knowledge. It is for this reason that in the term of modern writers the nations which advanced in the matter of knowledge and culture are called ‘live’ and on the contrary the backward communities are styled as ‘dead’ and ‘uncultured’.
It is true that whatever the difficulties may be, they can be solved by resolute courage, firm determination and steady efforts.
Our social problems are not a few in number but they are too many and each one of them have to be tackled with in right earnest.
We have powerful and relentless enemies who are keen to suck even the last drop of our blood. If they want to see us alive it is for the reason that we should serve their interests.
By: Abbas Ali Shameli
A Paper as a Part of Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam
Submitted to Prof. E. Wood
Department of Culture & Values in Education
McGill University, Dec., 1996
Islamic punishments are amongst those Islamic concepts which are sometimes misunderstood by non-Muslims and considered incompatible with human values. It is asked why some human beings should be executed for their crimes or why Muslims flog some criminals or how we can consider a certain punishment forever and for all conditions.
To understand the philosophy of the Islamic system of punishment we should notice the following points:
Having understood our ultimate goal it is necessary for us in our journey to discuss the way to that goal. This topic needs an independent book. But here we shall try to review briefly the most important points assured that our readers who take their lives seriously will follow this journey through further studying and reflection.
Before anything we should pay attention to two points:
Having understood our origin, our present and our future we can project some light on the topic of our ultimate goal. The following points can be mentioned as examples:
A) We are created by Allah, the Wise. We are not created through chance or without any purpose.
B) Our Creator is absolutely needless. So whatever is considered by Him as the goal of our creation is completely to our benefit. We should try our best to actualize whatever He wants for us.
We mean by this title our situation after death. We can define death as the separation of the spirit from the body. Sleeping is to some extent like death. There is however a difference. During sleep the spirit is still connected with the body, but to a lesser degree than waking. But during the death the spirit is disconnected from the body and belongs to another body which has the qualities of a material body like shape and size without the mass. Philosophers compare it with the bodies of dreams. They call them 'Barzakh' or 'mithali'. This continues until the resurrection.
Having discussed our origin, it is necessary to study our present situation and our future. Now let us turn to the former and the latter will be our topic in the next discussion. In order to certify our goal and practical program to reach that goal, we should know our qualities, capacities, abilities, opportunities and so on.
