Virtues of the righteous

Theological scholars noted that Almighty Allah offered the Prophet the keys to all earthly goods but the Messenger of Allah did not accept them. Then the Creator raised the Prophet e up to heaven on the night of the Ascension and showed him all the angels as well as Paradise. But the Messenger of Allah e paid no attention to all this. And the Almighty said (meaning), “The Prophet did not deflect his gaze from that which is permissible and did not transgress its limits.” (Sura Al Najm, ayah 17). He looked neither to left nor right and therefore the Almighty said (meaning), «Truly, you are the possessor of great moral character.» This means that neither adversity nor good can force the Messenger of Allah to deviate from the true path.

It is known how much adversity and distress the Prophet bore and yet showed patience. His blessed head was wounded and a tooth was broken, but despite this, he said, “Oh my Lord, forgive my people, for, truly, they do not know what they do!” And on the Day of Judgment, when every prophet will be concerned about himself, the Prophet Muhammad will exclaim, “My community, my community!”

STATEMENTS REGARDING VIRTUE

Many golden sayings are devoted to good moral qualities. Here are some of them, so as to inspire good morals and awaken unthinking hearts:

1. They asked the Messenger of Allah , «Who among believers is the most worthy in faith?» He replied, «He is best who has the best moral character.» And when they asked, “What is misfortune?” He answered, “Bad moral character.”

2. The Messenger of Allah said, «If you are not in a condition to give alms (sadaqa) from your property to the slaves of Allah, treat all people with kindliness and goodwill.»

3. Once the Prophet was asked, “O Messenger of Allah , turn to Almighty Allah for a prayer against the non believers!” To which he responded, «Truly, I have been sent as mercy and not as punishment.»

4. Fudayl said, “If a person does many good deeds, but at the same time does not treat his chickens well, he is not numbered amongst devout people.”

5. It is said, “Virtue is the ability to consider your worship of Almighty Allah as insignificant, while glorifying all the blessings bestowed by Most Pure Allah.”

6. Shah al Karmani said, «A sign of virtue in relation to others is refusal to inflict on them any harm or difficulty.

7. The righteous Wahb said, “If a person adheres to one moral quality for forty days, Allah will make this a permanent character trait for His slave.”

8. Hasan al Basri explained the words of Almighty Allah “and purify your garments” (Sura AlMuddathir, ayat 4) in this way: “O Prophet, improve your moral character.”

9. Abu Hafs was asked about virtue and he replied, “This is what the Almighty chose for the Prophet in His words (meaning), “Be tolerant with others, tell them to do good and avoid the ignorant.” (Sura Al A`raf, ayah 199).

10. It is said that, “Virtue is when your heart is in a state of detachment. In other words, be among people but bind your heart only to Almighty Allah.”

11. It is said, «Virtue is the patient acceptance of any sort of coarseness from others, as well as humble contentment with what is predetermined by the Almighty without any irritability and unease.»

12. It is said that, “A bad moral character constrains the heart of its possessor, for it does not contain anything except its own desire, just as a small space can only accommodate a single person.”

13. It is said that, “A sign of a bad moral character is deftness in discerning the flaws of others.”

EXAMPLES OF MANIFESTATIONS OF VIRTUE

Many wonderful stories have come down to us from our righteous predecessors. For some people these stories may seem fictional. However, without any doubt, these are true accounts. The righteous achieved degrees of knowledge of Almighty Allah and this improved their moral character.

1. Abdullah ibn Umar freed a slave, if he correctly performed his daily prayers. And when his slaves became aware of their master’s virtuous character, they strove to perform prayer beautifully just for show. But Abdullah freed all who were engaged in worshipping in this way. Ibn Umar was once pointed out to this and he replied, “If someone should deceive me in matters of the religion of Allah, then I am ready to be deceived.”

2. When Ahnaf ibn Qays [1] was asked, “From whom did you learn morality?” he answered, “Qays ibn Asim al Nakri f.” Then he was asked, “And what level of moral character had ibn Asim al Nakri?” Ahnaf replied, “Once a female servant of Qays wanted to bring him meat on a skewer but the skewer was very hot and slipped out of the servant’s hands and fell onto a little child of ibn Asim , which led to the death of the baby.

The servant was in utterly devastated state but Qays ibn Asim al Nakri said to her, “Do not fear, you are not in danger, I set you free for the sake of Allah.”

3. When children saw the great righteous Uwais alQarani , they threw stones at him. And the righteous one said to them, “If you can’t help but throw stones at me, then at least throw small ones so that they don’t badly hurt my legs. Otherwise, you see, I cannot stand to pray.”

4. Once, a certain man followed Ahnaf ibn Qays and subjected him to rebuke. When Ahnaf ibn Qays reached the quarter where he lived, he stopped and said, “O young man, if you have anything else to say to me, then say it all now, as otherwise some crazy people in this quarter will hear your remonstrating and may harm you.»

5. They say that the ruler of the faithful Ali ibn Abu Talib once summoned a servant but he did not respond. He called him again and again. Then Ali himself went to the servant and, seeing that he was lying down, asked, “Perhaps you cannot hear me, O servant?” When the servant answered in the affirmative, the ruler of the faithful asked, “Then what caused you not to answer my call?” The servant replied, “I was sure that you would not punish me, and therefore I was too lazy to come.” Then Ali said to him: “Go, I set you free for the sake of Almighty Allah.”

6. It is said that Ma`ruf alKarkhi stopped at the Tigris River to bathe and put his Quran and clothing aside. A woman then came along and took Ma`ruf al Кarkhi’s Quran and clothes.

Then he caught up with the stranger and said to her, “O my sister, I am Ma`ruf and I do not blame you for anything. Do you have a son who can read the Quran? ” She replied that she did not. Then Ma`ruf asked, “Or maybe you have a husband who reads the Quran?” And when she again answered in the negative, he said to her, «Then return the Quran to me and you can keep my outer robes for yourself.»

7. Once, thieves broke into the house of Sheikh Abu Abdurrahman as Salmi and carried away everything in it. It was said that he told his friend, “I once went to the market and saw my stolen cloak. And I turned away so as not to look in that direction.»

8. Once the wife of Malik ibn Dinar called him, “O, he who performs good deeds for show!” He said to her, “O woman, you have found for me the nickname most suited to me unknown to the townspeople of Basra.”

9. Yahya ibn Ziyad alHarisi had a servant with a bad temper. And when Yahya was asked, “Why do you keep such a bad slave?” he answered, “I try to endure his bad temper and this teaches me to be humble.”

[1] Ahnaf bin Qays, may Allah be pleased with him , possessed great humility and good morals. The Arabs cite him as an example of one who possessed praiseworthy morals and dignity.

FROM THE BOOK “VIRTUES OF THE RIGHTEOUS”

BY SHEIKH AHMAD-AFANDI MUFTI DAGESTAN