Read this article in Maltese: Ikkompetu ma’ xulxin dwar għemejjel tajba

“And everyone has a goal which dominates him; vie, then, with one another in good works.” (2:149)

Allah states to the believers that your goal must always be to ‘vie with one another in good works’, it means that you must always endeavour to lead others in good works. Furthermore, Allah the Almighty has also referred to those, who perform righteous deeds and do good works as “best of creatures” as it is stated in the Holy Quran:

“Verily, those who believe and do good works — they are the best of creatures.” (98:8)

What is virtue? How can one achieve true virtue? Why is it necessary to believe in God Almighty in order to be able to perform good deeds? What are the means for doing righteous deeds? What are the various aspects of virtue? How many kinds of righteous deeds are there? How does Allah the Exalted reward those who perform righteous deeds?

According to the Islamic teachings moderation is very important. It is a requirement of virtue to perform even lawful deeds in moderation. If one transgresses it, it will lessen the virtue.

When we start our journey towards God and true virtuous life, good and righteous deeds are a ladder to elevate us towards fulfilling this objective. To attain a true act of virtue demands a lot of self-reflection and endeavour. True virtue cannot be acquired without having absolute faith in God Almighty. True virtue is attained when one develops a faith in God Almighty as All-Seeing, Who is totally aware of everything and possesses knowledge of the unseen.

True virtue is to serve mankind and demonstrate absolute truthfulness and loyalty in the cause of Allah; and to have unwavering faith and trust in the existence of God.

Serving humankind does not mean to give left over bread to a hungry person, despite having freshly prepared meal to hand. This is not a true act of virtue. True virtue is that as God Almighty has stated in the Holy Quran that, “Never will you attain to the highest degree of virtue unless you spend out of that which you love.” (3:93)

The Arabic word which has been used to describe ‘virtue’ in this verse means, goodness, virtue or righteousness of a high order or excellence of morals, and this can be achieved only by spending out of things, be they material or otherwise, which one loves most for the obvious reason that such spending involves the greatest sacrifice.

So, this is the true meaning of virtue that donating the most precious and loving things. When a hungry person asks for food, he should be given the best available food and not the left over.

Furthermore, we must also remember that merely abstaining from evil or sin is not a virtue, for example many times we hear people saying that ‘I don’t do bad things’ or ‘I don’t harm others’, this is not sufficient that if one doesn’t hurt or harm others and thinks that he is very pious, it is not an act of virtue, until he does not act virtuously alongside it. Mere abstaining from wrongdoings means that a person hasn’t started his uphill journey and is standing at level ‘zero’.

The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, the Promised Messiah^as has explained this subject in a very heart-touching fashion. He says: “In the sight of Allah the Exalted, Islam is not the name of refraining from vices. Rather, until a person does not adopt virtues, whilst abstaining from vices, he will not be able to survive in this spiritual realm. The truth of Islamic teachings is to increase and improve one’s spirituality. Virtues are like food. In the same manner a person cannot exist without food, he will seize to exist until he adopts virtues. This state is acquired by increasing in faith.” (Malfoozat (2022) vol. 8, p. 200)