Is the Quran an ethical interpretation distinguishing between what is true and what is wrong? Does it advise drawing a clear line between concepts or “finding the middle way”?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The elements of good and bad in the Quran are comprehensive concepts that cover all kinds of words, deeds, worship, ethics and transactions that interest the individual and the society. In other words, all of Allah’s commands are included in the concept of good and all of His prohibitions are included in the concept of bad. It is good to obey Allah’s commands and prohibitions and it is bad to violate them. Therefore, it is clearly stated in the Quran what is good and what is bad. However, there might be different approaches related to the issues that are not stated clearly because it is an area of ijtihad. The Prophet attracts attention to this issue and states the following:

“Both legal (halal) and illegal (haram) things are evident but in between them there are doubtful (suspicious) things and most of the people have no knowledge about them. So, whoever saves himself from these suspicious things saves his religion and his honor. And whoever indulges in these suspicious things is like a shepherd who grazes (his animals) near the Hima (private pasture) of someone else and at any moment he is liable to get in it. (O people!) Beware! Every king has a Hima and the Hima of Allah on the earth is His illegal (forbidden) things. Beware! There is a piece of flesh in the body if it becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good but if it gets spoilt the whole body gets spoilt and that (piece of flesh) is the heart.” (Bukhari, Iman, 39; Muslim, Musaqat, 107,108).

In the Quran, good people are described as “ABRAR (RIGHTEOUS)” and bad people are described as “FUJJAR (WICKED)”. We understand from the following statement of the Quran that those two concepts include all of Allah’s commands and prohibitions including “belief” and express taqwa in a sense:

“As for the Righteous (ABRAR), they will be in bliss; And the Wicked (FUJJAR) - they will be in the Fire.” (al-Infitar, 82/13-14).

The meaning of it is as follows: “Good (righteous) people will go to Paradise and wicked (bad) people will go to Hell.” The real good here is the believer and the real bad is the unbeliever; however, it is accepted by Ahl as-Sunnah creed that there are some believers who are included in the concept of bad in terms of deeds and that they will go to Hell and remain there for a while.

It is understood from Badiuzzaman Said Nursi’s statement “He who does not perform prayers is treacherous” that a person who does not perform prayers is ethically deficient like a person who tells lies, cheats people and steals.

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