Criticism often appears on everyday conversation with others. It is usually used to warn or advise people for their habit, act and behavior.
An Islamic scholar, Professor Murad bin Ahmad al-Qudsi, once said that people could not utter every criticism they had in mind. The best criticism to be delivered are those leading to goodness and full of positive spirit. Meanwhile, destructive criticism must be avoided.
Destructive criticism is such as attacking someone personally for his/her physical disability. Other indicator of destructive criticism are evaluating someone negatively without any firm evidence and insulting someone without objective and proportional view. Such criticism can be seen from the scale of objectivity.
Professor Murad said the criticism emerged due to some factors, such as envy and spite, pushed by anger. He admitted that it was not easy to turn down the emotion.
Criticism can also be triggered by excessive fanaticism towards a figure, tradition, and view. One of the companions of Muhammad PBUH, Abdullah bin Masud, said that there was no exemplary term for infamy.
The cause is indeed trivial, yet it affects the productivity of people. Without activity, people could do unfavorable things, including criticizing others.
Professor Muraid said the cure to destructive criticism was to give them an understanding of the importance of fear towards God. Should people implement it, they would have responsibility for their utterance.
The other cure is objective stance even though they do not get along with each other. This cure is also supported with proportional attitude. It means that people should not evaluate someone excessively and should admit someones ability.
But, most of all the important way to cure destructive criticism is to turn to our deficiency. By turning to ourselves, we can divert our focus from mocking others.