Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (peace be upon him and his family) said...

Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (peace be upon him and his family) said that you should curb your tongue (including not delving into personal matters of others) and do not talk rubbish . Imam Ja’far (peace be upon him and his family) also said that a person who cannot control himself when angry is not a Shi’ah (follower of Ahlul Bayt , the People of the House). We have to deal with all people in the proper manner regardless of their race, color, sex, etc.

However, one should always consider a person’s taqwa , God-consciousness. (peace be upon him and his family) said that there is no scale except taqwa . (Jalali, page 434). There are good people and there are bad people. There are good Indians, and there are bad Indians. There are good Arabs, and there are bad Arabs. We should not generalize. Look at a person’s character.

However, just because someone does not display good character does not mean we should lower ourselves and treat him or her inappropriately. No, we should always act with decency and proper behavior (which may be relative to the situation). Yet, sometimes avoiding or dissociating from someone that displays bad character is the proper thing to do. Also, we should not only focus on the character of other people, but we should first try to achieve and maintain a high level of taqwa ourselves.

The Qur’an (49:13) states, inter alia , “Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most Godwary among you.

Indeed Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” [^1]: For example, Sayyid Ali Sistani and Shaykh Yusuf Sane’i indentify the age of fifteen as the legal age of maturity for a boy (absent any prior physical signs of maturity), but Sayyid Sistani identifies the age of nine (see www.sistani.org) as the legal age of maturity for a girl while Shaykh Sane’i identifies the age of thirteen (see www.saanei.org) as the legal age of maturity for a girl (absent any prior physical signs of maturity).

Please note that the ages discussed herein correspond to lunar years. [^2]: See Subhani, Ja’far. The Message. Trans. Muhammad Fazal Haq. Islamic Seminary, 1984, pages 366-506. 41 [^3]: See Subhani, pages 340-344 and 529-530. [^4]: Subhani, page 536. 42 Previous…