is widespread among them. At the bottom of this moral defect is their pride and their inabilityto follow high morality.
This pride reveals itself in various ways and for various reasons. They want to be the most superior
people in their society, and so they mock whatever good characteristics they see in other people to belittle them, demean them in the eyes of others, and destroy their morale. They do not want them to
earn another person's admiration and praise. Since they do not live according to the true love, compassion, and mercy of Allah, they do not hesitate to harm each other through mockery.
Everyday life is filled with examples of this. The unbelievers mock their friends or other people by picking on their defects, physical blemishes, or mistakes. When they see someone stumble, choke
on some food, or make a slip of the tongue, they resort to harassment accompanied by prolonged and exaggerated laughter. Afterward, they continue to deride that person by trying to implant feelings of shame through a pattern of constantly remindinghim/her about it. The people they mock display exactly the samemoral defect, for they also mock anyone they can when the opportunity presents itself.
In other words, it is as if these people have established a kind of tacit acceptance of this behavior. When they are mocked, they try to deflect the mockery by laughing louder than those who are laughing at them. Even when they are deeply hurt, they try to hide it, because they think that if it's realized by others that they are hurt it would be demeaning for them.
