The purified Sharee‘ah of Islam encourages good manners and forbids bad ones owing to the harm that affects individuals and societies when bad manners prevail.
The Islamic Sharee‘ah came to guard the purity of progenies and to protect people's honor against anything that would soil or transgress them. Therefore, it sets the severest forms of punishment for anyone who thinks of violating the honor of others. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {The [unmarried] woman or [unmarried] man found guilty of sexual intercourse - lash each one of them with a hundred lashes, and do not be taken by pity for them in the religion of Allah...} [Quran 24:2]
This punishment is applied to unmarried persons. Married adulterers, however, receive the punishment of stoning to death under the Sharee‘ah. The Islamic Sharee‘ah also prohibits marrying a person who is known for practicing illegal sexual intercourse. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {The fornicator does not marry except a [female] fornicator or polytheist, and none marries her except a fornicator or a polytheist, and that has been made unlawful to the believers.} [Quran 24:3]
Not only does the Sharee'ah do so, but it also raises the status of guarding honor so high that a person who is killed in defense of his honor will gain the degree of a martyr. The Prophet, , said: “A person who is killed in defense of his honor is a martyr.”
Moreover, the Sharee‘ah brings up its adherents on being protectively jealous about their honor: The Prophet, , said about this attribute in a Companion of his: “Do you wonder at Sa‘d's jealousy? By Allah, I am more jealous than him, and Allah Is more jealous than me...”
Indeed, there is no good in a person who has no protective jealousy, for such a person moves towards Hell and distances himself from Paradise. He also makes his honor vulnerable to assault from anybody. This is the Dayyooth, who is he who does not feel jealous when his honor is violated and who overlooks the indecency and immoral behavior of his family while he knows that it is wrong to do so. By doing this, he exposes himself to disgrace and humiliation.
Arabs and especially Muslims still venerate matters of honor. They respect the person who defends his honor and female family members, even if this means that he sacrifices his life and wealth. They guard their honor with whatever wealth they may have, for there is no value of any wealth when honor is lost. Moreover, if a person disregards this, he will be worthless in this world and in the Hereafter, and will be away from Allah The Almighty. The Prophet, , said: “Allah The Almighty will not look at three persons on the Day of Resurrection: a person who is undutiful to his parents; a masculine woman; and the Dayyooth." [Saheeh]
This incurable disease does not afflict anyone but the person who lacks a sense of honor and jealousy and whose faith is weak. He does not care about non-Mahram (i.e., marriageable) men visiting his womenfolk, intermixing with them, or them appearing unveiled before them.
In fact, a person would be utterly shocked at seeing such "men" buying clothes for their women that reveal more than they cover, or clothes that are transparent and display the charms of the body. They are happy that people look at the ‘Awrah (nakedness) of their wives or the women whom Allah has made them responsible for. They boast of their liberation from decency and virtue, and behave immorally and indecently. Such a man is a corpse in the guise of a living person.
Al-Ghazaali said, “If a person lacks proper manly fervor, he is unlikely to react appropriately towards any assault against his womenfolk or wife. He will submissively bear humiliation from evil people and will have low self-esteem. This may cause such a person to lack any feeling of protective jealousy regarding his womenfolk. In this case, his offspring may become adulterated. Therefore it is said: ‘Once protective jealousy dies down in the men of a particular nation, the chastity of its women will be weakened.’”
Ath-Thahabi said, “A man who realizes immorality in his wife and ignores it because he loves her, or because he owes her money that he is unable to pay back, or because he owes her a large dowry, or because he has young children from her, then there will be no good in him for he lacks jealousy. A person who possesses this attitude is the Dayyooth.”
The Mass Media Encourages the Dayyooth
People may think that the mass media shape the Muslim’s personality in an upright manner, but the reality is the opposite. It is in fact one of the greatest encouragers of the Dayyooth and a destroyer of protective jealousy. It broadcasts immoral pornographic scenes, obscene advertisements and lewd songs. It beautifies such dissolute men and women and presents them as examples. Women even chant their love of a specific actor or singer in front of their husbands, fathers and brothers, who have no reaction at all. In some media programs, a married woman or a girl may call to express her love and adoration of the actor, paying no attention to the reaction of her male relatives, perhaps, because she is certain they will not object.