The degrading of personality in the society

One of the signs of a good society is the preservation of the personality of persons. If the personalities of persons are not preserved in a society, the personalities of some of them are disrespected without any reasons, innocent persons are accused and they become disgraceful, such a society will be corrupted and it will have a kind of social corruption.
In the religion of the Islam, the necessity of the observation of the rights of people in all areas is a certain affair. The priority of personal rights have been emphasized in comparing to divine rights. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) states '' God precedes the rights of persons in comparing to his rights and if a person takes the responsibility of the rights of the persons of God, this will lead to the acceptance of the responsibility of divine rights''.
Hence, the preservation of the personality of persons is a divine and social duty and all of Muslims should follow it in the religion of the Islam. On one hand, lack of the observation of this important principle is the sign of social deviation and corruption and in the religion of the Islam, the recognition of the complete and appropriate root of this social corruption has been done. To recognize these social problems, we can mention three main stages:
The stage of the recognition of the problems of a corrupted society and the way of its treatment
1. Pessimism
A pessimistic person has a negative interpretation from the behavior of others and this results from lack of trust from people around them and other persons of the society. He or she is always at pain and is facing to physical and spiritual problems. The spirit of pessimism of these persons will have a lot of social problems. These persons judge about others with their mental imaginations. There is no question that such imaginations come from their immoral spirit. Since such persons judge about others in a pessimistic way, this feature can be the source of most of ugly attributes such as insulting and lying. Quran expresses clearly that most of suspects have no real root and they are created by the mind of human;
'' O' Persons that have believed in God should avoid suspects because some of them are false and sinful imaginations''.
Amir Momenan (peace be upon him) states
'' Suspect is the plight of the religion''.
Suspect makes hearts become sick, makes a certain accused, makes a friendly go away and changes the affection of friends and it leads it toward animosity.
The prevention and treatment of pessimism
In the early stage, the Islam prevents Muslims from suspicion toward others because this suspicion causes that their personality is hurt. In religious trains, pessimistic spirit is the sign of spiritual disease and it has been recommended that optimism can be replaced with it as the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) states '' you should be optimistic toward your brother so that you can have pure and good nature''.
Imam Sadeq (peace be upon him) also states
'' Optimism results from the decent faith of a person and his or her spiritual health''.
Another solution has been presented for the prevention of this sick spirit. Therefore, if we consider good and bad imaginations for the behavior and remarks of persons, a person should try to select the best imagination. Hence, we should have positive judgment about others and if the behavior of a person seems to be negative, we should consider it with optimism. Amir Momenin (peace be upon him) states '' you should consider the behavior and remarks of your religious brother as the best form if you do not have any reasons that reveal reality and you have no justifications. You should not be pessimistic toward remarks that your brother expresses if you can be optimistic toward them''.
Of course, it should be reminded that we cannot be indifferent toward the social ugly actions of persons their violation toward the rights of other persons because they may be encouraged to continue their indecent behavior.
2. Curiosity
After the stage of pessimism, a person may become curious about the deviations and defects of other persons and some persons have searched their root in the sense of curiosity. There is no question that God has put the sense of curiosity within the inner of human so that its satisfaction like other senses can lead to the happiness of human. But when should we be curious? Should we be curious about things that we see or pay attention to? Are we allowed to speak with others about whatever we know?
If we know ourselves well, we should never let ourselves find defects and weak points in others. There is no question that a person that finds faults and weak points in others considers himself or herself without any weak points and he or she imagines that other persons have weak points and he or she is without any weak points.
The psychological problem of persons that find weak points in others is that they feel humiliated. To cover such weak points, they try to find weak points in the behavior and remarks of other persons and express them for others. Persons that finds weak points in others want to cause mental deviations in them so that they cannot concentrate on his or her behaviors. We can see and express the strong points of others instead of seeing their weak points and mistakes and buy why do some people avoid expressing and seeing the strong points of others? The answer of this question is so clear because accepting and confirming the strong points of others are not pleasant for them and they think about only their own benefits and rely on their own interpretations instead of seeing reality in the society. Of course, such persons not only search the weak points and defects of others, but they also express their weak points to themselves and other persons and therefore, they disgrace and dishonor them.
