The Forty-Third Principle: The Duty to Verify

Allah commands His servants to verify matters and not to act hastily in situations whose outcome may prove harmful, while at the same time urging them to seize opportunities for goodness that might otherwise slip away.

This principle recurs throughout the Quran. Concerning the first category, the Most High says: “O you who believe, when you march forth in the path of Allah, investigate” (4:94)—in another reading: “then verify”—and He says: “O you who believe, if a wicked person brings you some news, ascertain it, lest you harm a people through ignorance” (49:6).

Allah also censures those who rush to broadcast information whose disclosure may be detrimental: “Whenever there comes to them a matter regarding security or fear, they spread it about; but had they referred it to the Messenger and to those in authority among them, those capable of drawing sound conclusions would have known it from them” (4:83). He further says: “No indeed; they have rejected that which they could not encompass in knowledge” (10:39). Related to this are the commands to consult one another, to take precautions, and never to speak on matters about which one has no knowledge—verses on this theme are numerous.

As for the second category, Allah says: “Race toward forgiveness from your Lord and a Garden as vast as the heavens and the earth” (3:133); “So compete in good works” (2:148); “They hasten to good deeds and are foremost in attaining them” (23:61); and “The foremost, the foremost” (56:10)—that is, those who outrun others in righteous deeds in this world will outstrip them in the Hereafter, entering the Gardens and enjoying the honors prepared there. Verses conveying this meaning are many.