The second sermon of Friday prayer of the 27th of Rabi' Thani 1440 AH, corresponding to January 4, 2019, which was held in the holy shrine of Imam al-Hussayn (peace be upon him) and led by his eminence Sheikh Abd al-Mahdi al-Karbala'i, included important points such as:
- Social obloquy means defaming a significant personality, community, or religious denomination,
- A significant personality is a person of great importance and social rank—and such qualities a person or a society is distinctive of arise from their religious, cultural, social, ethical, economical, and political constituents, or – at least – from being human without having to have such qualities.
- The social obloquy is practiced against a certain person, community, religious denomination, or even against a well-known family that is distinctive of religious, social, financial, or economical rank.
- God has created human beings, honored them, and made them better than other creatures and each human being, whether they have a religion, intellect, or another quality, has their human honor.
- People have an innate need for socializing with each other, and therefore people should have their ranks as a basic social necessity as far as their human, living, material, and moral needs.
- Social obloquy contradicts with the human nature and ethics, as a human innately tends to be socially accepted, respected, and honored by others.
- If a person’s reputation is defamed, he or she will be ostracized and will suffer mental disturbances, especially that social obloquy denotes a widespread religious, ethical, or social defect which could lead to conflicts and disputes and the same can affect a society if it is defamed.
- Social obloquy, sometimes, gets intensified when it’s practiced on social media, and it extraordinarily influences people and causes the society disasters.
- Narrations have discussed such matters, but in other words, as the term of obloquy is a modern term. But we can find terms such as the violation of the dignity of the believer.
- The sanctity of a believer’s blood and property in the sight of Allah is greater than Ka’ba’s sanctity!’
- Everyone using social media and interacting with others is responsible for what they say, for they may carelessly talk about people and fling obloquy upon them.
- Everything one says will be displayed to them on the Day of Judgment, and every human will be held accountable for everything they say and do.
- This subject deserves our attention because it is a serious social phenomenon that threatens our moral system and peaceful social coexistence.