According to human nature—or as acquired, in the view of some sociologists—man is a social being.
He lives among people, is influenced by them, influences them in turn, accepts the group’s value system, and submits to it under the framework of social life. He is even affected by the ideas of society and acts according to the society’s ideological behavior.

Where do we learn manners and upbringing?
Without a doubt, from parents, relatives and others, friends, the media, and all the phenomena surrounding us, whether directly or indirectly. For this reason, the process of upbringing will bear fruit when these factors are brought under control.

Constructive Factors for the Human Being:
After being created and seeing the light of this world, man is influenced by dozens of material and non-material factors on the levels of culture, society, and environment. By “culture,” we mean a set of visions, ideas, hopes, skills, tools, traditions, etiquette, and so on. Culture plays a decisive role in building a person—it can produce healthy, upright individuals or sick, corrupt ones.

Our society is influenced by cultural tools such as books, language, systems, arts, styles, curricula, and religious, economic, social, industrial, military, and governmental institutions, in a relationship of mutual influence. Likewise, social movements stemming from the culture, or which later become part of it, leave their mark on us and exert pressure on us to the point where we gradually become addicted to them.

Human Behavior:
A person’s behavior—whether good or bad, right or wrong—stems from the values prevailing in society, which correspond to its culture in varying degrees. Purity, diligence, service, betrayal, attack, and defense are all learned from society and culture.

In the cultural sense, a person is a building block of the society’s prevailing culture. From it, he learns goals, methods, duties, beliefs, friendship, enmity, politeness, tricks, and deception. From society’s culture, he absorbs etiquette, ceremonies, and ways of thinking—even ways of growing.

Thus, many forms of deviation and abnormality stem from inherited corruption or the imitation of wrongful behavior common in society—learned directly or indirectly from peers, role models, and friends, and later ingrained. Therefore, if society is to be reformed, its culture must first be reformed.

The Role of the Environment:
By “environment,” we mean all factors and conditions surrounding a person. These may be material, moral, dietary, geographic, social, political, cultural, military, medicinal, etc., and may stem from the home, school, society, and so forth. In other words, the environment is the set of causes and reasons that create a particular type of feeling and thinking in individuals, shaping their personality in life.

The environment builds a person—and sometimes destroys him. An environment filled with overcrowding, pollution, corruption, and deviation makes reform and construction nearly impossible—and if they happen, only to a very small degree. Likewise, in a diseased environment, health is impossible. Therefore, reform and well-being naturally require removing the sources of pollution. Many honest, pure individuals have been swept away after living in a corrupt environment, while many corrupt, deviant people have joined the ranks of the righteous after living in a good one.

The Role of Peers and Friends:
The influence of a child’s friends sometimes exceeds that of the father and mother. A child learns moral principles, social values, governmental systems, etiquette, types of relationships, and responsibilities usually from friends. There is no doubt that keeping company with rude, evil, or ill-mannered individuals affects a child—just as keeping company with polite, truthful, and virtuous ones does.

While we affirm the child’s need for friends and playmates, we do not believe it is correct for the child to befriend just anyone. A wrong or aggressive friend only adds concepts of aggression and violence and may aggravate deviation and abnormal tendencies in the child.

Some families try to protect their children from indecent scenes, harmful films, and deceit, yet their children encounter these same harmful things through their friends.

The Role of Ideas and Philosophies:
Much corruption and pollution stem from the way of thinking and the philosophy prevailing in society. Ugly proverbs and expressions pave the way for the spread of corruption among children and youth, making it necessary to work effectively against intellectual deviation, pessimism, philosophical despair, and views that lead people to apathy and moral decay.

Some cultures strip people of independent thought, movement, and effort, making children submissive. Sometimes prevailing ideas and philosophies take away the concept of unity and instill false and deceptive values. Certain standards work to create cracks in existing visions, then fill them with distorted values. All these matters must be considered, and effective solutions found.

The Role of the Media:
Media—radio, television, cinema, etc.—play an exceptional role in building or raising individuals. Parents who allow their children to benefit from these media must take into account the moral aspect and content of the programs, especially since many of these programs are not only unsuitable for children but also harmful.

