Introduction:

The word ‘bully’ was used for the first time in 1530. It was used for the sweet heart regardless of the sex. The meaning underwent a change and it has been used for the harassment of the weak since 1700. Bullying means when one person (the bully), or a group of persons, targets another person (the bullied) with repeated direct or indirect negative actions over a period of time which are harmful to the target either emotionally or physically.^[1] A negative action occurs when a person knowingly inflicts, or attempts to inflict, physical or emotional injury or discomfort upon another person. It is a very serious social problem and many students have committed suicide after being bullied. It was considered as an innocent misadventure on part of the school boys.^[2]

عن ابراهيم اسود قال کُنا عند عائشه (رض) فسقط فسطاط علی انسان فضحکوا فقالت عائشة (رض) لا سُخر سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم یقول مامن مسلمِ .یشاک شوكه فما فوقها الا رفعه الله بها درجه وحط عنه بها خطيئه.

It has been narrated by Hazrat Ibrahi Aswad, “ We were sitting with Hazrat Ayesha, a tent fell down on a person, the people present there laughed at him. On this Hazrat Ayesha said,don’t make fun of anyone, I heard the Holy Prophet (SAW) that a thorn is not for pricking a Muslim but with that Allah Almighty raised the rank of the person pricked and erase one of his sins”.^[3]

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said:

“A Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand the Muslims are safe”.^[4]

“Help your brother whether he is an oppressor or oppressed”.^[5]

Jabir Bin Saleem narrated, the Holy Prophet (SAW) Said,” don’t abuse anyone”^[6]

عن جابربن سلیم (رض) اَن النبی صلى الله عليه وسلم قال لا تسبن اخدا

The common forms of bullying are yelling, intimidating, name-calling, accusing, humiliating, belittling, using sarcasm, putting you down, rejecting your opinion, threatening, ridiculing, criticizing, insulting, blaming, mocking, treating you his scorn, disparaging one’s ideas and trivializing his desires^[7] Usually children are in a fix by dent of various forms of bullying. Bullying is antisocial behavior which will be treated properly.^[8] In bullying the victim is tortured repeatedly by the same bully physically and emotionally which is not liked by the bullied person. There is always an imbalance of power between the bully and the victim.^[9]

Bullying is the wilful, conscious desire to hurt other people and put them under stress. The Bullied are the victims of negative action and are not in a position to save themselves.^[10]

Bullying is when a less powerful person is oppressed, psychologically or physically, time and again by a more powerful one. Bullying can be defined as the use of one's strength or status to intimidate, injure, or humiliate another person of lesser strength or status.^[11]

عن ابن عباس (رض) قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم لا تمار اخاک ولا تمازحه ولا تعده موعدا فتخلف

As narrated by Ibn e Abbas (RA), the Prophet (SAW) said, “Don’t quarrel with your brother, nor make him the victim of fun, nor promise him such which you couldn’t fulfill”.^[12]

Bullying in schools is one of the least understood and considered area in Pakistan. Bullies are people who use their strength or power and speech, to hurt or frighten the weaker around them. A bully by a definition is a tough aggressive man who hurts or frightens other people.^[13]

Those students are called bullies who are involved in such activities and did not get bullied themselves.^[14] Bullying is the name of aggressive attitude, a bully, bullies because they want to show their superiority over others. They want other people to obey them. They adopt aggression and violence. They torture other by threatening, insulting or scaring others. They want others to feel bad like him.^[15]

عن عبدالله ابن عمر(رض) قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم المسلم من سلم المسلمون من لسانه ويده

Narrated by Abdullah Ibin-e-Omar, the Holy Prophet(SAW) Said, “the perfect Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hands another Muslim remain safe”^[16]

عن ابن مسعود (رض) قال قال رسول االله صلى الله عليه وسلم لیس المومن بالطعان ولا با للعان ولا الفاحش ولا البذی

Ibn e Masood narrated that the Holy Prophet said, “Neither the Muslim make others feel awkward nor wish curse, nor say bad things and nor say vulgar things”.^[17]

عن ابى هريرة (رض) قال قال رسول الله (ص) من حُسن اسلام المرء تركه مالا یعنيه

According to Abu Horara (RA) The holy Prophet said, “the best virtue in a man is to shun absurdity”.^[18]

عبداللہ بن مسعود (رض) قال قال رسول اللہﷺسباب المسلم فسوق و قتالہ کفر

عبدالله بن مسعود (رض) قال قال رسول الله (ص) سباب المسلم فسوق و قتاله کفر

According to Abdullah Bin Masood, the Holy Prophet (SAW) said, “Abusing a Muslim is a sin and quarreling with him is disobedience”.^[19]

