The representative of the Supreme Religious Authority, sheikh Abdul-Mehdi Al-Karbala’i has reviewed in Friday’s sermon held at the holy shrine of Imam Hussain the societal phenomenon known as “social defamation” against significant personalities, as one of the Phenomena threatening the ethical system and moral coexistence in society.
Al-Karbala’i said during the sermon on January 4, 2019, that: “A significant personality is a person of great importance and social rank—and such qualities of a person or a society are distinctive of arise from their religious, cultural, social, ethical, economical, and political constituents, or – at least – from being human without having to have such qualities.”
He added that social defamation is practiced against a certain person, community, denomination, or even against a family well-known for its distinctive of religious, social, financial, or economical rank.
The representative of the Supreme Religious Authority also said that Allah has created human beings, honored them, and made them better than other creatures, so every human being has a human dignity and social rank, whether they have a religion, intellect, or other quality.
He noted that people have an innate need for their ranks as a life-social necessity regarding their humanity and daily life requirements, and that the human beings needs to keep their dignity and humanity.
"Social defamation contradicts with the human nature and ethics, as well as with the necessity to save its dignity, noting that everyone need to be socially accepted, respected, and honored among others." Al-Karbala’I added, pointing that "There no one out there who doesn’t need to communicate or to socialize with others in terms of achieving their daily life needs, depending on the extent of acceptability and respect toward that person."
He also added that if a person’s reputation was defamed, then they will be ostracized and will suffer mental disturbances and the lack of cooperation from their society regarding the fulfillment of their material and moral needs.
“Social defamation is an evidence of denotes a religious, ethical, or social defect that need to find the right solutions for it before it leads to conflicts and disputes which the least of them are social and psychological disorders faced by the individual if people had turned their backs on it," he stressed.
Al-Karbala’i has pointed that "This phenomenon gets its effects from the wide spread of social media outlets that have a tremendous influence on others, and if looked for (social defamation) in the Islamic history, you will find that it was described in text books as a (violation) to the sanctity, dignity and the social status of the believer".
his or the destruction of his will He shed light on an important matter, which is that the honor of a believer is more important than the honor of the Kaaba (the symbolic house of God), which is extremely important.
Sheikh Abdul-Mehdi Al-Karbala’i quoted a Hadeeth reported by the prophet Muhammad "pbuh" when he was practicing pilgrimage ceremonies around the Kaaba, saying "I swear that how much great and holy this milestone is, the dignity of the believer has more greatness by Allah".
The representative of the Supreme Religious Authority has wondered about how could a person who commits such an act as defamation to undo the damage done by him to the reputation of a fellow human being, a family or a community when the judgment day come?, concluding with a holy phrase of the Quran that says "We record that which they send and that which they left behind, and of all things have we taken account in a clear book".