Excessive exposure to these media should be avoided unless their children’s programs align with our doctrinal approach. However, the current situation shows that many of them lack educational content, and some even pave the way for deviation from proper behavior, teaching wrong habits and ideas—the same applies to plays.

The Role of Publications:
Reading books, magazines, and newspapers is very good for transmitting cultural heritage and raising children’s awareness—provided their content is useful and builds the child’s personality.

Publications should transmit ideas supported by society and religion and introduce the child to positive matters; otherwise, corrupt publications must be confronted. Some school curricula also lack useful, constructive programs and are almost a means of fostering corruption and pollution. Certain stories and plays prepared for children cause them sadness. Yes, reading is good—but what book, what magazine, what newspaper, and what kind of information are we feeding them? In other words, we must prevent reading materials that instill hatred, enmity, and corruption in children.

The Role of Other Factors:
Other factors leaving their mark in this field include customs, traditions, norms, the political approach, government, and prevailing systems and regulations—each affecting the individual positively or negatively.

The influence of these factors can be so great that they are reflected in our private lives. If a dictatorial system prevails, it penetrates every aspect of our lives and drives us to adopt similar methods. Every child’s—indeed, every person’s—personality is linked to the surrounding factors and influenced by them, leading us to believe in the need for oversight and evaluation.

The Need for Evaluation:
Many of our problems stem from forgetting in what era and under what conditions we live. Is what is transmitted to us—or even imposed upon us—under the title of “universal culture” pure, clean, and free of corruption and pollution, or not?

Raising children is the most important duty in family life, and we bear a great responsibility for what we transmit to them—especially since they are the builders of the future.

Today, cultural heritage has become so complex and intertwined that it requires evaluating every culture, not passing by it carelessly. We must identify the positive and negative points, reject its illusions, myths, elements of corruption, and harmful imports from both Western and Eastern cultures, and adopt its correct views and etiquette, transmitting them to the child.

The Need for Oversight:
It is necessary to build and reform society and its culture and to impose oversight on cultural sectors if we wish to raise and rehabilitate children—and indeed the entire generation suffering from abnormal conditions. Parents must provide an environment where the child can grow healthily and accomplish useful, positive work without being subjected to injustice or harm.

The great importance of upbringing makes us feel a heavy responsibility toward children and consider educational requirements. A society dominated by deviance, betrayal, deception, and chaos cannot—or finds it very difficult—to achieve progress and success in education. Likewise, in a society of moral decay and disorder, it is very difficult for our children to be as we wish and to keep them safe from dangers.

The Duty of the People:
In an Islamic society, people must reform themselves—not only as a legal religious obligation, but also as a human and moral duty. People must monitor their words, relationships, ways of dealing, and behavior to ensure their morals and actions conform to religion; otherwise, they harm only themselves.

In an Islamic society, people must build each other up, enjoin good, cooperate, be good examples for each other, and serve as mirrors to one another—enjoining right and forbidding wrong.

There is no place for indifference in an Islamic society—no room or right for moral decay. No one has the right to openly display corruption or submit to wrongs, for the shared spirit of society prevails, and thoughts and feelings influence each other. If one person becomes corrupt, he will inevitably pave the way for others’ corruption.

In spreading good habits, people must watch their behavior, pointing out each other’s faults, preventing the emergence of wrong situations. As the Qur’an puts it, “They are allies of one another”—reforming each other’s deviations, solving problems, and exchanging goodwill. Whether society is united or divided, dominated by brotherhood or enmity, its parts influence each other. Islam calls for oversight of all aspects of life.

The Duty of the Government:
The Islamic government has wide powers to build and reform society—combating wrongs while respecting people, preserving rights, defending human dignity and honor, aiming to build an elevated human life free of corruption.

From the Islamic viewpoint, public sinners are met with public punishment to serve as a lesson to others and deter them from such acts. Therefore, the government in an Islamic society must limit the spread of sins, forbidden scenes, gambling, immorality, and chaos. Islamic rulings and penalties have their say in this matter.

In conclusion, raising and reforming the generation requires that some efforts be devoted to reforming society and its prevailing culture—criticizing, evaluating, and purifying it as much as possible. Otherwise, reform would be impossible—or, if it happens, to a very limited degree.