Class 9
Attitude that brings Great Rewards Good Attitude
One of the most beautiful things in Islam is the emphasis on good manners. This is something so many Non-Muslims have been attracted to, before eventually accepting Islam. One quote a shaykh once made in a lecture particularly stuck: A Muslim is made by manners.
The Messenger of Allaah ﷺ was asked about that which will admit most people to Paradise. He said: “Taqwa of Allah and a good attitude.” (al-Tirmidhi;. classed as saheeh by al-Albaani).
This is a beautiful Hadeeth which shows the importance of doing good at everything, having Taqwa of Allah is between the Slave and His Lord but the manners is between people and so along with being a good Aa’bid (worshipper of Allah) being a well-mannered person can get us to Jannah by the Mercy of Allah!
A good attitude is the characteristic of the best of the Messengers and is the best action of the righteous. It is – no doubt – half of religion, the fruit of the efforts of the pious and the practice of the devoted worshipper. Bad characteristics are lethal poison and lead to shameful consequences.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “I have only been sent to perfect good characteristics.” (al-Bukhaari in al-Adab al-Mufrad, classed as Sahih).
Hence Islam paid a great deal of attention to laying down guidelines for treating diseases of the heart (i.e., spiritual diseases) and ways of acquiring good characteristics, which is regarded as one of the most important duties, because no heart will be free of sicknesses. If the heart is neglected, sicknesses will accumulate. No soul is free of inclinatons which, if they are given free rein, will lead it to doom in this world and in the Hereafter.
Furthermore there are other ahadeeth emphasizing the importance of Manners & Character, we will list some of them below the Prophet ﷺ said:
Even the Prophet ﷺ used to pray for a good attitude, saying, “O Allaah, You have made my outward form beautiful so make my attitude good too.” [Narrated by Ibn Hibbaan in his Saheeh (3/239) and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani].
Even though such great importance and rewards have been mentioned sadly nowadays something strange is going on.
There’s clearly something wrong. Why is there such a massive difference between what Islam teaches us and what is being reflected in society? The answer is: manners.
Seeing the value of Manners and doing things for the Sake of Allah
Stop a moment and comprehend that your manners can be one of the reasons a person accepts Islam and his/her good deeds from there on will all in your accounts as well. Ponder on the fact that Manners will weigh so heavily on the Day of Judgment when every small thing can make a big difference, envision being nearest to the Prophet ﷺ on the Day of Judgment, realize that manners could be one of the main reasons for Allah to enter you into His Gardens of Paradise.
Think that, why are almost all parents so keen on teaching saying please & thank you to their children? Because it is fitrah (natural inclination) for parents to want good manners from their children.
We should speak the truth, be honest, be brave, be just, not just because society considers it good manners; you we should because Allah ‘azza wajal has commanded us to do so! Allah (swt) has told us which manners are good.
So develop your good habits only for the sake of Allah, remembering your relationship with Him and seeking closeness to Him while focusing on your manners, this helps us to do more than we can for any worldly benefits.
The Best Model of Good Character
How do I know what a good character is? Look at the Prophetﷺ . He is the perfect example of good character, Allah says about him: You have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for any one whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Praise of Allah. [Quran, 33:21]
TRAITS OF A MUSLIM WITH GREAT REWARDS
Truthful
Being truthful is one of the necessities of a human society, one of the virtues of human behaviour, and brings great benefits, whilst lying is one of the major elements of corruption in human society, and the cause of the destruction of social structure and ties, one of the most evil features of bad conduct, and causes widespread harm. Hence Islam commanded truthfulness and forbade lying.
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “O you who believe! Be afraid of Allaah, and be with those who are true (in word and deeds).” [al-Tawbah 9:119]
The Messenger of Allaah ﷺ said: ‘You must be truthful, for truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise. A man will keep speaking the truth and striving to speak the truth until he will be recorded with Allaah as a siddeeq(speaker of the truth). Beware of telling lies, for lying leads to immorality and immorality leads to Hellfire. A man will keep telling lies and striving to tell lies until he is recorded with Allaah as a liar.” (Reported by Muslim, 4721)
Truthfulness includes being truthful towards Allaah by worshipping Him sincerely; being truthful towards one’s own soul by making it adhere to the laws of Allaah; and being truthful with people in one’s words and by keeping one’s promises, and in dealings such as buying, selling and marriage, so there should be no deceiving, cheating, falsifying or withholding of information. Thus a person should be the same on the inside and the outside.
