Love, Honesty and Truthfulness

1Why this topic matters

A classmate drops a 5,000 Frw note in the corridor. Nobody sees you pick it up. A neighbour's child is sick and her parents have no money for transport to the health centre. What would love, honesty and truthfulness ask of you? Christianity and Islam both place these values at the heart of faith.

21. Love

Love here means more than a feeling: it is choosing the good of another person, even at a cost to yourself. In Kinyarwanda, urukundo.

In Christianity. Jesus said: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another." (John 13:34). Paul described what love is like: "Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud" (1 Corinthians 13:4). Love must be practical: "let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth." (1 John 3:18). In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30–37), a man from a despised group stops to care for a wounded stranger whom religious leaders had passed by; Jesus teaches that a true neighbour is "He who showed mercy on him." (Luke 10:37)

In Islam. One of the names of Allah is al-Wadud, the Loving: "And He is the Forgiving, the Loving" (Qur'an 85:14). The Qur'an describes the righteous as one who "giveth wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask" (Qur'an 2:177). A wayfarer is a traveller. Believers who feed the hungry say: "We feed you, for the sake of Allah only. We wish for no reward nor thanks from you" (Qur'an 76:9). The Prophet Muhammad taught that none of you truly believes until he wants for his brother what he wants for himself (reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim).

32. Honesty and truthfulness

Honesty means not cheating, stealing or deceiving. Truthfulness means saying what is true and keeping your word.

In Christianity. "Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who do the truth are his delight." (Proverbs 12:22). An abomination is something God hates. "Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbour" (Ephesians 4:25). Jesus said: "But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’" (Matthew 5:37), and "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much." (Luke 16:10). When the tax collector Zacchaeus met Jesus, he promised: "If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much." (Luke 19:8)

In Islam. "O ye who believe! Be careful of your duty to Allah, and be with the truthful." (Qur'an 9:119). "Confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal the truth." (Qur'an 2:42). Confound means "mix up". The Qur'an also warns against saying one thing and doing another: "O ye who believe! Why say ye that which ye do not?" (Qur'an 61:2). Long before he became a prophet, the people of Mecca called Muhammad al-Amin, "the Trustworthy". He taught that truthfulness leads to goodness and goodness leads to Paradise (reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim).

4These values in Rwanda today

• Visiting and helping the sick, orphans and vulnerable families is love in action.
• Rwanda has a policy of zero tolerance for corruption, and the Office of the Ombudsman works to fight it. Honest citizens refuse to give or take bribes.
• Honest scales at the market, honest exams at school and truthful witnesses in court all depend on these values.

Worked example

Question: Explain how a Christian and a Muslim student should act if they find a classmate's money. (4 marks)

Model answer: A Christian student should return the money, because the Bible teaches honesty even in small things: "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much" (Luke 16:10) (2 marks). A Muslim student should also return it, because the Qur'an commands believers to "be with the truthful" (Qur'an 9:119) and the Prophet was known as al-Amin, the Trustworthy (2 marks).

Practice