***Blessing #3: The rewards of having good akhlaaq are greater than, or at least equivalent to, the rewards of extra and continual worship. The rewards that a person brings through good akhlaaq cannot be brought through worship of Allah. Or even if they are to be brought about through the worship of Allah, they will be brought at a very heavy price. Through akhlaaq, a person can obtain a lot of blessings he would not otherwise be able to obtain. The Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said:
"A person can reach the level of a person who prays all night and fasts all day just because of his good akhlaaq." Who amongst us fasts every single day and prays every single night? Nobody. Yet, if we have good akhlaaq we can reach the level of the person who does this. In another hadith the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam mentions the reward for one who is a musaddat, the one who is always trying to fill in the gaps between other Muslims by being social, friendly, and having good akhlaaq. He says: "The Muslim who is musaddat reaches the darajat as-sawwam al-qawwam." Sawwam is the one who continually fasts and the qawwam is the one who continually stands in prayer. So the Muslim who is very social, has good akhlaaq, and is fulfilling the rights of his brothers reaches the level of the one who continually fasts and prays just because of his good akhlaaq. This is the way that we can earn extra thawwab. How few of us pray tahajjud and fast the voluntary fasts? Yet, if we want to be amongst those who obtain good deeds, all we have to do is be amongst those of good akhlaaq. Blessing #4: Having good akhlaaq is a sign of one's strong eman. Akhlaaq is that it is a sign of the perfection of one's eman. This is a very important point that should not be trivialized. A person who does not have good akhlaaq does not have strong eman. It is that simple. It does not matter what label or what status he assigns himself. It does not matter what he says or what he boasts about himself; if a person is coarse, arrogant, and vain, then this person is not a good Muslim. Even if he fasts and prays, he has not perfected his eman nor is his eman strong. Whereas the person who performs the minimum wajibaat, or what is obligatory upon him, and he is of good akhlaaq, then he is far better than a person who might pray more and fast more than him but his akhlaaq is bad. The Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said: "The people (or the Mu'mins) who have perfected their eman most perfectly, are those who are best in akhlaaq." And in another narration: "The best of the Mu'mineen are the ones who are best in their akhlaaq." And he also said in the same hadith: "The best of you are those of you who are best to their wives." This is an important point to ponder over, why is it that the best of you are those who are best to their wives? It is because it is very easy to show good akhlaaq to your neighbor that you meet once a day, or to your coworker that you are with for a few hours every day, or to your relative that you meet once a year, or to any other person that you occasionally meet. It is very easy to show good akhlaaq to such people. But when you show good akhlaaq to your wife, the one you eat with, drink with, sleep with, and wake up with then you have really reached the height of perfection of good akhlaaq. Your wife is your life partner; she shares everything with you. The man is the one who is in charge of the woman as Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala said. So when the man can show good akhlaaq to the one who is under him, his family and children, his wife and children, then this shows that he has reached the height of akhlaaq. In another hadith, the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said: "The best Mu'mins are those who are best in their akhlaaq, those whose shoulders' are trodden over." What does this mean? It is an expression in Arabic meaning that they are humble. Anyone can come and trample over them but they will remain quiet and humble. The Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said they are those who are friendly and respond to friendliness. They are those who achieve ulfa, meaning a sense of brotherhood and friendship. Those who give that sense and who achieve it too. And then he said there is no good in one who does not show this concept of ulfa, nor does he receive it from others. So the mu'min is one who is friendly to the other people. And when other people show friendliness to him, he responds in friendliness as well. He does not respond in arrogance, sarcasm, or in looking down on them or in testing them. This is not the way of the mu'min. The mu'min is one who is genuinely friendly from his heart, genuinely wanting good, and desiring the best for himself and his Muslim brothers.* --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Nor can Goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (evil) with what is better; then the enmity between him and you will become as if it were your friend and intimate! Visit: sultan.org Subscribe: [email protected] Post to group: [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
