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A Muslim's
Character
by Sheikh Muhammad Al-Ghazali
Chapter 1
Pillars Of Islam And Moral Values. Purpose Of Prophethood --
Perfection of Morals
Chapter 2 Weakness Of Morals--Proof Of Lack Of Faith
Chapter 1
Pillars Of Islam And
Moral Values. Purpose of Prophethood -- Perfection of Morals
The holy Prophet has stated the foremost purpose of his being sent down in this
world and the method of his call to the people in these words:
"I have been sent only for
the purpose of perfecting good morals."
--(Al-Muta)
That great message which has left
an indelible impression on the history of life, and for propagating which and
for bringing people under whose influence Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) worked
ceaselessly. Its purpose was nothing else but to strengthen the moral character
of the people so that the world of beauty and perfection may be illuminated
before their eyes and they may try to achieve it consciously and with knowledge.
Worshiping has been made
compulsory in Islam, and it has been included in the basic pillars of faith. But
the Islamic forms of worship are not some sort of mystic exercises that link men
with some unknown, mysterious being, and which subject men to perform useless
acts and meaningless movements. All the Islamic compulsory forms of worship are
designed as exercises and training to enable people to acquire correct morals
and habits and to live righteously, and to adhere to these virtues till the end,
whatever be the changes in their circumstances.
Prayer prevents commitment of Evil
Salat (prayer) is a compulsory form of worship, which is like an exercise
towards which man is attracted with interest and willingness. He offers it
continually, so that his life may be free from all diseases and the body may be
healthy and strong.
The holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of
the Prophet-both are the open proofs of these realities.
When Allah commanded the
compulsory prayers to be established, He stated its wisdom in this way:
"Prayer prohibits obscenity
and evil."
To keep away from evil, wickedness
and to purify from bad deeds are also realities of the prayer. In a Hadith-e-Qudsi
it is stated:
"I accept the prayers of the
person who adopts the policy of humility with it on account of My greatness,
obliges My creatures, does not insist on sinning against Me, spends his day in
remembering Me, and is kind to the poor, travelers, weak and the suffering
people.
Zakat is a means of purification
Zakat has been made compulsory on the eligible 'scheduled' ( sahibe Nisab )
persons. It is not merely a tax that is collected from the pockets of the
people, but its foremost purpose is to sow the seeds of kindness. sympathy and
benevolence, and to provide a chance of introduction among the various sections
of the society and to establish the relationship of love and friendliness.
The purpose of paying Zakat has
been stated in the Qur'an in the following words:
"O Prophet ! Take charity
from their property so that if may clean them and purify them."
--(Tauba: 103)
To clean the self of the worldly
impurities and to raise the standard of the society to the heights of decency
and purity are the wisdom behind the levy of Zakat.
For this reason the Prophet has
taken it in a very wide sense, and to pay Zakat has been made compulsory for
every eligible Muslim. The Prophet has said:
"To smile in the company of
your brother is charity. To command to do good deeds and to prevent others from
doing evil is charity. To guide a person in a place where he can go astray is
charity. To remove troublesome things like thorns and bones from the road is
charity. To pour water from your jug into the jug of your brother is charity. To
guide a person with defective vision is charity for you.''
--(Bukhari)
The environment of desert and the
Bedouin life--an environment which had its basis on internal bickerings and
fights--in such an environment the teachings of Islam were presented to the
world and they show what aims and purpose these teachings had, and it shows
where these teachings led the Arabs in that dark and dismal environment.
Fasting is a stepping stone to
Righteousness Similarly Islam has made fasting compulsory. But it is not
envisaged that men should keep away from their carnal desires and other
prohibited things for a fixed period only. The Prophet has said:
"Pasting is not the name of
merely keeping away from eating and drinking, but it is keeping away from wicked
and obscene things. If in the state of fasting, someone abuses you or picks up a
quarrel with you, say: "I am fasting."
Qur'an states the purpose of the
imposition of fasting in these words:
"Fasting has been made
compulsory for you, as it was made compulsory for those (followers of earlier
prophets) who preceded you, so that you may become righteous."
