Sadullah Khan – Developing a Qur’anic Personality To be and What not be. #24
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of love and compassion in achieving a strong personal ethic, which is the foundation of social morality. They stress that being good to others is a natural ethic, not just a result of expediency or good behavior. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of being good to everyone, not just those who are good to you, and encourages listeners to be good to everyone.
AI: Summary ©
Developing the Quranic personality
to be and what not to be.
The prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in a
hadith is reported to have said
A servant
or a believer
or the worship of Allah
cannot reach the reality of faith
until and unless
he loves for humanity
the good things that he wish for himself.
You do not have true faith until you
love for humanity
the good which you wish for yourself.
This hadith lays down a very significant principle
of behavior.
A guideline for interaction with each other as
human beings, what they refer to as the
ethic of reciprocity.
In other words, the golden rule of loving
for others what you love for yourselves.
And this
golden rule lies at the heart of human
empathy, and it is the foundation
of social morality. Without it, it's very hard
to have a standard of social morality in
any society.
So a true Islamic personality is built upon,
on the one hand, Allah consciousness,
on the other hand is coupled with love
and compassion for the larger human family. We
are part of a larger human family.
And every member should care
for the other member of the family and
help one another to the best of the
ability.
Be of benefit to people, then you are
the best of people.
So, Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasallam,
in an incident that occurred,
a lady came to him and said, you
Rasulullah,
I embrace Islam.
And because of my embracing Islam, when I
visit my family, they treat
me unfairly, they treat me in a nasty
way.
You Rasulullah, they now coming to visit me.
Shall I treat them the way they treat
me? And then Rasulullah wa sallam,
nah hadid documented
Don't be improper.
Don't be inappropriate.
Do not say if other people treat me
well, I'll treat them well. And if they
treat me badly, I will treat them badly.
Rather, accustom yourself, condition yourself to say, and
to believe, and to do good to people
who do good to you
and
do not do wrong to those who do
wrong to you.
So
this philosophy
emanates from numerous ahadid of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi
wasalam.
Another one documented
excising your intelligence,
after accepting iman, after accepting faith
is being affectionate to people, Being good to
people. And doing good to others
irrespective
of whether they are good or not.
You will be good irrespective
of whether they are good or not.
And this essence of the golden rule is
not merely you treat other people well because
it's to your advantage, or because you get
something in return. But rather due to the
universal moral obligation
that Islam teaches us to treat others with
respect, to treat them ethically with empathy because
it is the proper thing to do.
Not because of expediency,
but rather because of who we are as
Muslims
and what we represent
as people of iman.
Sheikh Sheikul Qurah, Shamsuddin Al Jazari. Anybody says
Kira, you must read Al Jazari. Even institutions
here in Cape Town, Al Jazari Institute and
so on. Sheikul Quraysh Ham Sudin Al Jazari,
in his manakib, he documents one of the
sayings of Said Na Ali.
And this flows with the notion of the
golden rule.
Sayidna Ali said,
Don't worry about what people are. He said,
you become the standard between yourself and others.
Don't say, oh, they are nasty, I'll show
them. They are rude, I'll show them. No.
That's not the issue. You'll become the standard.
Maybe they'll become like you. So he said,
you'll be the standard in social interaction between
yourself and others. Love for others what you
love for yourself. And dislike for them what
you dislike for yourself. Do not wrong others
just as you do not like people should
wrong you. And do good to others as
you would wish others do good to you.
So,
let's say in all of this.
Let us be good to all.
Not only to those who are good to
us. What good are you if you're only
good to those who are good to you?
So let us not only be good to
those who are good to us, but be
good.
Because
being good is right.
And the right thing to do is always
the best thing to do.