© Nuh Keller 2001
(13) The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,
“When two vituperate each other, [the sin of] what they say is borne by
the one who first began, as long as the one wronged does not transgress
[the bounds of merely defending himself, by answering back with worse]”
(Muslim, 4.2000: 2587. S). And when a group of Jews covertly cursed
the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) by using a play on the
words “as-Salamu ‘alaykum,” ‘A'isha noticed it and gave them a rounding,
and he said, “Enough, ‘A'isha; for Allah does not like vulgarity or making
a display of it” (ibid., 1707: 2165(4). S). And in another version, “O
‘A'isha, always have gentleness, and always shun harsh words and vulgarity”
(Bukhari, 8.15: 6030. S). This is the adab of Islam with hardened
enemies, so how should it not apply to our fellow Muslims, let alone family
and loved ones?
(14)
It is of the adab of the high path of Islam to be honest when one speaks.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Honesty certainly
leads to goodness, and goodness leads to paradise. Truly, a man keeps
speaking the truth until he is inscribed as being true through and through.
And lying leads to going wrong, and going wrong leads to hell. Truly,
a man lies and lies until he is inscribed as being a liar through and
through” (Muslim, 4.2012–13: 2607. S).
(15)
It is of the adab of the high path of Islam to completely abandon and
shun guile, deceit, scornfulness, or sarcasm because these are unlawful.
Allah Most High says, “O you who believe, let no men scorn other men,
for they might well be better than they are. And let no women scorn other
women, for they might well be better than they. And do not find fault
with one another, or give each other insulting nicknames” (Qur’an 49:11).
And Allah Most High says, “Woe to whoever demeans others behind their
back or to their face” (Qur’an 104:1). And the Prophet (Allah bless him
and give him peace) said, “Let there be no harming another, or harming
him back. Whoever harms another Allah shall harm, and whoever gives trouble
to another Allah shall give trouble to” (Hakim, 2.58. Hg).
(16)
It is of the adab of the high path of Islam to abandon lying, for it is
unlawful. Allah Most High curses liars by saying, “May liars be slain”
(Qur’an 51:10), in which slain means “cursed” according to the
Arabic idiom likening the accursed, who loses every good and happiness,
to the slain, who loses life and every blessing. The Qur’anic exegete
al-Khazin notes that “May liars be cursed” originally referred to those
who sat on the various roads outside Mecca warning people against the
words of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) to keep them
from becoming Muslim. The verse, however, like other Qur’anic verses,
is not limited to the original circumstances in which it was revealed,
but applies universally, to the end of time. Those who lie, except in
circumstances in which Sacred Law permits it, are cursed by Allah.
(17)
It is unlawful to lie, except when making up between two people, or lying
to an enemy in war, or to one’s wife. It is also unlawful to praise or
blame another with an untruth. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him
peace) said, “Lying is wrong, except in three things: the lie of a man
to his wife to make her content with him; a lie in war, for war is deception;
or a lie to settle trouble between people” (Ahmad, 6.459. H). Ibn
Jawzi has said, “The criterion for it is that every praiseworthy objective
in Sacred Law that cannot be brought about without lying is permissible
to lie for if the objective is permissible, and obligatory to lie for
if the objective is obligatory.” When lying is the only way to attain
one’s right, one may lie about oneself or another, provided it does not
harm the other. And it is obligatory to lie to if necessary to protect
a Muslim from being murdered. But whenever one can accomplish the objective
by words that merely give a misleading impression with actually being
false, it is unlawful to tell an outright lie, because it is unnecessary.
(18)
If one needs to swear a false oath in order to save a person whose life
is unlawful to take from being killed, then one must swear it, for saving
such a person’s life is obligatory, and if doing so depends on an oath,
it is obligatory. Suwayd ibn Handhala (Allah be well pleased with him)
said: “We set out to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give
him peace) and Wa’il ibn Hajar was with us, and he was captured by an
enemy. The group was forced to swear an oath [that all were of the same
clan, which was under a protection agreement], so I swore that he was
my brother, and they released him. We reached the Messenger of Allah (Allah
bless him and give him peace) and I told him that the group had been forced
to swear, and that I had sworn he was my brother, and he said, “You told
the truth: the Muslim is the bother of the Muslim” (Abu Dawud, 3.224:3256. S).
(19)
The “Farewell Sermon” of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
at hajj:All praise is Allah’s. We praise Him, seek His help, ask
His forgiveness, and we repent unto Him. We seek refuge in Allah from
the evils of our selves and our bad actions. Whomever Allah guides none
can lead astray, and whomever He leads astray has no one to guide him.
I testify that there is no god but Allah alone, without any partner, and
I testify that Muhammad is his slave and messenger. I enjoin you, O servants
of Allah, to be godfearing towards Allah, I urge you to obey Him, and
I begin with that which is best.
To commence: O people, hear me well: I explain to you. For I do
not know; I may well not meet you again in this place where I now stand,
after this year of mine.
O people: your lives and your property, until the very day you
meet your Lord, are as inviolable to each other as the inviolability of
this day you are now in, and the month you are now in. Have I given the
message?—O Allah, be my witness. So let whoever has been given something
for safekeeping give it back to him who gave him it.
