Truthfullness how important it is?

[Pacifist]

"O You who believe! Have taqwa with Allah, and be among the

truthful." (Surat al- Tawbah:119)

 

Many people understand truthfulness to mean truthfulness of the

tongue through speech alone. 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 is his speech and action.

From it are the following:

 

A. Truthfulness in conveying the Religion: That is, one must profess

the correct belief built upon truthfulness with Allah Azza wa Jall,

not upon hypocrisy, deceit and patronization. This is why

truthfulness is mentioned in the Qur'an as the opposite of

hypocrisy. "That Allah may reward the truthful for their truth, and

punish the hypocrites if He wills, or turn mercifully towards

them..." (Surat al-Ahzaab:64). Therefore, it is necessary to posses

the outward Islam with the inward Imaan; it is necessary to have the

correct belief in Allah, 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 shaytaan who inspires the daa`iya

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 riyaa' [show],

reputation or in order to deceive the believers.

 

B. Truthfulness in speech: Truthfulness in speech expresses a

dignified personality, manhood, 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 lie. How about the daai'ya

then, can you imagine him lying!? I believe not, inshaa Allah. Some

of the daai'yas 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 Sufyaan before Heracles when he was

asked about the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam) and

he [latter narrated to Muhammad sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam], "I

swear by Allah, 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. Re avoided lying even though he needed to do so We know that

the honor of today's duaat [pl. of daai iya] has become a target for

a barrage of arrows, and this is why it is necessary for the daa'iya

to close the door before the foul wind comes in, so that he can be

safe!

 

 

C. Truthfulness in deeds: Meaning that a person's deeds have to be

purely for Allah Ta'ala without riyaa' 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 alKahf:11 and

Mulk 2) Fudail bin Ayaad commented that, "Which one of you is the

best in deeds" means 'most sincere and pertinent.' He was asked, "O

father of Ah! 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 Nisaa'ee that after a confrontation with a man, when the

companions refrained from standing up for him sallallahu `alaihi wa

sallam he rebuked them, so they said, "O Messenger of Allah, we don't

know what is in your nafs, couldn't you signal us with your eye?" He

(sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam) said, "It is not becoming of a Prophet

that he have a deceiving eye!!" [Abu Dawud, Nisaa'ee, Hakim, Ahmad

from the hadeeth of Anas in which it is, A Prophet does not wink.]

Tirmidhi reported that 'Abdullah bin Salaam, may Allah be pleased

with him, said "When the Prophet, sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam, came

to Madina the people came out and said, 'The Messenger of Allah has

come! The Messenger of Allah has come! The Messenger of Allah has

come!' So I came forward among the people to look at him (sallallahu

`alaihi 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 (sallallahu

`alaihi wa sallam) said was, "O People! Spread the salaam, and serve

the food, and pray while the people are asleep, you will enter Jannah

peacefully." [Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah.] The truthfulness of the

Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam) spread from his

heart to his tongue...to the extremities, it became manifest in his

honorable face...(sallallahu `alaihi 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

duaat 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 duaat 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 dawa 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 daa'iya 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 daai'ya is: His

truthfulness in carrying his dawa, his seriousness in it and

truthfulness in words and deeds must be his method and characteristic

of him. 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!!"

[Warrior of Light]

Jazakhallah kheir very informative article.

[Nur]

Pacifict

 

A Great topic, jazakellaahu kheiran.

 

This is a topic that really needs to be discussed in depth and experiences shared. From my own personal experience, as a 10 year old kid, nothing hurted me more than telling a lie to get out of trouble, but I quickly learned that a lie is the beginning of many troubles, and definetly not the solution, so one day early on, I decided to always tell the truth, even if its inconvenient or if it seemingly exposes me to trouble.

 

I can not recall of any decision in my life that has changed my outlook in life as profoundly as being truthful in all of my dealings, with humans, both freinds and adversaries and above all with my maker who sees my apparent and concealed intentions and actions. I must admit that at times I was laughed at for being naive and not "sophisticated", I hope that mine lasts longer, I chose simplicity instead, its not easy to swim upstream when its fashionable to go down in murky waters..

 

The Prophet Muhammad SAWS was reported as saying that telling truth leads to piety, and piety in turn leads to heaven, with the distinction of being honored as a truth teller by Allah, while telling a lie leads to sinfulness, and sinfulness in turn leads to hell, with the demotion of being damned as a liar by Allah.

 

 

Nur

[Nur]

Where is Pacifist these days?

 

 

Nur