One\nof the human attitudes is the tendency to differentiate and compare one thing\nwith another. The result from such an attitude shapes the perception we give to\nother people or things and affect the way we deal with them in life and this\nincludes how we treat others. Wealth, power and prestige are common metrics for\nmeasuring how successful or influential a person is in a society. Hence, they\nalso become unanimous criteria of how one should be treated (or not treated). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nProphet was once rebuked by Allah for ignoring Abdullah Ibn Maktum \u2013 a blind\ncompanion \u2013 when the latter approached him asking for some clarification on\nIslam. The incident happened when the Prophet was meeting with several Quraysh\nChieftains with the hope they might embrace Islam. Abdullah ibn Maktum kept\nrepeating his request without knowing that the Prophet was dealing with someone\nelse. The sign of annoyance appeared on the face of the Prophet when he been\nrepeated interrupted and he then turned away from Abdullah Ibn Maktum. Then\nAllah sent down the verse rebuking the Prophet in Surah Abasa : \u201cHe frowned and\nturned away. Because the blind man came unto him.\u201d[80:1-2]. After the incident,\nThe Prophet used to honour him and whenever he saw Abdullah ibn Maktum, he\nwould say \u201cWelcome to the one about whom Allah has rebuked me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Injustice,\ndiscrimination, favoritism, partiality and double standard practices have no\nplace in Islamic teaching. In order to ensure fairness prevails in human life,\nIslam recognizes the concept of al-\u2018adl<\/em> (justice) and al-ihsan<\/em>\n(benevolence). <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nsurah al-Nahl, verse 90 Allah s.w.t asserts to the effect: \u201cSurely Allah enjoins\nthe doing of justice and the doing of good (to others) and the giving to the\nkindred, and He forbids indecency and evil and rebellion; He admonishes you\nthat you may be mindful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Al-\u2018adl<\/em> or justice according to Islam is to place everything\ni.e. action or thought where Allah has specified. Hence it should become the\nfundamental guiding principle of all human activities, and in the context of\nthis article, socio-economic status, ethnicity or physical characteristics\nshouldn\u2019t be regarded as determinants one should behave towards or deal with\nsomeone or something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nthe current context, partiality or double standards can occur in many sectors.\nFavoritism at the workplace is when a staff is hired or promoted not on the\nbasis of ability or real merit is a morale killer. It can demotivate employees\nas it can foster a sense of resentment among staff and damage team unity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Should\nthis happen in a government sector, the public who are the main stakeholder of\nthe service will fall victims to the practice as the prerequisite for quality\nservice delivery i.e. transparency and governance has been compromised in the\ninitial stage. Delay in service delivery or poor quality of service are some of\ndirect effects of an attitude unhealthy as this. What is worse is that it can\npropagate corrupt practice because bureaucratic red tape could make the public\nfeel frustrated and some of them would grease the wheel by giving bribe to\nspeed up getting approval for their application. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed,\nwhen it comes to contract or tender awarding the situation can be rather ugly.\nFavouritism is a form of robbery on taxpayers\u2019 hard-earned money. The ultimate\nmotivation of a company or firm which wins the contract is not so much on\nfulfilling the project and achieving its deliverables, but exploiting\nopportunity for self-interest or rather self-enrichment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prejudice\nand partiality are the root cause of oppression and conflict in society.\nEventually they can lead to the downfall of a nation. The Prophet has warned us\nagainst the danger of double standard practice through the following hadith:<\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n O people! The nations before you went astray because\nif a noble person committed theft, they used to leave him, but if a weak person\namong them committed theft, they used to inflict the legal punishment on him.\nBy Allah, if Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad committed theft, Muhammad will\ncut off her hand! (Narrated by Al-Bukhari)<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nthe hadith<\/em>, the Prophet used the example of the judicial system as it is\nan institution whose role is to operationalize the concept of al-\u2018adl<\/em> or\njustice in a community or country. However, if such as institution fails to\ndeliver the entrusted amanah<\/em> (responsibilities) in upholding the\nprinciple of justice and incline towards fear and favour of those in power and\nthe elite in the society, people will lose their trust in the judicial organ.\nAs a result, social instability will rise and the nation will slide into\nanarchy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore,\nit is the concept of al-\u2018adl or justice \u2013 rather than favoritisms or partiality\n– that should become the underlying basis of all activities of humanity. It\nshould prevail in every aspect of our life : be it the comments we make, the\njudgement we pass, the way we handle our responsibilities and obligations to\nothers and the way we treat others whether they are our family members,\nstrangers, friends or foes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the human attitudes is the tendency to differentiate and compare one thing with another. The result from such an attitude shapes the perception we give to other people or things and affect the way we deal with them in life and this includes how we treat others. Wealth, power and prestige are common…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}