Author’s Note

Translator’s Note

1) What Is Piety (Taqwa)

2) Stages of Piety

3) The Worth Of Piety

4) The Effects Of Piety

5) Kinds Of Piety

6) Piety And Faith

7) Piety And Monotheism

8) Piety And Prophethood

9) Piety And the Day Of Judgment

10) Piety And Imamate

11) Piety And Knowledge (Science)

12) Piety In Practice

14) Piety And Islamic Rules

15) Piety in Worshipping

16) Piety And Prayer

17) Piety And Fasting

18) Piety And the Hajj

19) Piety And Jihad

21) Piety And Society (Social Piety)

22) Parents’ Rights

23) Children’s Rights

24) Relatives’ Rights

25)Neighbors’ Rights

26) Fellow Muslims’ Rights

27) How To Socialize

28) Codes Of Society

29) Backbiting

30) Tale-Bearing

31) Accusation and Slander

32) Suspicion

33) Telling Lies

34) The Difference of Opinions and Creeds

35) Choosing of Companions

36) Oppression (Injustice)

37) Justice And Fairness

38) Hypocrisy

39) Self-Conceit

40) Piety And Speech

41) Piety and Breaking of Promise

42) What Is Promise?

43) Piety against Sins

44) Piety And Family Rights

45) Forming a Family

46) Wife and Husband’s Duties

47) Inward Piety

48) Piety and Blessings

49) Piety And Health

50) Signs Of The Pious

51) Features Of The Pious

52) Kinds Of Fear

53) The Effects Of Fear

54) The Hammam Sermon; The Pious in the Viewpoint of Imam Ali (AS)

55) Friends of Allah (Saints)

56) Night Prayer

57) Reciting the Holy Quran

58) Prostration

59) Remembrance of God (Zikr)

Examples of Taqwa (Piety) in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of Ahl
al-Bayt (as)


Taqwa (Piety) Advice of Ahl al-Bayt

31) Accusation and Slander
==========================

One of the other factors which disrupts a society, leads to division and
it has been strictly forbidden in Islam and that it requires Taqwa is
calumny. It must be avoided if a utopia, in which all people live like
sincere brothers, is intended. Calumny is worse than lying and
backbiting. Slandering about a brother in faith is both a lie and
backbiting. Evidently, a double sin is worse than a single one.

In this relation, the Holy Quran says: ***“And whoever commits a fault
or a sin, then accuses of it one innocent, he indeed takes upon himself
the burden of a calumny and a manifest sin.”***[^1]

The Messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported as saying: “Whoever
accuses a believing man or a believing woman, God Almighty will put him
on a hill of fire until the accused one is freed from the
accusation.”[^2]

Imam Sadiq (AS) has been reported as saying: “Whenever a believer
accuses his brother in faith, his faith will be melted in his heart as
salt is solved in water.”[^3]

Therefore, it is incumbent on every Muslim to hold his tongue against
unlawful things. He should be aware of the consequences of vices in this
world and the hereafter. Muslims should take care to observe Taqwa,
saying to themselves why they should slander their brothers in faith,
why they should disgrace others? Surely, the harm of all that shall
return to themselves too.

Will a body not suffer when an organ is crippled? Will a body not become
disabled when an organ is amputated? What does a person who says false
statements against others in order to damage their reputation think? Is
a brother in faith, whom one accuses, not a support for him? What does
he accuse his brother in faith for? Why does he like to misrepresent his
brother in faith? It is good for such people to think of the punishment
of their act, analyze, fight, and find a cure for this disease.

It is worth mentioning that accusation and calumny are of different
kinds in the same way that backbiting and lying are of different types.
Sometimes, calumny happens in the fields of economics, industry,
science, morals, and honors of people. Calumny overall cripples a
society and cuts off social cords. It is for the same reason that the
Lord of the universe has forbidden it and has ordered us to observe
Taqwa in relation to it.

[^1]: Qur'an, 4:112.

[^2]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 72, p. 194.

[^3]: Ibid., p. 198


