Sadullah Khan – Developing a Qur’anic Personality To be and What not to be. #11

We continue our dream

for this Ramadan

developing a Quranic personality

to be and what not to be. And

today we ponder on the words of our

beloved prophet Muhammad

are for our reflection.

And for us to introspect and to see

what lessons we can learn by these kinds

of comparisons

that are being made.

Remember that mirrors first of all reflect the

truth.

It shows you things

as they are.

It reminds me of an incident of the

very famous poet, Mirza

mirror and he made a poem about it.

He said,

affecting the dirt on my face. I was

supposed to clean my face. So mirrors reflect

things as they are. If there's a dirt

on it, it will show it. If there's

no dirt, it will show it as it

is. So first things, mirrors reflect the truth,

nothing more, nothing less. Number 2,

mirrors are silent.

They do not advertise what they reflect.

In other words, if you are not in

the view of the mirror, you will not

be able to see what is being shown.

So it does

not advertise what it's showing.

The third thing about a mirror, it does

not keep your image. If you go away,

it does not keep your image for the

next person to see.

And this,

in this way,

it shows that

the mirror

does not show your previous failings,

it does not show your previous blemishes,

and in some way this epitomizes

the saying of forgive and forget.

With each new encounter when you look again

tomorrow, it will show the reflection of tomorrow,

not of yesterday.

Each reflection it shows, each time you view,

it will be a fresh one, updated,

unbiased,

uninfluenced

by previous influences.

So now let's imagine in the words of

Rasulullah,

imagine if we as believers were truly like

mirrors unto each other.

Imagine if we truly like mirrors to each

other because the rasul used that simile.

The hadith suggests that. Be like mirrors. So

1, we would be honest with each other

and tell each other the truth.

We would be honest with each other and

tell each other the truth. 2, we will

not be loud about it.

So we will not be revealing to others

who are not there, you know. Never tweeting,

what's happening, all the negative stuff.

That's a mark of a believer. We have

a tendency, anything good happen, nobody it tweets.

Something small goes up, everybody knows about it.

Halalu, haram, right or wrong doesn't

matter. Somebody gives $10,000,

no rand, nobody advertises.

The guy did something wrong, everybody knows about

it. We have a tendency to negatively

portray unlike a mirror. So in the mirror,

you would never be loud not revealing to

others who are not there

3,

you will not speak about people when they

are gone. Like the mirror, don't show your

image after you got. You will not hold

it for the next Muslim. Look how Saudullah

looks low.

So we would not speak about people when

they are gone nor carry things of the

past in our hearts

for the future. In other words, letting bygones

be bygones.

This is in keeping with the prophetic description

in a longer hadith above this in Sahih

al Bukhari, where Rasulullah

made reference to the same wording,

The believer, like brothers one to another, are

mothers unto each other.

They protect each other and defend one another,

specifically in the absence.

So this

kind

of quality which the hadith explains what the

word is supposed to be, what it's supposed

to be to one another, the believers,

that requires

character. That requires

good character.

Allahumma

When you look in the mirror you say,

Allah, you made my outer, my physical appearance

good. So oh Allah make my inner character

good as well.

And based on that, Sayyidina Ali said,

When he looked, he said, Allahumujaal

Siriati.

O

Allah, let my inner part be better than

my outer part.

And let my outer part be good. So

when you look in the mirror and it

looks good, and you are better on the

inside, imagine how much better you must be

on the inside than on the outside.

Can we say that about ourselves?

Towards ourselves. And can we say this about

ourselves in relation to fellow human beings?

So we ask, O Allah, let us be

good inwardly and outwardly.

Let our reflection, whatever we reflect of ourselves

or others, let our reflection be good. And

let us be of those like a mirror,

reflect others with honesty,

without malice,

or without impropriety.