The Ethics of Community: A Value-Based Exegesis of Surah Al-Hujurat

Authors

  • K M A Ahamed Zubair The New College, Chennai

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.64420/ijris.v3i1.475

Keywords:

Quranic ethics, community building, social values, human dignity, Educational Values, Islamic social conduct

Abstract

Background: Surah Al-Hujurat is widely recognised as a foundational chapter of Islamic social ethics, yet many interpretations emphasise legal rulings rather than its underlying moral architecture. Objective: This study aims to construct a value-based exegesis that identifies the core ethical principles embedded in the surah as a framework for community formation. Method: Employing thematic and deductive textual analysis, the study systematically examines the verses by organising them into three relational dimensions: human interaction with divine authority, intra-community relations among believers, and engagement with broader humanity. Results: The findings demonstrate that the surah articulates a coherent ethical system grounded in respectful communication, the verification of information, conflict mediation, the protection of dignity, and the safeguarding of privacy. It further establishes piety as the sole criterion of human worth, transcending lineage, ethnicity, and social status. Conclusion: Surah Al-Hujurat offers a comprehensive and enduring moral blueprint for cultivating just and cohesive societies. Contribution: This study advances a structured model of value-based exegesis that enriches contemporary Islamic ethical theory and communal discourse.

References

Al-Ahdab, R. (2022). Al-Ittijāh al-tajdīdī al-qiyamī fīl-dars al-tafsīr: muqārabah naẓariyya [The renewal-based value approach in exegetical study: A theoretical perspective]. *Majallat al-Mudawwanah, 34*, 195–221.

Al-Attas, S. M. N. (1993). Islam and secularism. Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC.

Al-Azmeh, A. (1993). Islamic culture in the Middle Ages. Central European University Press.

Al-Bukhārī, M. ibn I. (2001). Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī [The authentic collection of al-Bukhārī] (M. Z. al-Nāṣir, Ed.). Dār Ṭawq al-Najāh.

Al-Dimasyqi, A.-I. A.-N. (2016). Syarh Shahih Muslim. Dar al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyah.

Allen, C. (2013). Islamophobia. In Islamophobia. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315745077-41

al-Maraghi, M. (2002). Tafsir al-Maraghi. Beirut: Darul Fikir.

Al-Qaradawi, Y. (2010). Islam an introduction. Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust.

al-Qurtubi, A. A. M. ibn A. (2014). Tafsir al-Qurtubi (Vol. 20). Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyah.

Al-Qurṭubī, M. ibn A. (1964). Al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān [The compendium of the rulings of the Qur’an] (A. al-Baraddūnī & I. Aṭṭafayyish, Eds.). Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣrīyah.

Al-Qushayri, I. (2018). Tafsir al-Qushayri. Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-Arabi.

Al-Rāzī, F. (2000). Al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr aw Mafātih al-Gayb, Vol. VII. Dar Al-Hadith.

Al-Rūmī, F. (1997). Ittijāhāt al-tafsīr fī al-qarn al-rābiʿ ʿashar [Trends in exegesis in the fourteenth century]. Muʾassasat al-Risālah.

Al-Sya’rawi, A.-I. A.-M. (2007). Tafsir Al-Sya’rawi. Qitha’ al-Saqafah wa al-Kutub.

Al-Syawkani, M. bin A. (2014). Fath al-Qadir al-Jami’ baina Fannai al-Riwayah wa al-Dirayah min ‘Ilm al-Tafsir, Vol. 5. Dar Ibnu Hazim.

Al-Ṭabarī, M. ibn J. (2000). Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān [The compendium of clarification on the interpretation of the verses of the Qur’an] (A. Shākir, Ed.). Muʾassasat al-Risālah.

Al-Thabathaba’i. (1987). Tafsir Al-Mizan. Islamic Publications Office.

Al-Zuhaily, W. (2009). Al-Tafsir al-Munir fi al-Aqidah wa al-Syariah wa al-Manhaj. Dar al-Fikr.

APS (Applied Social Psychology). (2017). The Role of Religion in Prejudice Enablement and Reduction. Retrieved December 26, 2022, from https://sites.psu.edu/aspsy/2017/09/28/the-role-of-religion-in-prejudice-enablement-and-reduction/

Asani, A. (2002). Celebrating Muhammad: Images of the Prophet in popular Muslim piety. University of South Carolina Press.

Bruckmayr, P. (2017). Sufi traditions and Muslim identity in Southeast Asia. Brill.

Chelini-Pont, B. (2013). Relationship between Stereotyping and the Place of Religion in the Public Sphere. In J. Svartvik, Jesper & Wiren (Ed.), Religious Stereotyping and Interreligious Relations (pp. 75–84). Palgrave Macmillan.

Cook, M. (2000). Commanding right and forbidding wrong in Islamic thought. Cambridge University Press.

Geertz, C. (1977). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books.

Geertz, C. (2013). Religion as a cultural system. In Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion (pp. 1–46). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315017570

Gilsenan, M. (2000). Recognizing Islam: Religion and society in the modern Middle East. I.B. Tauris.

Hanafi, H. (2000). Islam in the modern world: Religion, ideology and development vol. I. Cairo: Dar Kabaa.

