Don’t live in suspicion | The Sunday Guardian | 7th, August 2011 | Page 15 One of the divine commandments given in the Quran is that of avoiding suspicion. In the chapter entitled Al-Hujurat (The Apartments), the Quran gives important guidance: "Believers, avoid much suspicion. Indeed, some suspicion is a sin" (49:12). Suspicion means believing something to be bad, without there being any substantial evidence. Allowing suspicion to become a habit can have a disastrous effect on any society. In moral terms, suspicion is a sin and in the legal sense it is a crime. In both cases, it is completely avoidable. There is a hadith which says: "Do not be suspicious of your fellow men. Suspicion is tantamount to a lie." When you suspect another person of some wrongdoing and you have no irrefutable evidence in support of your suspicion, then you are committing falsehood. In other words, you are telling a lie. It is said that man is a social animal. Collective living is must for mankind in this world. And collective living is always based on mutual trust. Without mutual trust, no healthy society can be established. In a society where people are subject to misgivings and everyone becomes suspicious of everyone else, there can be no mutual trust. The habit of suspicion is like smoking. It not only ruins the health of the individual who has this bad habit, but it also pollutes social atmosphere. Suspicion is just like a moral pollution. Just as air pollution is harmful for everyone so also is this kind of moral pollution. It is, in fact, like a spiritual pollution. All those living in a society where a majority of its members are of a suspicious cast of mind, are bound to inhale its morally polluted air. Everyone is bound to suffer from bad health in terms of morality. So, suspicion is not an individual, but rather a social evil.
