“And whosoever obeys God and His Messenger, fears God, and keeps his duty (to Him), such are the successful ones.” (Quran 24:52)
Respect One of the Foundations of Faith in Islam
To treat someone with respect means to treat them with high regard, with honour. In Islam, respect is one of the foundations of faith, and one of the pillar stones of Akhlaq.Respect should be given to everything, because everything has been created for a purpose, and it is that purpose we should respect.
Once Allah asked one of the Prophets to go around the lands and find the worst, most useless creature in existence. The prophet went around looking. He saw many things, then at last he saw a dog. The dog was old and crippled, had fleas and was in a terrible state. He looked at the dog and answered to Allah, Oh Allah, I have wandered around and have seen many sights which I thought were terrible, but this dog is the worst. Oh Allah, but even after seeing this dog, I still can not do what you have asked me, because how can I call useless anything which You have created?
Allah told him that this was the lesson that He wanted the Prophet to learn.
There are many kinds of respect e.g. to parents, elders, neighbours etc.. The foremost respect goes to our Creator Allah.
Respect to (and Duties Towards) Allah:
Allah is our Creator and our Sustainer (he keeps us alive). In Qur'an, Allah says in Surah 11 verse 6:
And there is no animal on the earth but on Allah is the sustenance of it and He knows its resting place and its depository (place of safe keeping); all (things) are in manifest (truth) book.
From the above verse, we can say that He, our Lord should be respected most as He gives us that life force that allows us to breathe, to make our heart beat, to think, to LIVE.
How should we respect Allah ?
We should respect Allah by obeying all his compulsory acts laid down in the Holy Qur'an for our benefit and to thank Him for everything He has blessed us with.
