9 Social Etiquettes taught in the Surah Hujurat to Muslims

Surah Hujurat is a short Surah comprising only of 18 verses. Yet the Surah has a strong message. It tends to teach the Muslims some basics ethics that are required to lead a stable social life.

These social etiquettes taught to us by Islam about 1400 years ago are being taught by the modern society today as they have learned with time that obedience of social norms can help a society prosper.

The Surah which deals with the righteous behavior that Muslims shall have among each other has these 9 golden rules embedded in it:

1-Fa Tabayyanu(investigate): verse 6 invites Muslims to investigate an information before believing it or spreading it. Uninvestigated information can make you harm others and that too in ignorance.

Often, when we receive information, we believe it and act according to what we have received. Notwithstanding the fact that it might be wrong and we cause unnecessary trouble to others

2-Fa Aslihu (make settlements): the 9^th verse tells us to make an effort to end disputes between two groups/Muslims. As Muslims are our brothers. Disputes among Muslims can make the Muslim Ummah weak. The social conflicts are disturbing for the society and thereby we shall make an effort to end them.

3-Wa Aqsitu (act justly): not only we ought to end a dispute between two Muslims or two groups, rather we shall be just in our decision. We shall not be biased. We shall act Justly as Allah loves just people.

4-La Yaskhar (do not ridicule):  verse 11 forbids the believers from mocking or making fun of others. We never know who is better than us, so why judge them and make fun of them? Making fun of others let the morale and confidence of others down, which makes them unable to succeed.

5-Wa La Tanabazu (do not call others by offensive names): Allah prohibits Muslims from keeping the insulting name for another person and calling them with one. It is a wrong deed for which they shall seek forgiveness.

By calling someone with a bad name hurts them and they may become envious. They may start calling you with bad names. Muslims have a beautiful Arabic name, why distort them? Why welcome social conflicts?

6-Wa La Talamizu (do not insult others): Insulting each other is a great sin. Who are we to insult others? Each person’s respect is something precious and sacred and no one has the right to insult them. We have no right to insult our elders, our brothers and even those who work under us.

7-Ijtanibu Kaseeran minaz Zan (avoid negative assumptions) holding negative assumption against others is yet another great sin. We shall always be positive about other’s behavior and character. Having negative assumptions would create space between you and the other person. Be positive about others!

8-Wa La Tajassasu (do not spy): fellow Muslims, do not spy on each other. Intruding into someone’s privacy is a social crime.

9-Wa La Yagtab (do not backbite): one of the roots of social evil is backbiting and we shall not commit this sin.