It is interesting that such persons try to convince others that they are sympathetic toward others and they want to help them to remove their weak points. Since finding faults in others and curiosity can have negative effects on the social relationships of a person with others and emotional moods in social behaviors, they are harm from the point of view of the religion and wisdom. There is no question that there are persons in each society that do indecent actions in their personal life secretly and they try to conceal it. Hence, others should not be aware of the weak points of such persons with their curiosity. God states in Quran
'' O' persons that have believed in God! Avoid suspects because some of them are false and sinful imaginations and you should never be curious about them''.
Amir Momenan (peace be upon him) states
'' O' people! If you know that your brother is consistent in his religion and follows a right path in the life, he should not pay attention to people that backbite him. You should be aware that sometimes, a person throws an arrow and his arrow goes wrong. Persons say something wrong about a persons and those remarks are not real and false remarks will not be permanent. God hears and witnesses everything. There is little distance, distance between four fingers, between reality and falsity.
However, considering hidden affairs of people and revealing them are considered a kind of interference into the boundary of others and it leads to lack of mental security. Therefore, wisdom and the religion emphasize that such actions are inappropriate.
Amir Momenin (peace be upon him) consider covering the weak points of others and forgiving their deviations. On the other hand, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) states '' the worst people are persons that do not forgive the mistakes of other persons and do not cover their weak points''.
'' If a person reveals the secrets of other persons, God will reveal his or her secrets''.
Some persons have weak points that it is appropriate that they cover them and you should not try to reveal their hidden weak points, but your duty is that you modify whatever you have seen and God rules about whatever is hidden from you. Hence, you should conceal the weak points of others as much as you can so that God conceals weak points that you would not like can be revealed for other persons.
The messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) states about this matter '' O' persons that have believed in God only with your tongue and there is no pure faith in your hearts still! You should not censure Muslims and search their hidden weak points. If someone reveals the hidden weak points of other persons, God will reveal his or her weak points and disgrace him or her even though he or she does an ugly action on the corner of his or her house''.
If a person reveals the ugly action of a person, he or she is the same person that has done the ugly action at first and if a person censures another person for his or her sin and fault, he or she will not die until he or she commits the sin and the fault.
The prevention and treatment of curiosity
Another suggestion of the Islam for the prevention of the establishment of the curiosity spirit is that a person pays attention to his or her own weak points.
The messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) states '' O' people! If a person pays attention to his or her own weak points, he or she will not pay attention to the weak of others''.
''Whatever you know about yourself should prevent you from paying attention to the weak points of others''.
''A person that is aware of his or her weak points will not attribute any weak points to anyone''.
With realistic point of view, we can conclude that the members of the society are not without mistakes in their behaviors and they have deviations in the life. Hence, if it is supposed that a person finds weak points in others and he or she expresses them for others, no trust will be among the persons of the society, there will no unity and sympathy among them and the atmosphere of animosity and retribution will be dominant. Experience has taught us that as long as we are optimistic to a person, our inner tendency will be toward him or her more and if we are aware of his or her deviations and know that he or she has committed mistakes, there is no question that our interest toward him or her will decrease. If this condition becomes common in the society, the persons of the society will not have affection toward each other and this lack of affection will disintegrate the society as it has been narrated in a narration from Imam Ali (peace be upon him)
''لو تکاشفتم ما تدافتنتم''
'' If you know the secrets of each other, you will not bury the body of each other''.
3. The performance of destructive ways and the terror of the personality of persons
This stage includes most of behaviors and remarks that spoil the personality of the persons of the society, disintegrate their mental security and comfort, weaken social relationships, spoil trust among persons and finally disintegrate the foundations of collaboration and cooperation and grows animosity in the inner of persons.
Hence, the religion of the Islam has wanted all of persons that if they recognize the weak points of their religious brothers, you should say it to other persons, but you should deny it so that the personality of a person does not spoil. The religion of the Islam prohibited any kinds of behaviors and remarks in order to spoil the personality of others and has considered them as big sins. Imam Sadeq (peace be upon him) states'' if a person says something against a devout person and his or he purpose is that he or she backbites him or her with his or her remarks and makes him or her disgraceful in the presence of people, God will dismiss such a person from his guardianship and sends him or her toward the guardianship of Satan and Satan does not accept him or her under the guardianship.
In another narration, Imam Sadeq (peace be upon him) states clearly '' destructive ways in the society have negative consequences for persons and persons that spoil the personality of others will be spoilt finally. Imam Sadeq (peace be upon him) states in another narration'' a devout person will not make his religious brother humiliated whereas he can help him and God will make him or her humiliated in the world and the doomsday.