Turning away from the faults and shortcomings of others
Contributor:
Coverage:
Creator: Amjad Rafiq
Date:
Description:
Format: text
Identifier: http://www.islamworld.net/faults.html
Language: en
Publisher:
Relation:
Rights:
Source:
Subject: character
Title: Turning away from the faults and shortcomings of others
Created on: Wed Dec 26 13:31:41 -0500 2007
Updated on: Wed Dec 26 13:31:41 -0500 2007
Version: 1
Abstract: ... t his own self and to see what he is worth THREE:How should a Muslim look at others The best place to look for these two points is the companions and the people of the past because they possess an excellence which none other than them have. The Prophet (saws) said: "The best generation is my generation then those that follow them, then those that follow them". So this is an indication from the Prophet (saws) that the best people to turn to in order to see Eemaan and Islaam being practised is the first three generations. It is reported that Abdullah Ibn Mas'ood said "If you knew what I know about myself then you would have thrown dust over my face". This is a sign of extreme sincerity to himself and lack of pride and arrogance. It shows his acknowledgement of his faults and shortcomings. How many of us could admit such a thing to even one to one of his friends let alone a group of them? Which one of us would have enough courage and truthfulness to admit that? One of our Salaf (Pious Predecessors) Bikr bin Abdillaahi al-Muznee used to say "When you see one who is older than you then hold him in respect and say: 'Indeed he has preceded/gone ahead of me in Islaam and good deeds and when you see one who is younger than you then hold him in respect and say to yourself: 'Indeed I have preceded him/gone ahead of him in sins." Isn't this beautiful advice. Listen also very carefully to the following: Some of the salaf (the Muslims from the first three generations) used to say: "One of you knows all his own faults and mistakes and he still likes himself, prefers himself (over others) yet he dislikes his Muslim brother on account of suspicion. So where then is the 'Aql, (intellect, sanity)?" That is each one of us knows his own mistakes and faults along with all his sins and he still does not hate himself for that. He still is satisfied with himself, likes himself and prefers himself to others. But when he sees someone making a mistake or what he thinks is a mistake because he doesnt know the intention of the person, he dislikes him, he feels in a bad way about him and all of this purely on suspicion and yet at the same time he is aware of all his own faults and mistakes. So whenever you look at another muslim then follow the advice that was mentioned before. Bring to mind your own faults and weaknesses and this will put you in your place. If we all do this it will make us humble and merciful to other muslims just as Allah has mentioned : Muhammad is the Messenger of ALlaah and those who are with him are strong against the disbelievers and compassionate amongst each other(48:29) ************************************************* PART II So we have mentioned three points Firstly : Realising that everybody is not perfect Secondly : How we should view ourselves Thirdly : How we should view other Muslims. We should all individually view ourselves as deficient and see others as being better than us. Because we all know our own faults and weaknesses but we don't know all the faults of others except out of suspicion and that is forbidden. Therefore every Muslim should see himself as the essence of deficiency and others as being much better than him. But do we just stop there. ie we realise these things in our minds and that is it. No we have to actively try and to remove them and this is done by reminding ourselves of our own faults and shortcomings or making each other realise our faults and defects with sincere advice. That is we desire nothing but reward from Allah and that a defect in a Muslim is removed. Not that we put the Muslim down and make ourselves look better. So the FOURTH point is mutually helping each other to remove from ourselves the bad characteristics and defects we all have. by informing each other, with extreme sincerity and concern for each other The Prophet (saws) said "The Deen is sincerity". ... [Full Article...]
