Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Best Speech
Al-Isra (The Night Journey) - Chapter 17: Verse 53

"Tell My servants that they should always say that which is best. Satan tries to sow discord between them. Satan indeed is man's open foe."

In the above verse Allah is instructing the Prophet (peace be upon him) to direct the believers to say only what is best. They should always be in the habit of saying a good word. It is a general order that applies in all situations and positions. They should choose the best to say. In this way they will be able to spoil Satan's attempts to undermine the bond of mutual love that exists between them. Indeed he always tries to sow the seeds of discord between them, helped by an impolite word said by one person, followed by a similarly rude answer by another. Thus the atmosphere of love and brotherhood is spoilt, only to be replaced by an air of alienation, estrangement and even hostility. A good word always helps to clear the air and heal grievances.

Satan tries to build on every slip of a person's tongue to spread an air of alienation between brothers. Good words simply foil his attempts and protect the bond of brotherhood among all believers.

Compiled From:
"In The Shade of The Quran" - Sayyid Qutb, Vol. 11, pp. 178, 179

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Paltry Sins

Sins are of varying degrees. One thing, though, is certain: every sin is potentially dangerous and harmful for the soul. The "smaller" sins in particular can be extremely dangerous because many have a tendency to downplay small sins and regard them as insignificant. Hence, the Prophet (peace be upon him) specifically warned all believers about those "insignificant" sins. He stated, "Be aware of the paltriest of sins. They are like a people who stop in a valley and one of them comes with one stick of wood and another with one more until their bread is well cooked [due to the intensity of the fire]. When the person is taken due to his paltry sins, they destroy him." [Tabarani, Baihaqi]

In other words, a person's small sins keep building up like twigs on a fire. After some time, even though each of the twigs is quite small in and of itself, the fire is big and can burn with great intensity.

Compiled From:
"Purification of the Soul" - Jamal al-Din M. Zarabozo, pp. 404

Blindspot!

Principles

Values are social norms - they're personal, emotional, subjective and arguable. All of us have values. Even criminals have values. They question you must ask yourself is, Are your values based upon principles? Principles are natural laws - they are impersonal, factual, objective and self- evident. Consequences are governed by principles, and behaviour is governed by values; therefore, value principles!

People who are "star-struck" (celebrity obsessed) are an example of those whose values may not be anchored in principles. Popularity shapes their moral centre. They don't know who they are and don't know which way "north" is. They don't know what principles to follow because their lives are based on social values. They are torn between social awareness and self-awareness on the one hand and natural law and principles on the other.

The task, then, is to determine where "true north" is and then to align everything toward that. Otherwise, you'll live with the inevitable negative consequences that follow. Again, they are inevitable because even though values control behaviour, principles control the consequences of behaviour.

Compiled From:
"The 8th Habit" - Stephen R. Covey, pp. 48, 49