Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism
In Zoroastrianism, the footprint of the golden rule can be found in the Gathas, the oldest poems and
teachings of Zoroaster. According to one part of the Gathas, happiness that everyone wishes to achieve
is possible in the light of making other people happy. Mazda, God's absolute commander decreed that:
“The fortunate person is one who makes others happy”. The doctrine is connected to the golden rule in
that the happiness is achievable when the person, first, thinks of others and secondly, does everything
to make other people happy (Gharamaleki, 2014: 86).
Judaism
In the Holy Scripture and Exodus in Judaism, it is written that, “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress
him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22: 21). “Do not oppress a foreigner; you
yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt” (Exodus 23: 9). In
these verses, the scripture resorted to the golden rule to express prohibition of violence against
strangers. That is, according to these verses, the golden rule is in a position to justify the prohibition of
cruelty to others, even strangers (Karimi Laski and Faramarz Gharamaleki, 2015: 80). There is another
verse in the Torah that is known as “the command of love”: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a
grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Tanakh, 230;
Leviticus 19: 18). The golden rule and the command of love are complementary. The command of the
Holy Scripture urges kindness to others and the golden rule provides a practical way to carry out this
command (Gensler 1998: 113 & 2013: 39).
Christianity
In Christianity, the golden rule is addressed in the Gospel of Matthew and in the command of love “So in
everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the
Prophets” (Matthew 7: 12). Elsewhere, it commands: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”
(Matthew 22: 39). The first paragraph recommends the positive form of the golden rule and what is
remarkable here is its emphasis on its being a law and being attributed to all prophets. The second
paragraph refers to the command of love that was stated in the Old Testament. The golden rule is
integrally required for running the command.
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Islam
Several verses of the Holy Quran refer to the golden rule. The first verses in which the golden rule is
stated more explicitly are those of Surah Al- Mutaffifin: “Woe to the diminishers, who, when people
measure for them, take full measure but when they measure or weigh for others, they reduce!”
(Mutaffifin: 1-3). The provisions of this verse indicates that those who disregard this golden rule, and
take full measure for themselves and reduces it for others are condemned. This condemnation, actually,
is an emphasis on compliance with the golden rule. The other verse is the verse 267 in Surah Al-Baqarah
that forbids spending bad properties for the poor. The content of the verse implies that the reason for
this prohibition is non-compliance with the golden rule (Karimi Laski and Faramarz. Gharamaleki, 2015:
91), “Believers, spend of the good you have earned and of that which We have brought out of the earth
for you. And do not intend the bad of it for your spending; while you would never take it yourselves,
except you closed an eye on it. Know that Allah is Rich, the Praised” (Al-Baqarah: 267).
The golden rule and its consequences for world peace
The golden rule that is the common denominator among religions respects the spirit of morality. As
previously mentioned, the rule “treat others as you wish others to behave with you”, if combined with
knowledge and imagination, becomes a powerful and effective tool that will make peace possible. The
purpose of knowledge is to be aware of the impact of one’s behavior on the lives of others, and the
purpose of imagination is to carefully and clearly imagine oneself in the position of others and subject
oneself to the same behavior. However, the consequence of the golden rule for peace is that every
human being with due regards for the law, along with knowledge and imagination, accepts and
promotes a culture of peace. In fact, the supporters of peace are people who consider their own need
for peace and reconciliation and according to the golden rule, put themselves in the position of others
and regard it as the need of other people and thus provide peace and reconciliation for others.
Therefore, the golden rule aims to establish global peace and unity and harmony among all human
beings.

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Zoroastrianism

The golden rule and its consequences for world peace

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