The Effects of Corruption in Society (Part 1)

The Arabic term for corruption in the Quran is الْفَسَادَ (l-fasāda). It comes from the root ف س د and occurs fifty times in the Quran. Oftentimes it is translated as “committing evil” as is seen in the first occurrence of this root, in the following verse, where it is addressing the hypocrites and their response:

2:11 When they are told, “Do not commit evil,” they say, “But we are righteous!”

وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ لَا تُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ قَالُوا إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُصْلِحُونَ

The derivative meanings of the root ف س د are the following:

It is interesting that both in English and Arabic the word for corruption also means to decay or rot.

The similarity between these two meanings is that corruption in society causes more corruption, just like spoilage creates the environment for further spoilage.

When fruits like apples and pears ripen they produce a gaseous hormone called ethylene, which is, among other things, a ripening agent. When you store fruits together, the ethylene that each piece emits causes the others around it to ripen further causing a positive feedback loop.

The riper a piece of fruit is, the more ethylene it produces, and overripe fruit gives off even more ethylene, eventually leading to a concentration of the gas that’s enough to over-ripen all the fruit. Given the right conditions and enough time, one apple can push all the fruit around it to ripen—and eventually rot. Additionally, an apple that is infested with mold will contaminate other fruit it’s stored with as the mold seeks additional food sources and spreads. In both cases, it actually does take just one single apple to start a domino chain that ruins the rest of the bunch.