by Imaam al-Haram Usaamah Khayyat

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon the Messenger, his household and companions.

O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared and work towards your salvation tomorrow on,

The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail, except him who brings to Allah a clean heart. (Ash-Shuaraa 26:88-89)

And

The Day when man shall remember what he strove for. (An-Naaziaat 79:35)

Fellow Muslims! It is part of a Muslim's magnanimity, nobility and good manners to always seek for and surrender to the truth out of desire for the pleasure of Allah and out of fear of falling into the abyss of arrogance. The Messenger of Allah said,

"Whoever has the weight of mustard seed of pride in his heart will not enter Paradise."

man said,

"[What about] a person who likes his clothes to be fine and his shoes to be fine."

The Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam responded,

"Verily, Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty. Pride is disregard for the truth and contempt for people." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Disregard for the truth is to reject it. And contempt for people is to scorn them and show them all forms of arrogance either through words or deeds.

Rejecting the truth also implies denying it, hating it and turning away from it, as former people who were punished had done. The punishment of Allah came to them in their homes and what happened to them became a lesson for others. Allah says,

"And never an Ayah (sign) comes to them from the Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of their Lord, but that they have been turning away from it. Indeed, they rejected the truth (the Qur'ân and Muhammad (peace be upon him)) when it came to them, but there will come to them the news of that (the torment) which they used to mock at. Have they not seen how many a generation before them We have destroyed whom We had established on the earth such as We have not established you? And We poured out on them rain from the sky in abundance, and made the rivers flow under them. Yet We destroyed them for their sins, and created after them other generations." (Al-Anaam 6:4-6)

Allah also says,

"Indeed We have brought the truth (Muhammad (peace be upon him) with the Qur'an), to you, but most of you have a hatred for the truth." (Az-Zukhruf 43:78)

As for those who have faith and fear Allah, their most prominent characteristic is acceptance of the truth, submitting to it and calling others unto it. That is why they are the wisest of all people and the most knowledgeable of the causes of happiness, victory and success. Wisdom is the lost property of a believer; he takes hold of it wherever he finds it. Refraining from rejecting the truth is safety from being in the same group with the erroneous and deniers of the signs of Allah. It is also the safety from sharing in the consequences of their rejection of the truth as a result of their arrogance in the land.

You will notice that those who fear Allah have habituated themselves on accepting the truth irrespective of the person from whom the truth comes. Hence you find them accepting the truth from children, ignorant and enemies. This is the opinion of eminent scholars like Qadhi Ayaaz and others.

Another noble quality of those who fear Allah is that when anyone of them debated with someone, he supplicated secretly for his opponent to Allah to strengthen his opponent, make him reach at the truth and let the truth come from him. An example of this is Imam Ash-Shafee who used to say,

"Whenever I argued with someone, I always wished that Allah show the truth through him."

Brethren in faith! The God-fearing Muslim treats his brother as gently as he can. He lowers his voice when he speaks with him, he guards his tongue and hands from attacking his honour and never harms him with any form. He always bears in mind the saying of the Messenger of Allah that goes thus,

"A Muslim should neither be slanderer nor a curser, nor an immodest nor foul."

And his saying,

"A Muslim is someone from whose hand and tongue the Muslims are safe." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

He also abstains from useless argument and he fears the malice and hatred that quarrelling leads to. In this regard he follows the Prophet's admonition that goes thus,

"I guarantee a house in the surroundings of Paradise for a man who avoids quarrelling even if he were in the right." (Abu Dawood)

And his saying,

"No nation went astray after they had been on guidance except that they were afflicted with quarrelling and deprived of (fruitful) actions." (Ahmad and At-Tirmidhi)

In short, sincerity of purpose and an intention to arrive at the truth is the goal. The Muslim must beware of promoting his personal ego and showing that he is better than other. He should also treat all people with compassion and wish them well. Allah says,

"That home of the Hereafter (i.e. Paradise), We shall assign to those who rebel not against the truth with pride and oppression in the land nor do mischief by committing crimes. And the good end is for the pious." (Al-Qasas 28:83)

Fellow Muslims! A scholar among our righteous predecessors wrote a letter to a brother of his in which he asked him for admonition and advice on an issue. The scholar wrote him the following reply:

"To proceed, if Allah is with you who are you then afraid of? And if Allah is against you, who is he unto him you can fix your hope? Bye."

ear brethren! This short statement is a great admonition, a strong reminder and a brilliant word. Allah's care for His slave supersedes all other cares; and with the care of Allah, the slave is in no need of the care of others. The special divine care means protection and support. Allah tells us about those who deserve this protection when He says,

"Truly, Allah is with those who fear Him (keep their duty unto Him), and those who are good-doers." (An-Nahl 16:128)

May Allah include us among the pious and the righteous. May He guide us to the path of His sincere slaves and keep us away from causes of His wrath and punishment.