Truthfulness
By Salman Al-Oadah
In the name of Allāh,
the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful;
All the praise and Thanks is due to Allāh,
the Lord of al-‘ālameen. I testify that there is none
worthy of worship except Allāh, and that Muhammad, Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wa sallam is His Messenger.
Truthfulness in speech expresses a dignified
personality, maturity, insight and generosity
Allāh Almighty Says: “O You who
believe! Have taqwa with Allāh, and be among the truthful.” (Surat Al-Tawbah 9:119)
Literally, many people understand
truthfulness to mean truthfulness of the tongue through speech alone. Whereas,
in reality, truthfulness is a vast curriculum. It is as much one of the
characteristics of the Muslim's personality both outward and inward, as it
reflects in speech and action as seen in the following: Truthfulness in Conveying the Religion, Truthfulness
in Speech, and Truthfulness in Deeds:
1. Truthfulness in Conveying the
Religion:
That is, one must profess the correct
belief built upon truthfulness with Allāh
Almighty, not upon hypocrisy, deceit and patronization. This is why
truthfulness is mentioned in the Qur’an as the opposite of hypocrisy. "That
Allāh
may reward the truthful for their truth, and punish the hypocrites if He wills,
or turn mercifully towards them..." (Surat Al-Ahzab 33:64).
Therefore, it is necessary to relate the
outward Islam to the inward faith; it is necessary to have the correct belief
in Allāh, the Last Day, the Angels, the Books, and
the Messengers. The outward guidance must conform to the inward guidance.
Here, is one of the hidden plots of
Shaytan who inspires the propagator to neglect some of the outward good deeds
under the pretense that his inner reality is not the same. So he avoids this in
order to avoid deceiving the people! This is a huge mistake. The good deed
which you perform outwardly is so because of the righteousness and truthfulness
in your heart as long as you do not do it for riyā' (show-off), reputation or in order to deceive the believers.
2. Truthfulness in Speech:
Truthfulness in speech expresses a
dignified personality, maturity, insight and generosity. No one would resort to
lies unless he has a wicked nature, a wicked nafs (self), and a weak personality. A good-natured individual denounces
lie and rebukes it, which is why all of the [previous revelations] agreed upon
the prohibition and admonition of lying. How about the propagator then, can you
imagine him lying!? I believe not,in shaa Allāh. Some of the propagators may come
across ambiguously by making certain statements which some people
misunderstand, then later they may find out the opposite of what they
misunderstood. Then they accuse him of lying. Besides, ambiguity may lead to
the acceptance of some minor lies under the pretense that it is helpful!! So be
cautious!
If you are in a situation that would cause
you to lie, avoid doing so, and remember the words of Abu Sufyan before
Heracles when he was asked about the Messenger of Allāh (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wa sallam) and he [latter narrated to Muhammad (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wa sallam)], "I swear by Allāh, if I was sure that they would not have
transmitted a lie from me, I would have lied about you." [Bukhari]
This man, who was an idolater at the time, avoided lying out of fear that his
lying would be transmitted, or that he would be insulted some day because of
it. He avoided lying even though he needed to do so. We know that the honor of
today's propagators has become a target for a barrage of arrows, and this is
why it is necessary for the propagator to close the door before the foul wind
comes in, so that he can be safe!
3. Truthfulness in Deeds:
Meaning that a person's deeds have to be
purely for Allāh without riya' or seeking good reputation, "Whoever
hopes to meet his Lord, he should do good deeds, and not join any one in the
worship of His Lord." and
"...that He may try you; which of you is the best in
deeds."(Surat Al-Kahf 18:11 and Surat Al-Mulk 67:2)
Fudail bin Ayad (radiyAllāhu’anhu) commented that, "Which
one of you is the best in deeds" means 'most sincere and pertinent.' He
was asked, "What is most sincere and pertinent?" He said, "If
the deed is sincere and not pertinent it won't be accepted, and if it is
pertinent and not sincere, it won't be accepted. It will not be accepted until
it is sincere and pertinent!"
Included among the subject of truthfulness
in deeds is possessing clarity and avoiding obscurity or ambiguity. It was
reported upon the authority of Abu Dawud and Nisa'ie that after a confrontation
with a man, when the companions refrained from standing up for him (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wa sallam) he rebuked them, so they said, "O
Messenger of Allāh, we do
not know what is in your nafs, could not you signal us with
your eye?" He (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wa sallam) said, "It is
not becoming of a Prophet that he have a deceiving eye!!" [Abu
Dawud, Nisa'ie, Hakim, Ahmad from the hadith of Anas in which it is mentioned,
"A Prophet does not wink."]
At-Tirmidzi recorded that ‘Abdullah bin
Salam, (radiyAllāhu’anhu),
said "When the Prophet, (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wa sallam), came to Madinah the people came out and said, 'The Messenger of
Allāh has
come! The Messenger of Allāh has
come! The Messenger of Allāh has
come!' So I came forward among the people to look at him (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wa sallam), and when I beheld his face I knew that his face wasn't the face
of a liar. And the first thing that he (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said was, "O
People! Spread the salam, and serve the food, and pray while the people are
asleep, you will enter Jannah peacefully." [Ahmad,
Tirmidzi and Ibn Majah.]
The truthfulness of the Messenger of Allāh (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wa sallam) spread from his heart to his tongue...to the extremities, it
became manifest in his honorable face...( Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wa sallam). Everyone who beheld his bright vision saw truthfulness and was
assured that his face was absolutely not the face of a liar. We are in
need for the type of propagators who transmit truthfulness with their speech
and deeds so much so that truthfulness becomes a natural disposition swimming
through their veins, emerging through their outward behavior, so that when the
people see them they say, "These are not the faces of
liars!" We are also in need of
propagators who are beautified with moral excellence, who stay away from
selfishness and agitation, who persevere through their tranquility, who are
moderate in their manner of speaking in all circumstances in such a way that
the people are able to look at their characteristics and say, "These
are the characteristics of Prophets!"
Surely truthfulness in carrying our
propagation is a cause for people to accept our religion, and we should not be
like the actor on the stage who shows the people the opposite of what he really
is. In this case, the reality of such a propagator is quickly revealed and the
people rush away from him.
It was reported that one of the Salaf (pious predecessors) used to affect people and bring
them to tears while admonishing them, to the point that you could hear them
crying loudly. Yet someone else may have given a better speech in the same
gathering and may have been more knowledgeable, but he could not affect their
hearts nor bring them to tears! So his son asked him about this one day and his
response was, "The weeping of the mother who lost
her beloved is not like the weeping of the one who is paid to do so."
Therefore, the first mean for the success
of the propagator is: His truthfulness in carrying his propagation, his
seriousness in it and truthfulness in words and deeds must be his method and
his characteristic. Elegant sweet words are not most important - even if they
are required - more important is truthfulness, that he is in harmony with
himself, and his speech comes from the heart.
Long ago it was said:"If
a word comes from the heart it will land in the heart... and if it comes from
the tongue it will not even pass the ears!!"
And Allāh Almighty Knows best.
Related Links:
[ Excerpted from: “Truthfulness “By
Salman Al-Oadah, Via On Islam , Thursday, 06 January 2011;Sheikh Salman
Al-Oadah is a prominent Saudi scholar. He supervises the website Islam Today
(www.islamtoday.com) ]
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