Effects of Concealing Truth in Society
This is according to Ayatollah Mohsen Faqihi, a seminary scholar, who made the remarks in a session held to interpret Surah al-Baqarah. Here are excerpts from his speech:
All the differences that arise in society are rooted in the concealment of the truth; of course, some people conduct some deeds intentionally, but others may do them without any intention and due to ignorance; if all those who recognize the truth comply with their duty, that is, to clarify the truth, we will not see many challenges in the society. Failure to admit the truth misguides part of society as an anomaly becomes the norm.
Division in Islamic Ummah tooted in denial of truth
It is compulsory for everyone to talk about the truth and avoid concealing it because the latter disrupts society and incurs damage to people both in this and the next world. Of course, if someone can compensate, Allah may forgive him, but such sins cannot be compensated sometime. Sometimes there are financial issues and a person solves his problem by paying debts to the heirs of the deceased, but if someone is misguided by the concealment of the truth, his afterlife is affected and perhaps it is impossible to compensate for this.
Some of today’s problems are due to this concealment of facts because there are some who are aware of issues that can alleviate problems but they do not announce them because there are worldly and material gains in this concealment; for instance, they may cover up the crimes that a judge or a minister or a parliamentarian has committed.
This is the most important problem in any society. The root of most social problems lies in concealing the truth. Enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong find meaning when the good and the wrong are clearly distinguished. Concealment of the truth will disrupt the borderline between the good and the wrong.
If people know the wrong, they will oppose it naturally but when the wrong is concealed, people will become passive. Some people sometimes do bad deeds and then say they don’t believe that what they have done was wrong; this is so dangerous.
You can now see that the denial of truth has led to differences and bloodshed in the Muslim world. This is because a section of scholars, rulers, or influential people denied the truth and failed to defend it when it was necessary.
