Badges mark quoted or attributed material (Qur'an, hadith, another author, an opposing view). Unbadged passages are Maulana Wahiduddin Khan's own words.
According to Islamic teachings, character assassination is a heinous crime. An act of this kind is against humanity, against ethical values. p. 172
The practice of character assassination is injurious to the whole of society; it spreads the feeling of mistrust. It causes misunderstanding and the result is very dangerous, for everyone becomes suspicious of the other members of society. p. 172
In such a society, no healthy activity is possible and no positive planning can be done. The habit of character assassination is bad for all and good for none. p. 172
The whole of society must be alert to anyone indulging in this kind of activity and the wrongdoer must be openly condemned. Indeed, social ostracism is the only check by which this kind of baneful habit can be eliminated from society. p. 172
Character assassination is more dangerous than physical assassination. Any society that ignores this heinous practice is callous and inhuman. p. 172
A Sense of Accountability p. 173
One of the important teachings of Islam is the concept of accountability. According to the Quran, life is a very serious business, for which reason everyone ought to be imbued with a total sense of accountability. In the chapter Al-Isra’ (The Night Journey) of the Quran, this concept is gone into in detail: p. 173original + quote
Give full measure, when you measure, and weigh with accurate scales. That is fair, and better in the end. Do not follow what you do not know; for the ear and the eye and the heart shall all be called to account.
(17:35-36) p. 173Qur'an
Everything we say is inevitably based on information that we gather from outside. Basically, there are three sources: what we hear, what we see, and what we think. These three senses give us what may be called data, but in each case there is the possibility of misunderstanding or miscalculation, so we have to be very careful to be precise in all of our utterances. p. 173
The expressions in the above verse concerning weights and measures are used symbolically. Here, measuring or weighing means intellectual measuring or intellectual weighing. We should be very accurate when we speak about anyone or about any issue. Our behaviour must be as precise as a scientific scale. p. 173