SOCIAL ILLS FROM THE ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE
by Nadzirah Ahmad Basri [View Writer's Profile]

Abstract
Social ills are rampant these days. They are now becoming part and parcel of the modern society. Nearly everywhere in the world, the number of social ills are increasing day by day at an alarming stage. Involvement in one social ill will lead to another social ill, which will harm not only the individual causing it but also the society surrounding the individual. A deep analysis and reflection is needed to identify root causes and eventually lead up to solutions. Modern approaches with combination of scientific and Islamic knowledge will help address the solution. Sociological tools and social work techniques may be used to better understand the problems faced by the ones causing social ills. Islam has clearly all the solutions to social ills that are increasingly happening in the modern world and ideally Muslims should be showing good moral examples to the non Muslims, whilst helping them to overcome the problem. This could only be done by living Islam wholeheartedly.

Social Ills from an Islamic Perspective

One of the biggest problem that comes along with development in this modern society is moral degradation of the youths. In US, a 1997 statistics show that the majority of adolescents had engaged in sexual intercourse by 17 years old (62% in -school females; 60% in-school males)¹ while there were 99,342,000 juvenile arrests in 1997 for violent crime, which roughly corresponds to an arrest every .3 seconds².

Sexual intercourse and violent crimes are just two of the many social ills are becoming more rampant in this modern world. Nearly everywhere in the world, the number of social ills are increasing day by day at an alarming stage.

Evidence shows that most of the time, an involvement in an act of social ill will usually lead to another act of social ill, which many times will harm not only the individual causing it but also the society surrounding the individual. Sexual intercourse with different partners for example, brings about diseases. In fact more than 12 million acquire STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) every year with adolescents and young adults at particularly high risk³.

Another example would be the intoxicant influence of alcohol or drugs on one to lead them into committing crime. Consider the following: In the US, 51.9 % of state prisoners had alcohol or drug use at the time of offense for violent offences. The numbers are 52.4% for murder, 56.0% for negligent manslaughter, 45.2% for sexual assault, 55.5% for robbery, 51.8% for assault⁴.