At Peace

My Lifetime Stories in blog

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

You are the best person I have ever known!

Previously, I wrote something about backbiting. That we should not backbite. Backbite is the same as eating the flesh of our brothers and sisters. It is even more important to protect the person who was backbitten, knowing that if we cover our brothers' fault, then may Allah cover our fault in this world and hereafter. If we are unable to do anything to protect our brothers, then leaving the conversation is much better.

What if somebody say something good about you?

First of all, there is nothing wrong in praising other people for their kindness, as long as we are not exaggerating. Rasulullah showed the example by praising good deeds of certain sahabah to show others how praiseworthy their acts were. However, praising somebody too much is not advisable from Islamic point of view. We all have been praised in one way or another. We hope most of them are genuine, or so we think. That is the danger of being praised too much. Our mind may be blinded by the praises we receive that sometimes they cloud or interfere with our judgment.

Rasulullah equated too much praising to destroying oneself or cutting someone's throat. A man said, "O Rasulullah, there is no one better than him other than Rasulullah in such-and-such." The Prophet said to him, "Woe to you! You have cut your companion's throat. You have cut your companion's throat" - several times, then he said, "If any one of you insists in praising his brother, let him say: I think so-and-so is such-and-such, and Allah knows the exact truth, or I do not confirm anyone's good conduct before Allah, but I think him to be such-and-such. (Muslim)

We also learn from this hadith the importance of remembering Allah in eveything that we do, including praising other people.


If your are praised...

Some of the pious predecessors said: If a man is praised to his face, let him say, "O Allah, forgive me for what they do not know, do not hold me responsible for what they say, and make me better than what they think. (Fath al-Bari)

And remember the hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah(Sunan Al-Tirmizi- hasan hadith), when he was asked to narrate a hadith that he understood fully. Abu Hurairah mentioned the hadith of 3 men - a man who learnt Quran by heart, a man who was killed for the sake of Allah and a man who had a lot of wealth. They were asked by Allah in the hereafter what they have done with the knowledge or wealth that they have. They all thought that they have done well, but they were wrong. They were sent to the Hellfire because they all want to be praised. The one who knows the Quran wanted to be known that he is knowledgeable, the one who spent the wealth for charity wanted to be known as charitable and the one who died for Allah sake wanted to be known as courageous. They were looking for praises from human being, and they got that, but not from Allah.

All praises belong to Allah.

@Peace.

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