Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Hadtih

Prophet Muhammad (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “None of you is truly a believer until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” [Muslim]

Commentary: If you get two similar things, one for yourself and one to give as a gift, which one do you keep? You have passed the test of eman (faith) if you give the better one away. If you give the inferior one away then you need to cultivate your eman. Strangely, if you behave as though you had eman, i.e. give the better one away for the pleasure of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala), even though you don’t feel like it, then eman will automatically develop in you. Eman and behavior are mutually reinforcing.

Once Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) had two miswaks (natural toothbrush). One was crooked and the other was straight. Since Allah’s Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) was of the finest character, he truly wanted everyone else to have the best. So he gave the straight miswak to his fellow Sahabah and kept the crooked one for himself.

Is this what you practice in your transactions or do you wish that no one had a car, house, children, education, job or clothes better than yours? Does the good fortune of others make you happy or unhappy? The sign of a true Muslim is that they are happy at the good fortune of others and sad at the misfortune of others.