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What are the morals of other religions, by analogy to the moral of the religion of Islam being modesty?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The Hadith: "Every religion has a character, and the character of Islam is modesty (al-Hayaa')" was narrated by Imam Malik in Al-Muwatta. Ibn Abd al-Barr said about it: "It is an authenticated (musnad) Hadith from several perspectives," while Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani stated that it is a Mursal (indirectly transmitted) Hadith.

Al-Baji explained the Hadith to mean that every religion has a nature (sajiyya) that was legislated within it or that characterizes its followers. He said that the character of Islam is modesty, which is specific to the people of Islam. However, the intended modesty is the lawful kind, which does not prevent seeking knowledge and understanding in religion, as was reported from Aisha and Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with them both).

Al-Zarqani mentioned that the meaning of the Hadith is that the prevailing characteristic among the followers of every religion, other than Islam, is something other than modesty. As for the people of Islam, modesty is their prevailing characteristic because it perfects noble manners.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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