Islam brings the outer person into alignment with the inner person, the individual is reconciled to the community, the believer’s experience of space and time is given sanctifying shape. In all these ways, and more, Islamic teachings meant to transform the self from a bundle of loosely aligned thoughts into a coherent self, serving God by working for God’s cause here on earth.

Islam provides clear guidance to its followers on how people should conduct themselves in daily lives. The Quran advises a Muslim to use the best of manners when interacting with others. The root of the word Islam is “peace,” and Muslims are to be peaceful in speech and action, treat people with kindness and compassion, and be tolerant and fair. Hypocrisy is counted as one of the greatest sins.

The Quran tells Muslims to

walk upon the earth in humility

Quran 25:63

In the following sections we will discuss a few aspects of Islam that make a person a better person.


Equality and Brotherhood


Islam is known for its teachings of the equality, regardless of race, ethnicity, or linguistic background. Muslims regard the diversity of life as a sign of the beauty of Allah's creation:

And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colors. Verily in that are signs for those who know

Quran 30:22

One of the greatest moral achievements of the Prophet Muhammad was the establishment of the Islamic brotherhood, in spite of his toleration even that between master and slave. In his time, all Muslims were not freemen, but in a very real sense all Muslims were brothers. Many of the first Muslims were from the lowest classes of society — slaves, women, and orphans — who were attracted to Prophet Muhammad's  message of human worth and equality. The Quranic records, "The believers are brothers in religion." The institution arose not merely from theory but also out of a concrete situation. Prophet Muhammad and his "Companions" had been "driven from their homes" (59:8, 8:72)

 and had taken refuge with the "Helpers," their brethren in faith in the city of Medina. The Prophet Muhammad  created a temporary relationship between the fugitives and their hosts in which they shared their houses and their goods. The Helpers accepted their guests as relatives. In establishing the Islamic brotherhood, the Prophet Muhammad  cut effectively broke down the tribal system of kinship.

What of Muhammad  himself as a moral factor in the life of Islam? Ibn Ishaq, early biographer of the Prophet Muhammad, records that Khadija, the first and for a long time the only wife of the Prophet , loved her husband for the beauty of his character, his honesty, and his truthfulness of speech. She became his first convert and supporter, testifying thus to her estimate of his sincerity.


In the words of E. Hershey Sneath, “His fellow townsmen, before the time of his mission, frequently applied to him the appellation of "the trusty." And later in the heat of jealousy and strife the charges against his personal character are few and unconvincing.”


Hajj is the ultimate expression of the equality of all people in the eyes of God. It is the one time and place on earth when kings stand barefoot, side by side with peasants and workers. Looking at the pilgrims, all in their clear white clothes, one can hardly tell the difference among them. Worldly riches, status, family background — none matter of God, and they should be so in our own eyes as well.


Renowned activist Malcolm X had a life-changing experience in 1964, when he traveled to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for the annual pilgrimage. He was especially struck by the true sense of brotherhood and the absolute love between all those assembled, which challenged his previous beliefs that equality among the races was impossible to achieve. He wrote about his experience in a letter, which was later published in The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Following are his experiences and those of some others on Hajj.

Malcolm X - USA

"There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and the non-white. 

You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to re-arrange much of my thought patterns  previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth. 


During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug) - while praying to the same God with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of the blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the worlds and in the actions and in the deeds of the 'white' Muslims, I left the same sincerity that I left among the black African Muslims in Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana. 


We were truly all the same – brothers. 


All praise is due to Allah, the lord of all the worlds."


(From the Autobiography of Malcolm X, New York, 1964).

Muhammad Asad - Austria


"...hidden from my eyes in the midst of this lifeless wilderness of valleys and hills, lies the plain of Arafat, on which all the pilgrims who come to Mecca assemble on one day of the year as a reminder of that last assembly, when man will have to answer to his Creator for all he has done in life. How often have I stood there myself, bareheaded, in the white pilgrim garb, among a multitude of white-garbed, bareheaded pilgrims from three continents, our faces turned toward the Jabal ar-Rahma - the Mount of Mercy - which rises out of the vast plain: standing and waiting through the noon, through the afternoon, reflecting upon that inescapable Day,' when you will be exposed to view, and no secret of yours will remain concealed'...


As I stand on the hillcrest and gaze down toward the invisible Plain of Arafat, the moonlit blueness of the landscape before me, so dead a moment ago, suddenly comes to life with the currents of all the human lives that have passed through it and is filled with the eerie voices of the millions of men and women who have walked or ridden between Arafat in over thirteen hundred pilgrimages for over thirteen  hundred years...I hear the sounds of their passed-away days, the wings of faith which have drawn them together to this land of rocks and sand and seeming deadness beat again with the warmth of life over the arc of centuries , and the mighty wingbeat draws me into its orbit and draws my own passed-away days into the present , and once again I am riding over the plain...

