The Holy Quran: If An Iniquitous Person Comes To You With Any News, Ascertain The Truth
By Ejaz Naqvi
November
15, 2020
How many
times we see a piece of news or information on social media that turns out to
be totally false or baseless? How often do we feel compelled to share it on our
social media platform without confirming it first? Are we not responsible for
spreading fake news? With the fact-checking in vogue nowadays, the Qur’an
called for it some 1400 years ago, as mentioned below.
Be
truthful. How many times have you forwarded a Facebook or WhatsApp message to
your friends or group without confirming its legitimacy, source of information
or authenticity? It does not matter if it is of political nature or bit of
information we can use in our daily lives; we are too keen to share them with
others.
I am fine
with sharing news that is authentic. I am good with sharing something you feel
is funny and want to make your friends laugh along with you. But serious news
or information about politics, health, finances etc needs special
consideration.
There has
been a lot of information about Coronavirus out there that is simply not
medically accurate. “People who wear masks are as likely or even more likely to
catch Coronavirus” is simply not true. Numerous home remedies have been touted
as offering protection against the virus. The list goes on and on.
Then there
are these cautionary tales. Cautionary notes about ‘do not do this or else…”
are very popular. Cars may explode if your cell phone charger stays in the car
charger.
There are
these gossipy messages about celebrities or political figures, often leading to
defamation of individuals.
And the
news about politics just takes us to the next level. There is a ton of
misinformation about the recent presidential election. Half the country
believes the election was rigged, without any proof put forward. Social media
has played a huge role in spreading these lies.
Way before
the social media became an integral part of our lives, the Qur’an, over 1400
years ago addressed the issue of spreading rumours, and warned against
spreading any news without confirming it first.
O you who
believe! If an iniquitous person comes to you with any news, ascertain the
truth, lest you harm people unwittingly, and afterwards be filled with remorse
for what you have done. The Qur’an 49:6
The verse
calls for Investigating the information or news before spreading it to
others. In other words, please do your
own fact-check before passing it on.
So my plea
to you is to think twice before hitting that “forward” button on WhatsApp or
the share button on Facebook. Regardless of the rules laid out by the social
media companies (which are extremely lax and appropriately criticized by many),
we have a moral and religious obligation to ascertain the truth before
sharing/spreading it.
Let’s not
(unwittingly) become part of the fake
Original: Headline: Spreading Fake News, Fact
Checking and the Quran
Source: The Patheos
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/the-holy-quran-if-iniquitous/d/123581
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