Trustworthy
While the qualities of truthfulness and trustworthiness are entwined, there are slight differences. Truthfulness implies a lack of deceit while trustworthiness entails honouring and fulfilling commitments, promises, trusts and covenants. It covers moral, social, legal and religious obligations. Allah praises the believers by promising them Paradise,
Humbleness
The essence of being Muslim is being humble.
The word “Muslim” itself means to submit oneself in ultimate humbleness to Allah.
The Messenger of Allâh ﷺ said: “The most perfect of the believers in faith is the one who is best in attitude and humble, who get along with others and others get along with them, and there is no good in the one who does not get along with others and they do not get along with him.” (Narrated by al-Tabaraani; classed as hasan by Albani)
The Messenger of Allaah ﷺ said: “Wealth does not decrease because of charity, and Allaah increases His slave in honour when he forgives others. And no one humbles himself before Allaah but Allaah will raise him (in status).”
But it is a great irony of the human soul that when we become more humble and submissive to Allah, we fall into a grave trap. We tend to grow in arrogance because we feel our level of submission is better than that of others. It was this same trap that Satan fell into.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “No one who has an atom’s-weight of arrogance in his heart will enter Paradise.” A man said, “O Messenger of Allaah, what if a man likes his clothes and his shoes to look good?” He said, “Allaah is Beautiful and loves beauty. Arrogance means rejecting the truth and looking down on people.” (Narrated by Muslim, 91).
May Allah save us from being amongst the arrogant and make us amongst humble.
Be Easy Going
Islam is the religion of mercy and kindness, the religion of tolerance and ease. Allaah has not burdened this ummah (community, nation) with more than it can bear. Whatever good it does, it will be rewarded for it, and whatever evil it does, it will have to bear the burden of that sin, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Allaah burdens not a person beyond his scope. He gets reward for that (good) which he has earned, and he is punished for that (evil) which he has earned” [al-Baqarah 2:286]
This very sad statement “Islam is Difficult” is uttered or at least believed by many Muslims around the world when we look at the teachings of Islam, finding ease and moderation is recommended in both the worldly as well as religious matters.
‘Aa’ishah R.A. said: “Never that the Prophet ﷺ , had to choose between two matters, but that he chose the easier of them as long as it was not a sin (i.e. a prohibited action). If it was a sin, he was the farthest of people from it…..” (Al-Bukhaari)
The Sunnah is to make things easy he was sent to make things easy for us, show us the right way, the way that pleases the Lord and get to eternal bliss with the easiest deeds possible. Although Islam is a simple religion and not burdensome, this does not mean that life will be easy for a practicing Muslim as Allah has promised to test each and every one of us. So keep in mind that although Islam is easy to practice if you commit yourself, your level of commitment will be tested by Allah. But being moderate and making things easy for ourselves and for others is part of the Sunnah.
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Religion is easy, and no one overburdens himself in his religion but he will be unable to continue in that way. So do not be extremists, but try to be near perfection and receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded. Gain strength by worshipping in the mornings and afternoons and during the last hours of the night.” [Narrated by al-Bukhaari (39) and Muslim (2816)].
Also the Prophet ﷺ said,
Easy in Dealings
The Messenger of Allâh ﷺ said:
Gentle & Forbearing
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said to Ashajj b. Qays: “You possess two qualities that Allâh loves: forbearance and patience.” (Sahih Muslim)
He ﷺ also said,
Being Helpful
One form of providing ease is to make things easy in terms of religion and the other is to remove general difficulties for their brothers, this brings in great rewards from Allah and also is of great benefit in this world.
Being helpful or always ready to help was one of the characteristics of the Prophet ﷺ he would never say no to anyone who had asked him of help., Jabir ibn Abdullah (Allah be pleased with him) relates that, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was never asked anything whatsoever to which he said no.” [Bukhari and Muslim].
In last class we read about the rewards of helping and fulfilling the needs of the people.
PERFECTION IN ALL YOU DO
One of the core problems with the Muslims specially those who are good at some things is that they become complacent. They do some really good things but then fall way behind in other things like a person is really good in Salah, Dawah, etc but his relation with his parents is appalling. This is not a complete Muslim, the main attribute of the Prophet’s character was perfection. He strove for perfection in everything he did. When someone would speak to him, he would turn around fully to talk. When speaking with him, he was never the first to look away, he was the best of companions and similarly was the best to his wives. He was simply perfect in everything he did Alhamdulilah!
Please join our free online certificate course “THE LOST TRAITS”, to learn more about various traits that we should have as a Muslim and their respective virtues. https://learn-islam.org/lost-traits (available online now, register and learn).
Note these are not part of the course, it is an independent course that can be done at your own pace and at your own convenience.