Universal and timeless principles

Since time immemorial human beings have devised certain moral and ethical principles which are observed by peoples of all colour, creed and race all over the world and across all cultural frontiers to govern themselves peacefully. They are also called virtues and vices and some of these have even been made into laws by all civilised nations. Foremost among these universal and timeless principles are truthfulness and lying, because they constitute the foundation all other moral values, ethics and laws and because the very existence, peace, progress and prosperity of a society depends on the observance of these two principles. It is not without reason that perjury has been made a crime in all states.

Islam has equally and even more strongly forbidden its followers from lying.

It takes such a serious view of lying that it debars a person who has lied even once from being admitted as a witness in a court of law. On the other hand the quality of truthfulness, particularly in a leader, is regarded as the most essential and important requirement because he who holds an office of state holds the destiny of a nation and welfare of millions of his compatriots.

It was this quality of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) that made the people of Makkah give him the title of Ameen and entrust him with the heavy responsibility of resolving the dispute over the issue of who should place the Black Stone (Hajr-e-Aswad) in the corner of the rebuilt Great Mosque (Khanay-e-Kaaba). This was such a ticklish issue that a wrong decision could have led to a long and bloody civil war, deaths of thousands in and around Makkah and bloodshed and for years to come. However, the people trusted only one man and only because he had never lied and never broken his promise in his life. That man was Mohammad bin Abdullah, not yet a Prophet, in whose fairness they had an unimpeachable faith even though he belonged to the ruling tribe of Makkah.