We ride on, rushing, flying over the plain, and to me it seems that we are flying with the wind, abandoned to a happiness that knows neither end nor limit ... and the wind shouts a wild paean of joy into my ears. "Never again, never again, never again will you be a stranger!"

My brethren on the right and my brethren on the left, all of them unknown to me but none a stranger; in the tumultuous joy of our chase, we are body in pursuit of one goal wide is the world before us, and in our hearts glimmers a spark of the flame that burned in the hearts of prophet's Companions. They know, my brethren on the right and my brethren on the left, that they have fallen short of what was expected of them, and that in the flight of centuries their hearts have grown small and yet, the promise of fulfilment has not been taken from them...from us...

Someone in the surging host abandons his tribal cry for a cry of faith: ' We are brethren of him who gives himself up to God!' - and another joins in 'ALLAHU AKBAR' - 'God is the Greatest - God alone is Great!'''

Kindness is a central teaching of Islam.

The Quran on Kindness

“Indeed, God is kind and merciful to the people.”

(Quran 2:143)

“There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer, for he is concerned over you and to the believers he is kind and merciful.”

(Quran 9:128)

“Then We sent Our messengers in their footsteps and followed them with Jesus, the son of Mary, and gave him the Gospel. We placed in the hearts of those who followed him kindness and mercy.”

(Quran 57:27)

“Woe to those who pray, who are heedless of their prayer, who pray to be seen and withhold small acts of kindness.”

(Quran 107:4-7)

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ On Kindness

“O Aisha, Allah is kind and He loves kindness in all matters.”

(Bukhari, Muslim)

“If God the Exalted intends goodness for a household, He lets gentleness come over them.”

(Musnad)

“He who is deprived of kindness is deprived of goodness.” (Muslim)

(Muslim)

“The believer is gracious, for there is no goodness in one who is neither kind nor friendly.”

(Musnad)

“Whoever is not merciful to others will not be treated mercifully.”

(Bukhari)

Kindness In Daily Life


The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ always commanded his followers to treat everyone with kindness, and this was particularly manifested in the act of giving charity. There are countless stories of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ exhorting the benefits of charity.

In many traditions, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ reminded his followers that the blessings we have in this world do not belong to us, but are a trust from God. It is our duty to share them with those less fortunate. In addition to the zakah (required charity), Islam implemented systems whereby slaves (when they existed) would be set free and neighbors would care for neighbors. Even those who are limited in means can give in charity.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ instructed the poor:

“Help someone in his work, or make something for someone who cannot make it himself. If you cannot, then at least restrain yourself from doing harm to anyone, for that also is a charity.”

(Bukhari, Muslim)

On another occasion,

he said,

“Each person's small bones must perform an act of charity every day the sun comes up. To act justly between two people is a charity. To help a man with his mount, helping him onto it, or hoisting up his belongings onto it, is a charity. A good word is a charity. Every step you take towards prayer is a charity. And removing a harmful thing from the road is a charity.”

(Bukhari, Muslim)

In another occasion

he ﷺ said,

"Your smiling in the face of your brother is charity, commanding right and forbidding wrong is charity, your giving directions to a man lost in the land is charity for you. Your seeing for a man with bad sight is a charity for you, your removal of a rock, a thorn or a bone from the road is charity for you. Your pouring what remains from your bucket into the bucket of your brother is charity for you."

(Tirmidhi)

Muslims are reminded in the Quran not to boast about their charitable donations:

“O you who believe! Do not cancel your charity, by giving reminders of your generosity, or by injury, like those who spend their wealth to be seen by men, but believe neither in God nor in the Last Day”

(Quran 2:264)

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ often told stories of people to serve as examples to others. In one case, he told a story of a man who passed by a road and found a thorny branch in the middle of the path. He removed the branch so that it would not be an inconvenience to people. When the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told the story, he added,

“God appreciated his action and forgave his sins.”

(Muslim)

Kind Treatment of Animals


A Muslim's kindness should extend not only to people but also to animals. In another story, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told of a dog that was circling around a well, suffering from extreme thirst. A woman saw the animal in this condition, so she drew some water and gave it to the dog to drink.

“God appreciated her action and forgave her sins, simply on account of this kindness,”

he said. His companions who were listening to the story asked the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ,

“Are we rewarded for our kindness towards animals as well?” He answered, “There are rewards for kindness to every living being.”

(Bukhari)

While in the company of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, a man once took an egg from a bird's nest. This caused the mother bird to get upset and begin circling around Muhammad's ﷺ head.

He asked,

“Who stole this bird's egg?” The man admitted that he took the egg. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ then told him, “Put it back, and have mercy.”

(Adab al-Mufrad)

In another account, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ warned those people who treat animals with cruelty. He told his companions that a woman was doomed to Hellfire because she put a cat in a closet until the cat died from starvation.

“She did not give the cat anything to eat or drink, nor did she let the cat free to hunt for its food.”