(Baqarah: 183)
Hajj is a compulsory pilgrimage to
weaken the love for the world Sometimes man thinks that to travel to the holy
places and to perform pilgrimage, which has been made compulsory for every rich
Muslim, and which is included in the basic pillars of Islam, is merely a form of
worship that has no relation with the world of morality and character. This is a
clear misunderstanding. Giving commands about this compulsory worship, Allah
states:
"The months of Hajj are
well-known. In these months whoever intends to perform Hajj should not indulge
in sexual act, wicked act, and Fighting during the Hajj. Whatever righteous act
you will perform will be known to Allah. Take with you provision for the journey
(for Hajj), and the best provision is righteousness. So fear me, 0 men of
understanding !"
-(Baqarah: 197)
This is merely the main outline of
the forms of worship which are well known and generally practiced in Islam and
they are its basic pillars. They show us what a deep relationship is there
between religion and morality and how strong and lasting is this relationship.
How varying are these forms of worship in their spirit and appearance from one
another, but in those aim and purpose how close they are, which the holy Prophet
declared his main objective.
Therefore, saint (prayer), sawm
(fasting), zakat, Hajj and other forms of worship like these are the stepping
stones for real perfection, and are the means of cleanliness and purity that
make life secure and magnificent. On account of high attributes and noble
qualities that are the inalienable parts and the consequences of these forms of
worship, they have been given a very high and important place in Allah's
religion.
If these forms of worship do not
purify the hearts of men, if they do not nourish best qualities in those who
observe them, and if they do not improve and make firm the relationship between
Allah and His slaves, then there is nothing left for men but destruction and
devastation.
Allah says:
"Surely, he who appears
before his Lord as a criminal, there is hell for him, in which he will neither
die nor will he live. And he who will appear before Him as a faithful, who has
performed good deeds--for all such people there are high positions, ever green
paradise, beneath which canals will be flowing; they will live in them for ever.
who adopts purity."
This is the reward for him (Taha:
74-76)
Chapter 2
Weakness Of Morals--Proof Of Lack Of Faith
Faith is imperfect without morality Faith is such a power that it keeps men away
from low attributes and mean acts, and encourages him to achieve high attributes
and clean morals. That is why whenever Allah called his slaves towards virtue or
whenever He wanted them to hate evil, He declared it as an essential requirement
of the Faith in their hearts. For example when He, in Surah Tauba, commands men
to adopt righteousness and to speak truth, He addresses them as ''0 you who have
faith" (or "O you who believe"): "0 you, who have faith !
Fear Allah and be with the truthful people."
(Tauba: 119)
Allah's Messenger has nicely
explained it that when faith is firm and belief is strong, then strong and
lasting moral will be developed, and if the moral character is low then faith
will accordingly be weak.
A man, who is immodest and
ill-mannered and who adopts bad habits without caring for others, is like the
person about whom the holy Prophet has said:
"Modesty and faith are twins.
One who gives up one has to lose the other too."
Once the Prophet passed by an
Ansari who was scolding his brother about his immodesty. The Prophet advised him
to let him go as modesty was a branch of faith.
A man who harasses his neighbor
and makes him suffer any kind of damage is called cruel and stone hearted by the
religion. In this connection the decision of the Prophet is:
"By God, he cannot be a Momin
;by God, he cannot be a Momin; by God, he cannot be a Momin. He was asked:
'who"? He answered: 'He from whose misdeeds his neighbor is not safe."
--(Bukhari)
The holy Prophet advises his
companions to keep away from the talk that is trash, the acts that are wicked,
and the deeds that are senseless. He says:
"A person who believes in
Allah and the Hereafter should speak about good things or else should keep
quiet."
--(Bukhari)
In this way through the truth of
faith and by means of its perfection noble qualities are nurtured and developed
and they are guarded and kept secure till they bear fruits.
Rows disrupted, hearts sad,
prayers tasteless However, you will also find such people, who will be calling
themselves Muslims, yet they will be lazy in offering compulsory prayers, and
will be posing in the public as if they are very keen on establishing these
prayers. But they will not lag behind at the same time in acting in such a way
that will be contrary to the demands of the noble character and perfect faith.
Such people have been warned by the holy Prophet and the Ummah has been asked to
be careful of them.