Truly, the usury of the Era of Ignorance has been laid aside forever,
and the first usury I begin with is that which is due to my father’s brother
‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib. And truly the blood-vengeance of the Era
of Ignorance has been laid aside forever, and the first blood-vengeance
we shall start with is that which is due for the blood of [my kinsman]
‘Amir ibn Rabi‘a ibn Harith ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib. Truly, the hereditary
distinctions that were pretensions to respect in the Era of Ignorance
have been laid aside forever, except for the custodianship of the Kaaba
[by Bani ‘Abd al-Dar] and the giving of drink to pilgrims [by al-‘Abbas].
A deliberate murder is subject to retaliation in kind. An accidental
death from a deliberate injury means a death resulting from [something
not usually used or intended as a deadly weapon such as] a stick or a
rock, for which the indemnity is one hundred camels: whoever asks for
more is a person of the Era of Ignorance.
O people: the Devil has despaired of ever being worshipped in this
land of yours, though he is content to be obeyed in other works of yours,
that you deem to be of little importance.
O people: postponing the inviolability of a sacred month [claiming
to postpone the prohibition of killing in it to a subsequent month, so
as to continue warring despite the sacred month’s having arrived] is a
surfeit of unbelief, by which those who disbelieve are led astray, making
it lawful one year and unlawful in another, in order to match the number
[of months] Allah has made inviolable. Time has verily come full turn,
to how it was the day Allah created the heavens and the earth. Four months
there are which are inviolable, three in a row and forth by itself: Dhul
Qa‘da, Dhul Hijja, and Muharram; and Rajab, which lies between Jumada
and Sha‘ban. Have I given the message?—O Allah, be my witness.
O people: verily you owe your women their rights, and they owe
you yours. They may not lay with another men in your beds, let anyone
into your houses you do not want without your permission, or commit indecency.
If they do, Allah has given you leave to debar them, send them from your
beds, or [finally] strike them in a way that does no harm. But if they
desist, and obey you, then you must provide for them and clothe them fittingly.
The women who live with you are like captives, unable to manage for themselves:
you took them as a trust from Allah, and enjoyed their sex as lawful through
a word [legal ruling] from Allah. So fear Allah in respect to women, and
concern yourselves with their welfare. Have I given the message?—O Allah,
be my witness.
O people, believers are but brothers. No one may take his brother’s
property without his full consent. Have I given the message?—O Allah,
be my witness. Never go back to being unbelievers, smiting each other’s
necks, for verily, I have left among you that which if you take it, you
will never stray after me: the Book of Allah. Have I given the message?—O
Allah, be my witness.
O people, your Lord is One, and your father is one: all of you
are from Adam, and Adam was from the ground. The noblest of you in Allah’s
sight is the most godfearing: Arab has no merit over non-Arab other than
godfearingness. Have I given the message?—O Allah, be my witness. —At this, they said yes.
He said, Then let whomever is present tell whomever is absent.
O people:, Allah has apportioned to every deserving heir his share
of the estate, and no deserving heir may accept a special bequest, and
no special bequest may exceed a third of the estate. A child’s lineage
is that of the [husband who owns the] bed, and adulterers shall be stoned.
Whoever claims to be the son of someone besides his father or a bondsman
who claims to belong to other than his masters shall bear the curse of
Allah and the angels and all men: no deflecting of it or ransom for it
shall be accepted from him.
And peace be upon all of you, and the mercy of Allah.
(20)
‘Ata' ibn Abi Rabah, Mufti of Mecca (d. 114/732), of the generation that
followed that of the prophetic Companions (Sahaba) said of them, “They
used to dislike talking more than necessary, and considered “more than
necessary” to mean more than your reciting the Qur’an, enjoining the right,
forbidding the wrong, or speaking about making a living, in the amount
strictly necessary.”
(21)
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Whoever believes
in Allah and the Last Day should say something good or else be quiet”
(Bukhari, 8.13: 6019. S). He also said (Allah bless him and give
him peace) “Whoever is silent is saved” (Ahmad, 2.159. S). And
the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Verily the slave
will say a word he thinks nothing of that Allah loves, for which Allah
raises him whole degrees. And verily the slave will say a word he thinks
nothing of that Allah detests, for which he plummets into hell” (Bukhari, 8.125: 6478. S).
(22)
It is of the adab of Islam to know the value of one’s word, not to give
unless one intends to keep it, and to keep it once it has been given.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “The signs of a
hypocrite are three: when he speaks he lies, when he promises he breaks
it, and when entrusted with something he betrays it” (Bukhari, 1.15: 33. S).
When Abu Bakr was dying, he sent for ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (Allah
be well pleased with both of them), and told him, “O ‘Umar, if you are
given authority over the people, fear Allah and hold fast to what is right.
For the balance of those whose scale pans are heavy on Resurrection Day
[with good deeds] shall only be heavy for their having followed what is
right and its heaviness upon them; and it befits the balance scale when
what is right is placed in it tomorrow to be heavy. And the balance of
those whose scale pans are light on Resurrection Day [because of few good
deeds] shall only be light for their having followed what is wrong and
its ease upon them; and it befits the balance scale when what is wrong
is placed in it tomorrow to be light. And know that there are works for
Allah at night that He does not accept during the day, and that there
are works during the day that He does not accept at night. And that He
does not accept a supererogatory work of worship until the obligatory
has been done.”
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