Compiled by Jawed Anwar

The Quran addresses numerous social evils through direct prohibitions, warnings, and exhortations to justice and morality. Below, I have compiled key verses focusing on major social evils such as same-sex relationships (covered in my previous article), intoxicants, gambling, usury, adultery, false accusation, corruption, injustice, bribery, hoarding, backbiting, and general indecencies. These are not exhaustive but represent core teachings. Verses are grouped by theme for clarity, with Maulana Maududi’s English translation. Readers can access the tafseer (commentary) via the links to the verses.

1. Intoxicants and Gambling

These are condemned as abominations that sow enmity and distract from faith.

• Surah Al-Ma'idah (5:90-91)

(5:90) Believers! Intoxicants, games of chance, idolatrous sacrifices at altars, and divining arrows are all abominations, the handiwork of Satan. So turn wholly away from it that you may attain to true success.

(5:91) By intoxicants and games of chance Satan only desires to create enmity and hatred between you, and to turn you away from the remembrance of Allah and from Prayer. Will you, then, desist?

• Surah Al-Baqarah (2:219)

(2:219) They ask you about wine and games of chance. Say: “In both these there is great evil, even though there is some benefit for people, but their evil is greater than their benefit.”

They ask: “What should we spend in the Way of Allah?” Say: “Whatever you can spare.” In this way Allah clearly expounds His injunctions to you that you may reflect upon them,

2. Adultery/Fornication (Zina)Fornication is an outrageous evil, punishable to deter societal decay.

• Surah An-Nur (24:1-3)

(24:1) This is a surah which We have revealed, and which We have made obligatory; We have revealed in it clear instructions1 so that you may take heed.
obligatory; We have revealed in it clear instructions so that you may take heed.

(24:2) Those who fornicate - whether female or male - flog each one of them with a hundred lashes. And let not tenderness for them deter you from what pertains to Allah's religion, if you do truly believe in Allah and the Last Day3; and let a party of believers witness their punishment.

(24:3) Let the fornicator not marry any except a fornicatress or idolatress and let the fornicatress not marry any except a fornicator or an idolater. That is forbidden to the believers.
 

• Surah Al-Isra (17:32)

(17:32) Do not even approach fornication for it is an outrageous act, and an evil way.

3. False Accusation of Adultery (Qadhf/Slander):

Spreading calumny destroys trust and invites severe punishment.

• Surah An-Nur (24:11-12, 24: 23)

(24:11) Surely those who invented this calumny8 are a band from among you.9 Do not deem this incident an evil for you; nay, it is good for you.10 Every one of them has accumulated sin in proportion to his share in this guilt;11 and he who has the greater part of it shall suffer a mighty chastisement.

(24:12) When you heard of it, why did the believing men and women not think well of their own folk12 and say: "This is a manifest calumny?"

(24:23) Those that accuse chaste, unwary, believing women,21 have been cursed in the world and the Hereafter, and a mighty chastisement awaits them.

4. Corruption and Mischief (Fasad):

Corruption on earth due to human actions leads to divine retribution.

• Surah Ar-Rum (30:41)

(30:41) Evil has become rife on the land and at sea because of men's deeds; this in order that He may cause them to have a taste of some of their deeds; perhaps they will turn back (from evil).

• Surah Al-Ma'idah (5:33)

(5:33) Those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and go about the earth spreading mischief -indeed their recompense is that they either be done to death, or be crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off from the opposite sides or be banished from the land. Such shall be their degradation in this world; and a mighty chastisement lies in store for them in the World to Come
 

5. Injustice and Oppression (Zulm)

The Quran repeatedly forbids injustice, linking it to broader moral failings.

• Surah An-Nahl (16:90)

(16:90) Surely Allah enjoins justice, kindness and the doing of good to kith and kin, and forbids all that is shameful, evil and oppressive. He exhorts you so that you may be mindful.
(This verse encompasses oppression and injustice as core prohibitions.)

6. Bribery

Bribery is a form of unjust usurpation of wealth.

• Surah Al-Baqarah (2:188)

(2:188) Do not usurp one another’s possessions by false means, nor proffer your possessions to the authorities so that you may sinfully and knowingly usurp a portion of another’s possessions.

7. Hoarding Wealth

Hoarding without spending in God's way invites painful punishment.

• Surah At-Tawbah (9:34-35)

[9:34] Believers! Many of the rabbis and monks wrongfully devour mankind's possessions and hinder people from the Way of Allah. And there are those who amass gold and silver and do not spend it in the Way of Allah. Announce to them the tidings of a painful chastisement

[9:35] on a Day when they shall be heated up in the Fire of Hell, and their foreheads and their sides and their backs shall be branded with it, (and they shall be told): "This is the treasure which you hoarded for yourselves. Taste, then, the punishment for what you have hoarded."

8. Backbiting and Slander

Backbiting is likened to eating the flesh of a dead brother, a grave moral evil.

• Surah Al-Hujurat (49:12)

(49:12) Believers, avoid being excessively suspicious, for some suspicion is a sin. Do not spy, nor backbite one another. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would surely detest it. Have fear of Allah. Surely Allah is much prone to accept repentance, is Most Compassionate.

These verses form the foundational Quranic framework against social evils, emphasizing prevention, justice, and repentance.

For full context, including the commentary, refer to the original source at Towards Understanding Quran

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