Hosbah is a voluntary accountability system in Islam. The
essential purpose of Hosbah is to establish Shari'ah in the
Islamic society. Hosbah uses the method of enjoining good and
forbidding evil to enforce Shari'ah. Shari'ah will discipline
those who publicly commit shameful practices, immoral
activities and the like. Moreover, Hosbah people will monitor
any illegal practices, such as cheating, selling, promoting,
and pushing illegal or banned items and goods. Hosbah also
scrutinizes the monopolization of basic needs of the people.
Moreover, Hosbah monitors and follows up on damaged public
facilities in order to reconstruct properly and protect the
individuals against physical injuries. All these voluntary
activities of Hosbah are based on the verse in the Glorious
Qur'ân Sura al-Imran 3:110 the meaning of which is translated
as:“
You are the best of Peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining
what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in
Allah”.
Hosbah also
implies fearing the punishment of Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala).
This is based on the verse in the Glorious Qur'ân Sura
al-Maidah 5:78-79 the meaning of which is translated as:“
Curses were pronounced on those among the Children of Israel
who rejected Faith, by the tongue of David and of Jesus, the
son of Mary, because they disobeyed and persisted in Excesses.
Nor did they (usually) forbid one another the iniquities,
which they committed: evil indeed were the deeds, which they
did”.
Every
individual in the Islamic society should take an active role
in Hosbah, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is
evil. This role will be assumed according to the individual's
ability and position. This is based on the Hadith of Allah's
Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him):“
Whosoever sees an [immorally] unacceptable act being practiced
[in the Islamic society] must change it [correct it] by his
own hand [by action]. If he could not do so, then let him use
his tongue [deny the practice verbally and advise the
practicing person, gently, to stop what he/she is doing].
[Finally] if he could not do so, then let him use his heart
[despise the practice by heart and declare that he/she hates
to see such a wrong practice in the Islamic society]. That is
the least [level of] faith”[100].
However,
correcting a vice may be restricted if this amounts to worsen
the situation and aggravate it.
The religion
of Islam, which Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) was commissioned with, and the supreme and wise Prophetic
sayings articulates the human rights in a single sentence as
follows:“
Truly, your blood, your wealth and all your protected items
are unlawful to one another. All these are as sacred as it of
this respected Day, in this Respected Month and in this
Respected Town…”[101].
Most of the
human rights fall under this statement, which was delivered in
the Farewell, Pilgrimage speech of Allah's Messenger (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him). Islam, in fact,
established all laws and regulations in order to preserve the
human rights and defend them. It also issues warning to the
violators of these rights of the severest punishment.
The following
is the Declaration issued in Cairo about the Human Rights in
Islam. It is worth pointing out that the rights listed in this
Declaration are only guidelines and general rules. Rights,
according to Islam, are interconnected with one another as
rings that support one another. The general principles and the
rules of the human rights in Islam are divided into other
categories. Consequently, these lower categories are also
broken down into further sub-categories. This will require a
lengthy discourse, if we want to address all the details.
Therefore, we will only give hints and clues. For more
details, an interested reader may pool pertinent information
from literature on human rights in Islam. It is safe to say
that, 'Islam came to preserve all the human rights and to make
the human beings happier in this life as well as in the
Hereafter.
[100] Muslim, Hadith No.78.
[101] Bukhari, Hadith No.105.