Bullying is the name of action of an individual or a group of individuals who frighten by threatening, physically, psychologically, socially, verbally or emotionally to another individual. It is also the name of hitting, name calling which make a person angry, hurt or upset.^[20]

A tongue is a small piece of meat but it has lasting impact. Not only does it detect the taste of food but also the source to show your feeling for others. From the use of tongue we can deduct others’ emotion. We should be very careful about the use of the tongue as it is the source of one’s progress as well as downfall. Therefore the Holy Quran has stressed for the correct use of the tongue.^[21]

In the Holy Quran Allah Almighty says:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا، يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ.

“O, you who have faith! And speak upright words. He shall rectify your conduct for you and He shall forgive you your sins”.^[22]

Incorporate what Islam says about injustice and oppression and the duty of Muslims to protect one another.  The use of posters around us is another example. Quran states clearly:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَسْخَرْ قَومٌ مِّن قَوْمٍ عَسَى أَن يَكُونُوا خَيْرًا مِّنْهُمْ وَلَا نِسَاء مِّن نِّسَاء عَسَى أَن يَكُنَّ خَيْرًا مِّنْهُنَّ وَلَا تَلْمِزُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ بِئْسَ الاِسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْإِيمَانِ وَمَن لَّمْ يَتُبْ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ

1. “O you who believe! Let not a group scoff at another group, it may be that the latter are better than the former; nor let (some) women scoff at other women, it may be that the latter are better than the former, nor defame one another, nor insult one another by nicknames. How bad is it, to insult one’s brother after having Faith and whosoever does not repent, then such are indeed wrong-doers.”^[23]

TAMASKHAR means to downcast or to make someone feel small in the eyes of others and it is forbidden.

Generally verbal bullying is not identified by many people and many have no solution even if they know that they are being bullied.^[24]

The results of the study conducted by “Free Yourself from an Abusive Relationship”^[25] support of the researchers that verbal abuse is like a thief in the darkness that is devastating, intimidating and plundering the victim. It results in the destruction of emotion and physical ailment. Its consequences are very severe as it destroy the shape and leave lasting effects. Verbal bullying is like slow poisoning. It destroys love. It is an Arabic saying; the tongue is very small in its volume but is very big in committing the crime.^[26]

وَلَا تَلْمِزُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ

“And do not call one another with bad name”^[27]

Some verses highlight the non-verbal bullying.  Verbal bullying can have even larger and everlasting harmful effects on the sufferers than physical bullying.  Majority of us have listened, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” however, we soon realize that sometimes words can upset more than anything else.

عن ابى هريرة (رض) ان رسول الله (ص) قال لا تحاسدوا ولاتناجشوا ولاتدابروا ولا یبع بغضکم علی بیع بعض وکونوا عباد الله اخوانا المسلم اخو المسلم لا یظلمه ولایحقره التقوی ههنا یشیر الی صدره ثلاث مرات بحسب امری من الشران یحقر اخاه المسلم کل المسلم حرام دمه وماله وعرضه (12)

(12) (صحیح مسلم و ترمزی جلد الثانی فی ص457 مکتبه رحمانيه)

Hazrat Abu Hurara (RA) narrated, the Holy Prophet (SAW) said, “ Do not be jealous amongst yourselves, and do not raise the price and do not abandon relation and do not bargain on one another and O people of Allah become brothers, one Muslim is the brother of another Muslim, he should neither be cruel to him nor humiliate him and not make him feel small”. The Holy prophet (SAW) pointed three times towards his chest and said, “Virtue is here, humiliation of your Muslim brother is a sin. The life, property and honour of one Muslim is forbidden on another”.^[28]

The victims of hyper/aggressive people start violent and aggressive behavior and consider himself humiliated and depressed. They do not want to keep any relation further with the bully.^[29] The same idea has been presented in the above Hadith. The researchers also concluded that more aggression from the bullied is resulting in more bullying from the bullies. So they start self-destruction; more start the use of narcotics, smoking or drinking.

Conclusion:

The topic of the article is extremely important. Bullying is a global issue not confine to a particular country. It causes severe psychological and social problems if not tackled skilfully in time. The overall conclusion of the article under study is a large number of verses and Hadiths of the prophet (SAW) which identified verbal, physical and psychological bullying and there are no proper strategies for its prevention. It is the need of the time to include such Hadiths and verses from the Holy Quran in our school curricula which may help us to get rid of such a complicated social problem. Anti-bullying strategies may be propagated in public through electronic and print media

References