Dr Swan progressed, "O my brothers and sisters! Listen to this story,A little boy, who went to school, stole one of his school-fellow’s horn-books, and brought it home to his mother; who was so far from correcting and discouraging him upon account of the theft, that she commended and gave him an apple for his pains.In process of time, as the child grew up to be a man, he accustomed himself to greater robberies; and at last, being apprehended and committed to gaol, he was tried and condemned for felony.On the day of his execution, as the officers were conducting him to the gallows, he was attended by a vast crowd of people, and among the rest by his mother, who came sighing and sobbing along, and taking on extremely for her son’s unhappy fate; which the criminal observing, called to the sheriff, and begged a favour of him, that he would give him leave to speak a word or two to his poor afflicted mother.The sheriff—as who would deny a dying man so reasonable a request—gave him permission; and the felon, while as every one thought, he was whispering something of importance to his mother, bit off her ear—please, do not do this at home or anywhere, as violence prohibited at all cause—to the great offence and surprise of the whole assembly. "What!" say they, "Was not this villain contented with the impious facts that he has already committed, but that he must increase the number of them, by doing this violence to his mother?""O good people!" replied he, "I would not have ye be under a mistake; that wicked woman deserves this, and even worse at my hands; for if she had chastised and chid, instead of rewarding and caressing me, and she laughed and said, "It wouldn't be noticed," when in my infancy, I stole the horn-book from the school, I had not come to this ignominious, untimely end.""A little problem occurs in our current affair," Dr Swan went on, "There has been a rumor—and hopefully, this rumor is not true and unproven; and if it is true and proved, so, the corruption of language is an essential part of oppressive or exploitative politics, and it'll be part of the obstacles in educating our children—that instead of addressing ex-convicts of political corruption or Malpolitics, as the "corruptor," it is more proper to mark them as the "survivor."A "survivor" means a person who survives, especially a person remaining alive after an event, in which others have died. Another words for survivor are, among others, fighter, hero, conqueror, winner, victor, overcomer, etc. When discussing a particular crime; or when referring to aspects of the criminal justice system, one may tends to use the term “victim.” A victim is defined by the harm that has come to them; a survivor is defined by their life afterwards. A victim has been destroyed and mistreated; a survivor has continued to live and prosper despite having been victimized.Corruption is a disease, a cancer that eats into the cultural, political and economic fabric of society, and destroys the functioning of vital organs. In the words of Transparency International, "Corruption is one of the greatest challenges of the contemporary world. It undermines good government, fundamentally distorts public policy, leads to the misallocation of resources, harms the private sector and private sector development and particularly hurts the poor."Corruption might cause a lot of harm to society, like for instance, when it leads to illegal logging of tropical rain forests and the non-observation of building codes designed to ensure public safety. Corruption may also lead to insecure citizens, speculative politicians, and administrators vacillating between huge opportunities, grave risks and much double-pressure.In countries with widespread corruption, corruption will furthermore increase the operating costs of government, revenues will leak out and the resources available for public services will wane. Governmental decision-making will be distorted, and governments will fail to deliver the much-needed public services. Another dilemma, is that in non-democratic or semi-democratic (neo-patrimonial) systems, where political power is mainly used to pursue the interest of a ruling elite, an increase in the state’s efficiency might well in itself be detrimental to national development. Corruption destroys everything and affects the way countries are ruled.Now, the question is, who the victim or the survivor is? Is it the "corruptor" or the "society"? I'll leave it to you, to answer!Corruptors, from the Islamic perspective, comitted, Fasaad, tremendous damage to the life of a hole society, government, and nation. Fasaad, is an Arabic word, meaning rottenness, corruption, or depravity. Linguistically, the word Fasaad means something out of balance. The scope is quite broad, concerning spiritual and physical, anything that deviates from the proper balance. Fasaad is an antonym of the word shalaah, which in general, both respectively, related to something beneficial, and something useless. Anything that does not bring benefits, either individually or socially, catagorized in Fasaad, and vice versa, anything has benefits, categorized as shalaah.The Qur'an distinguishes Fasaad into several contexts. First, deviant behavior, showing immoral acts. Second, irregularity. Third, destructive behavior, destroying anything exists, whether objects or people. Either by burning, tearing down, or making them helpless and lose their dignity. Fourth, neglecting or not caring about the fate of others, either abandoning them or using them for their own interests. Fifth, damage the environment. Deviant, destructive, and useless behavior, is actually a reflection of a person's moral breakdown.
The rulings of the Islamic Jurisprudence or Fiqh, with their complete justice and comprehensive principles, focus on guaranteeing the necessities which man cannot do without. The scholars of Fiqh concluded that they are five in number. They called them “the five necessities" or "the five generalities.” These are: maintaining religion, self, chastity , mind and wealth. They said, all that was included in the Islamic system of rulings, principles, and legislations aim at securing these generalities and maintaining them. For the shake of preserving these generalities, Islamic Jurisprudence has laid down severe punishments lor those who trespass and breach them. These punishments are known as “hudud" or “prescriped punishment" and "ta‘zir" or “ discretionary punishments.” The set limits are punisments determined by Jurisprudence as the rights of Allah.Therefore, punishment for spreading corruption on earth: this is to be killed or crucified, or their hands and legs be cut alternately, or exile from the land. The majority of religious scholars, including Imam Ash-Shafi'i and Imam Ahmad, are of the opinion that, if highwaymen kill and take money, they are to be killed and crucified, but if they only take money without killing, their hands and legs are cut asunder alternately, and if they terrify people but do not take money they are to be exiled from the land. The Quran states,إِنَّمَا جَزَٰٓؤُا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ يُحَارِبُونَ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ وَيَسْعَوْنَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَسَادًا أَن يُقَتَّلُوٓا۟ أَوْ يُصَلَّبُوٓا۟ أَوْ تُقَطَّعَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَرْجُلُهُم مِّنْ خِلَٰفٍ أَوْ يُنفَوْا۟ مِنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ لَهُمْ خِزْىٌ فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا ۖ وَلَهُمْ فِى ٱلْءَاخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ"Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment." [QS. Al-Maidah (5):33]"
Dr Swan concluded with, "O my brothers and sisters! Adults should give young people reasons to admire them, and strive to be successful role models, mentors, and guides. The values, attitudes, and behaviour that youth learn from these significant others, will be integrated into their personality and identity. Of course, the greatest role model for the whole Muslim community, is our beloved, the Prophet (ﷺ). We have his model, available to us in writing, and it can be brought to life in our own behaviour. We cannot expect our children to live and behave in a certain manner if we are not doing it ourselves. The opportunity to influence children, is readily awaiting; we just need to take advantage of it.Young people, are generally drawn to the values and attitudes of a special person—a parent, an admired teacher, an older sibling, or a famous person—whose ideas and behaviours the youth admires. And the most threatening, when molested by those who seek justification in persuing merely the empire of dirt and a crown of thorns, or craving for a handful dinars and dirhams. And Allah knows best."
Citations & References :
- Dr Aisha Hamdan, Nurturing Eeman in Children, IIPH
- 'Abdullah Nasih 'Ulwan, Child Education in Islam, Dar Al Salam
- Inge Amundsen, Political Corruption: An Introduction to the Issues, Chr. Michelsen Institute Development Studies and Human Rights
- Samuel Croxall, D.D., Fables of Aesop and Others, Simon Probasco
[Part 1]