Hanafi, H. (2006). Culture and civilizations, conflict or dialogue? Vol. I the meridian thought. Cairo: Book Center for Publishing.

Holt, P. M., Lambton, A. K. S., & Lewis, B. (Eds.). (1970). The Cambridge history of Islam (Vol. 2A). Cambridge University Press.

Jafari, F. (2020). Theological knowledge in Islamic mysticism and gnosticism.” Kanz Philosophia A Journal for Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism 6(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.20871/kpjipm.v6i2.92.

Karama, M. J., & Khater, N. A. (2020). Educational peace theory in the holy qurʾan. Al-Bayān – Journal of Qurʾān and Ḥadīth Studies, 18, 138–154. http://scholar.ppu.edu/bitstream/handle/123456789/2214/1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Khairulnizam, M., & Saili, S. (2009). Inter-faith dialogue: The qur’anic and prophetic perspective. Journal of Usuluddin, 9(2), 65–94.

Khaldun, I. (2015). Muqaddimah. Cairo: Dar-Ibnu al-Aitam.

Kidwai, S. (1996). Hindustani Mufassirein Awr Unki’ Arabi Tafsirein (in Urdu) .(New Delhi:Maktaba Jamiah).

Knysh, A. (2017). Sufism: A new history of Islamic mysticism. Princeton University Press.

Kokan, M. Y. (1960). Arabic and Persian in Carnatic, (Madras: Hafiza House).

Ma’roof M M M. (1995). Spoken Tamil dialect of the Muslims of Sri Lanka: Language as Identity classifier. Islamic Studies 34 (4).

Maqqari al-Tilmisani, A. ibn M. (1631). Nafh al-Tib min Ghusn al-Andalus al-Ratib (8 vols).vol. 1, p. 529. Dar Sader.

Mubarak, Z. (1935). Al-Mada’ih al-Nabawiyyah fi al-Adab al-Arabi [Prophetic Praises in Arabic Literature]. Hindawi Foundation. (Reissued in 2022). https://www.hindawi.org

Nashir, H. (2015). Understanding the ideology of Muhammadiyah. Muhammadiyah University Press.

Nieuwkerk, K. van, LeVine, M., & Stokes, M. (2016). Islam and popular culture. University of Texas Press.

Patji, A. R. (1991). The Arabs of Surabaya: a study of sociocultural integration. Canberra: Australian National University.

Putra, A. D., Purnomo, D., & Utomo, A. W. (2019). Sociological study of harmony in diversity: Lessons from Salatiga. Walisongo: Jurnal Penelitian Sosial Keagamaan, 27(1), 69–98. https://doi.org/10.21580/ws.27.1.3504

Ridwan, M., & Robikah, S. (2019). Ethical vision of the qur’an: Interpreting concept of the qur’anic sociology in developing religious harmony. Jurnal Ilmiah Islam Futura, 18(2), 308–326. http://dx.doi.org/10.22373/jiif.v19i2.5444

Saerozi, M. (2017). Dynamics of the development of istiqomah mosque in front of a church in Ungaran Central Java Indonesia. Journal of Indonesian Islam, 11(02), 423–458. https://doi.org/10.15642/JIIS.2017.11.2.423-458

Saged, A. A. (2021). Honoring the human self with a world peace study in the light of purposes the holy quran. Quranika: Journal of Libahuts Qur’an, 19(2), 223–234.

Schimmel, A. (1985). And Muhammad is his messenger: The veneration of the Prophet in Islamic piety. University of North Carolina Press

Shareef, M. M., & Bad’iuddin Șabri. (2008). Development of Tafseer Literature in India, (Hyderabad: Osmania University).

Shihab, M. Q. (2004). Tafsir al-mishbah. Jakarta: Lentera Hati.

Shu’aib, Tayka. (1993). Arabic, Arwi and Persian in Sarandib and Tamil Nadu, (Chennai: Imaamul Aroos Trust).

Thabari, I. J. (1999). Tafsir al Thabari. Kairo: Dar al Fikr.

Trimingham, J. S. (1998). The Sufi orders in Islam. Oxford University Press.

Wadud, A. (1999). Qur'an and woman: Rereading the sacred text from a woman's perspective. Oxford University Press.

Zubair, K. M. A. A. (2013). Qasaid al-Madaih al-Nabaviyya fi Tamil Nadu, (in Arabic), Thaqafatul ḥind 64, (4).

Zubair, K. M. A. A. (2022). A study on Mawlid literature in Tamil Nadu: Special reference to the anthology Withriyya. Al-Bukhari Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, 2(1). Retrieved from http://albukharijournal.in/index.php/abjais/article/view/58

Zubair, K. M. A. A. (2023). Pioneer of Arabic Verse in Tamil Nadu: Shaik Sadaqathullah Appa. GlobeEdit.

Zubair, K. M. A. A. (2024). Arabic panegyrics on the Prophet in Tamil Nadu state of India: Cultural reverence. Ijaz Arabi Journal of Arabic Learning Learning, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.18860/ijazarabi.v7i3.23787

Downloads

Published

2026-03-22

How to Cite

Zubair, K. M. A. A. . (2026). The Ethics of Community: A Value-Based Exegesis of Surah Al-Hujurat. Indonesian Journal of Research in Islamic Studies, 3(1), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.64420/ijris.v3i1.475