A man who commits the mistake of
performing the various forms of worship without understanding their significance
can only be a man who had not understood the spirit of the worshiper has been
unable to rise to that standard.
Many times even a child can copy
the movements of salat and is able to repeat what is recited during the prayer.
Sometimes an actor also offers prayer with all humility and concentration, and
performs all the necessary rites.
But these kinds of movements do
not benefit belief or meet the purpose. There is only one way of offering
prayers in the best manner or performing other forms of worship that will never
bring out wrong results, and that is: high moral character. Any person who has
this attribute in him, his prayer is useful. But one who is deprived of this
attribute, his worshiping is useless.
It is narrated by Imam Ahmed:
"One person asked the Prophet: 'O Messenger of Allah ! a certain woman is
very famous for her prayers, fasting and many charities, but she talks rudely
with her neighbors. Tell me, what will be her fate ?' He replied that she would
go to Hell. Then that person asked: "O Messenger of Allah! Another woman
does not do much by way of prayers and fasting ; gives pieces of cheese in
charity and does not harm her neighbors. He replied: 'She is of the Paradise.'
"
This reply gives an idea of the
high value attached to good character. It also shows that charity is a
collective prayer whose benefit reaches the society. For this reason there is no
room for any reduction in them. As salat and fasting are apparently individual
forms of worship, a little relaxation--to a very little extent--is allowed in
not making very elaborate arrangements about them.
The holy Prophet did not merely
answer a casual question that explains the relationship between morality and the
religion, shows its connection with the correct forms of worship, and forms the
basis of reform and improvement in the world and salvation in the next world.
The problem of morality was much
more important. It was necessary that he should have continually provided
guidance to his followers. He should have persisted in giving good advice to
them so that its importance takes root in the mind and heart and it becomes
quite clear that faith, goodness and morality are all dependent on each other.
They are connected with each other and none can separate them.
Who is poor ? One day the Prophet
asked his dear companions whether they knew who was poor. They answered that
poor was one who had no dirham or dinar (money)' He said:
"In my Ummah, the poor is
that man who would appear on the Day of the Judgment before Allah; he had
offered prayer; he had paid Zakat ;he had observed fast; but he would have
abused somebody, he would have falsely accused some one; he would have
unauthorizedly taken some one else's property; he would have murdered some one;
would have hit some body. All his virtues would be given to his victims. If his
Virtues are finished before his wicked deeds are finished, then the errors and
sins of the victims would be given to him and he would be thrown into the
Hell.''
(Muslim)
Such a man is really poor. His
condition is like that trader who has goods worth one thousand rupees but he is
a debtor for two thousand rupees. How can such a man be called rich ?
A religious man who offers certain
prayers or performs certain forms of worship, but even after that performs
certain evil deeds, behaves rudely with the people, treats poor and helpless
people cruelly, how then such a man will be called righteous ?
The Prophet has explained by
quoting an example. He said that the best moral character melts errors like
water and bad morals spoil man's record as vinegar spoils honey.
Identification of a hypocrite When
wickedness is nourished in the self, and the loss caused by it has become
manifest and the danger has increased, then that man has come out of his
religion like a nude who has come out of his garments. At that time his claim of
righteousness or faith would be false.
What will be the value of
religiousness without good morality ? How is it possible that a man should
belong to Allah and at the same he should be a victim of corruption ?
This relationship between faith
and morality is clearly shown in the hadith of the holy Prophet:
"The man who has these three
habits is a hypocrite even if he observes fast, offers prayers, performs umra
(pilgrimage), and calls himself a Muslim: when he talks he speaks untruth, when
he makes a promise he does not keep it, and when he is given something in trust,
he commits dishonesty."
-( Muslim ).
In another tradition, he has said:
"There are three signs of a
hypocrite: when he talks he speaks untruth, when he makes a pro mise he does not
keep it, and when he makes a contract he deceives, although he may be offering
prayers, observing fast and calling himself a Muslim."
He has also said:
"There are four habits, in
whosoever they are found, he will be a complete hypocrite. If any one of these
habits is found in a man, he will have one habit of disruption till he gives it
up, when something is given to him in trust he commits dishonesty, when he talks
he tells lies, when he makes a contract he deceives, and when he quarrels he
starts abusing. -( Bukhari ).
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