Question of Ethics - Dec.30, 2014

QUESTION OF ETHICS – DEC. 30, 2014

A few months back this year, I shared a story with the email group. It was an Islamic story with a message and lesson received from Ms. Nighat Khan in UK. Do you know what happened next? Mr. Sarfaraz A. Rehman who is CEO of Engro Foods (a local company, manufacturers of Olper’s Milk apart from other products) wrote to me and asked me if he could rewrite it to include it in his blog. Just check the level of humility and ethics! I replied that he could very well rewrite it as rewriting is an accepted norm in the cyber world and in fact he didn’t even have to ask me. Now let’s compare this with another person who received the same story from me, an In-charge of an Islamic and patriotic magazine. That person included the whole story as it is in the magazine which I later found out. Even though we were frequently communicating those days otherwise, the person did not feel the need to ask me about it.

The point is not to talk bad about someone (name is not given for that matter) but we can see how two people behaved differently. One is a very senior professional with close to 30 years of corporate experience and heading a big firm, while the other is someone in-charge of an Islamic magazine with patriotic theme and much junior to me in age and experience (I would not hold that person responsible for any 'offense' even then but the difference is quite obvious).

Hence, dear friends, this is just a lesson with a caveat that it is not necessary if someone is running an Islamic cause or institute, then they might be conforming to high standards of ethics as well. Another lesson is that ‘sometimes’ we might see more ethics in private firms with liberal environments than in Islamic institutes, Masjid or people running Islamic causes. I didn’t mean to disappoint you but this is the sad reality and as someone who is himself trying to contribute something, I might be your culprit as well and needs to be corrected at times!

- S Roman Ahsan.