(Bukhari)

Islam is known for its teachings of equality, regardless of race, ethnicity, or linguistic background. Muslims regard the diversity of life as a sign of the beauty of Allah's creation:

“And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colors. Verily in these are signs for those who know”.

(Quran 30:22)

One of the greatest moral achievements of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was the establishment of the bond of brotherhood between various Muslims, even between master and slave. In his time, though not all Muslims were freemen, they were though, in a very real sense, all brothers. Many of the first Muslims were from the lowest classes of society in that era — slaves, women, and orphans — who were attracted to the Prophet Muhammad's ﷺ message of human worth and equality. The Quran records,

"The believers are brothers in religion."

The institution arose not merely from theory but also out of a concrete situation. The Prophet Muhammad and his "Companions" had been

"driven from their homes"

(59:8, 8:72

) and had taken refuge with the "Helpers," their brethren in faith in the city of Medina. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ created a temporary relationship between the fugitives and their hosts in which they shared their houses and their goods. The Helpers accepted their guests as relatives. In establishing this bond of Muslim brotherhood, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ effectively broke down the tribal system of kinship and laid the foundation for the end of slavery.

What of Muhammad ﷺ himself as a moral factor in the life of Islam? Early biographers of the Prophet Muhammad's life record that Khadija, the first and for a long time the only wife of the Prophet ﷺ, loved her husband for the beauty of his character, his honesty, and his truthfulness of speech. She became his first convert and supporter, testifying thus to her estimate of his sincerity.

In the words of E. Hershey Sneath, “His fellow townsmen, before the time of his mission, frequently applied to him the appellation of "the trusty." And later in the heat of jealousy and strife, the charges against his personal character are few and unconvincing.”[1]

Hajj is the ultimate expression of the equality of all people in the eyes of God. It is the one time and one place on earth when kings stand barefoot side by side with peasants. Looking at the pilgrims, all in their white clothes, one can hardly tell the difference among them. Worldly riches, status, family background — none matter before God, and it should be so in our own eyes as well.

Renowned activist Malcolm X had a life-changing experience in 1964, when he traveled to Mecca for the annual pilgrimage. He was especially struck by the true sense of brotherhood and the absolute love between all those assembled, which challenged his previous beliefs that equality among the races was impossible to achieve. He wrote about his experience in a letter, which was later published in The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Following are excerpts of his experiences and those of some others on Hajj.

Malcolm X - USA

"There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and the non-white.

You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to re-arrange much of my thought patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.

During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug) - while praying to the same God with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of the blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions and in the deeds of the 'white' Muslims, I left the same sincerity that I left among the black African Muslims in Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.

We were truly all the same – brothers.

All praise is due to Allah, the lord of all the worlds."

(From The Autobiography of Malcolm X, New York, 1964).

Muhammad Asad - Austria


"...hidden from my eyes in the midst of this lifeless wilderness of valleys and hills, lies the plain of Arafat, on which all the pilgrims who come to Mecca assemble on one day of the year as a reminder of that last assembly, when man will have to answer to his Creator for all he has done in life. How often have I stood there myself, bareheaded, in the white pilgrim garb, among a multitude of white-garbed, bareheaded pilgrims from three continents, our faces turned toward the Jabal ar-Rahma - the Mount of Mercy - which rises out of the vast plain: standing and waiting through the noon, through the afternoon, reflecting upon that inescapable Day,' when you will be exposed to view, and no secret of yours will remain concealed'...

As I stand on the hillcrest and gaze down toward the invisible Plain of Arafat, the moonlit blueness of the landscape before me, so dead a moment ago, suddenly comes to life with the currents of all the human lives that have passed through it and is filled with the eerie voices of the millions of men and women who have walked or ridden between Arafat in over thirteen hundred pilgrimages for over thirteen  hundred years...I hear the sounds of their passed-away days, the wings of faith which have drawn them together to this land of rocks and sand and seeming deadness beat again with the warmth of life over the arc of centuries , and the mighty wingbeat draws me into its orbit and draws my own passed-away days into the present , and once again I am riding over the plain...

We ride on, rushing, flying over the plain, and to me it seems that we are flying with the wind, abandoned to a happiness that knows neither end nor limit ... and the wind shouts a wild paean of joy into my ears. "Never again, never again, never again will you be a stranger!"

My brethren on the right and my brethren on the left, all of them unknown to me but none a stranger; in the tumultuous joy of our chase, we are body in pursuit of one goal wide is the world before us, and in our hearts glimmers a spark of the flame that burned in the hearts of prophet's Companions. They know, my brethren on the right and my brethren on the left, that they have fallen short of what was expected of them, and that in the flight of centuries their hearts have grown small and yet, the promise of fulfillment has not been taken from them...from us...

Someone in the surging host abandons his tribal cry for a cry of faith: ' We are brethren of him who gives himself up to God!' - and another joins in 'ALLAHU AKBAR' - 'God is the Greatest - God alone is Great!'''