Virtues of the righteous

Shame comes from faith

For a murid, one of the prerequisite states is that of a constant burning of the heart because of shame for omissions in fulfilling obligations to Allah. Fudayl ibn Iyad f said, “There are five signs of someone’s misfortune: callousness of the heart, dry eyes (because fear of the Almighty is absent, a person does not shed tears), as well as shamelessness, the pursuit of worldly goods and hope of a long life.» Wise ones also said that when people abandon feelings of reverence and shame, nothing good is left in them.

The degree of a slave’s shame before Almighty Allah is proportionate to his faith and detachment from worldly life. The great righteous noted: “Shame and consolation (uns [1]) knock on a person’s heart and if they find detachment from the worldly (zuhd) and piety (wara` [2]) within him, they then settle there otherwise they forsake him entirely.»

Almighty Allah said (meaning): “She desired him and he would have desired her if he had not earlier seen a sign from his Lord.” (Sura Yusuf, ayah 24). Regarding this sign it is said: Zuleyha threw her clothes on an idol which stood in the corner of the room. On seeing this, Yusuf asked her, «What are you doing?» She replied: «I am ashamed to commit a sin before it.» Then Yusuf said, «It is more fitting that I be ashamed before Almighty Allah than before this statue of an idol.»

From the biographies of the earlier righteous, any great examples of their shame before Almighty Allah have come to us, which arose of them naturally and without pretension. Some of the righteous, because of their shame before Almighty Allah, could not enter the mosque, the house of Allah, following any disobedience to the Almighty.

Once, people saw a man who was performing a prayer outside a mosque. When they asked him, “Why don’t you go inside the mosque to perform namaz?” He replied, “I am ashamed before Allah to go into His house, for I have disobeyed Him.”

Among these righteous ones were those who were ashamed to be afraid of anyone except the Almighty. One of them recounted, “One night we were going through a dense forest and stumbled upon a sleeping man, beside whom his horse was grazing. We woke him and asked, “Are you not afraid to sleep in such a dangerous place, for here there are many predators?” The man raised his head and replied, “I am ashamed before Allah to be afraid of anyone but Him,” and, turning away, he fell asleep again.

Abu Bakr al Warraq said, «Sometimes I perform two raka'at prayers and leave the place of prayer, ashamed as if I have stolen something.»

Allah’s shame before his slave

Know that Almighty Allah is ashamed before His slaves. In the Tawrat (Torah) is written: “Be ashamed to commit sin and, truly, I am ashamed to punish you.” In one of the divine books it is also said, “My slave is unjust to Me: when he asks Me, I am ashamed to deny him and when he disobeys Me, he is not even ashamed before Me.” A hadith of the Prophet says, “Indeed, Allah is the most ashamed and the most generous and when His slave raises up his hands in supplication asking for something, Almighty Allah is ashamed not to answer this prayer.”

CHAPTER 4 VIRTUES

Merits of virtue

Virtue is a person’s most estimable quality through which the essence of truly courageous people is manifested. Almighty Allah endowed the Prophet with many virtues, but the Lord praised the moral character of the Messenger above that of anyone else.

The Almighty said (meaning), “Verily, you, O Prophet, are the possessor of a great moral character.” (Sura Al Qalam, ayah 4). Ulama note that: «Great moral character is that whose possessor causes no enmity in anyone and all this is through the high level of knowledge of Almighty Allah.»

Other scholars say, «Great moral character is the acknowledgment that the coarse behavior of others towards you is predestined by the Almighty.» There is also the following opinion of scholars: “Great moral character is attention focused only on Almighty Allah”. Other theological scholars have further commented in detail on the above mentioned ayah of the Quran: “You, O Prophet, are the possessor of great moral character. No creation will achieve such a degree of moral character .Thus, you patiently endure public prejudice as no one else can.”

One scholar explained this ayah thus: “As you are graced with the moral characters of Allah, people’s slander does not negatively affect you and you do not experience suffering from their evil. For you endure with the help of Allah and not through your own strengths. As the Almighty said (meaning), “Show patience and your patience is only with the help of Allah” (Sura An-Nahl, ayah 127).

Indeed, there is no one more patient than Allah. The words of the ayah “possessor of a great moral character” also signify the pre eminence of the Messenger of Allah and mean that the Prophet possesses only inherently praiseworthy qualities and deeds that only evoke Allah’s satisfaction, since for the Messenger of Allah all this is natural.

Thus, Almighty Allah said (meaning), “Say, O Prophet, ‘For bringing you the Quran, I do not demand from you any reward, and I do not try to manifest to you a character not inherent to me.” (Sura Sad, ayah 86). In other words, I make no pretense of manifesting good moral character, because this pretense would not be long sustained and sooner or later it will return to its original state.»

Theological scholars have also told that a person’s moral character changes depending on whom he is friends with and maintains some sort of relationship with as is stated in the hadith: “Man is of the religion of his friend.

Therefore, may everyone carefully mind whom they befriend.” In another hadith it is said: “Do not abide with those who have fallen into error of any kind and who follow reproachable innovations in religion. Indeed, this as contagious as scabies.”

It was specifically the moral character of the Prophet that was remarked upon by the Almighty and described with the word «great.»

Almighty Allah also called the Quran by the same word. The moral character of the Prophet assimilated within itself the noble qualities of all the preceding prophets;

the noble qualities of the prophet Nuh , the friendship of the prophet Ibrahim with the Lord, the sincerity of the prophet Musa , the commitment to his promises of the prophet Ismail , the patience of the prophets Ayub and Yaqub, the prowess of the prophet Dawud , the modesty of the prophets Suleiman and Isa and also the moral qualities of all the other prophets.

Of this the Almighty said (meaning), “O Muhammad , follow the right path of the preceding prophets.”

By “the right path” is implied not knowledge of the Almighty, as the acquisition of knowledge is based on following another person and this does not pertain to our Prophet . Neither does this refer to the Sharia for the law of the Messenger of Allah rescinds all the commandments of the previous prophets.

The actual meaning of the words “follow the right path” is to pursue the outstanding moral qualities of the previous prophets. And when the Lord tells the Prophet to follow the right path, He is thereby telling the Messenger to unite in himself all the meritorious qualities of the previous prophets.

None of the preceding prophets or messengers achieved such a lofty degree as this. Thus, Almighty Allah singled out the Prophet Muhammad as the possessor of great moral character. Regarding this, one of those who knew Allah said the following,

«Every prophet has a particular dignity, but the best are all gathered in Muhammad .»

• [1] Love and a feeling sense of sweetness and solace in the remembrance of the Almighty. Ed.
• [2] Scrupulousness in observing the precepts of religion, even in the little things, and avoidance of what is permitted for fear of falling into what is doubtful. Ed.

FROM THE BOOK “VIRTUES OF THE RIGHTEOUS“ BY SHEIKH AHMAD- AFANDI MUFTI DAGESTAN