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Significance of Honesty in Islam May 27, 2008

Posted by aymenmd in Blogroll.
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Honesty is one of the greatest of all moral virtues. From it springs forth many of the noblest of human qualities like integrity, chastity, and valor. Some people might suppose that honesty is restricted to words. This is not the case. Honesty can manifest itself in our actions as well as in our innermost state of being.
The great scholar and ethical thinker, al-Muhāsibī, once said:
“For honesty to be complete, it must exist in three things. It must exist in the heart as one’s faith, it must exist in the intentions behind one’s deeds, and it must be present in the words that one speaks.”
Honesty penetrates to the innermost fiber of a person when his inner being is in harmony with his outer self. A person’s deeds are honest only when he practices what he professes. Dishonesty in deed is more despicable than dishonesty in word, for it is naught but a hypocritical display of sincerity. This is what the brothers of Joseph (peace be upon him) did when they came with Joseph’s bloody clothing to their father.
Allah says: “So they came with his shirt stained with false blood.” [Sūrah Yūsuf: 18]
Allah warns us saying: “O you who believe, why do you say what you do not do? It is loathsome indeed with Allah that you say what you do not do.” [Sūrah al-Saff: 3]
Truth in word is the most familiar and obvious kind of truth, since every statement that is inconsistent with reality is obviously a lie.
Allah says: “Verily those who fabricate a lie against Allah will not find success.”
Allah commands the believers, saying: “O you who believe, fear Allah and be among those who are honest.”
Allah gives glad tidings to the believers who are honest. He says: “Allah will reward the honest people for their honesty.”
Allah informs us that our honesty will bring us good even in this world: “And when a matter is resolved upon, it would be best for them if they were true to Allah.”
And of course, honesty will be of doubtless benefit to us in the Hereafter.
Allah says: “This is the day that the honest people will benefit from their honesty.” [Sūrah al-Mā’idah: 119]
Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) was renowned for his honesty long before he began to receive revelation and became Allah’s Messenger. He had been known among his people for years as al-Amīn (the Trustworthy) .
The Prophet (peace be upon him) informed us of the effects that both honesty and dishonesty have on our personalities when he said: “Honesty brings about security and lying fosters doubts.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) also said: “Honesty leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise . A man remains honest and concerned about honesty until he is recorded as an honest man with Allah. Lying leads to sinfulness and sinfulness leads to the Fire. A man keeps lying and remains partial to lies until he is recorded as a liar with Allah.” [Sahīh al-Bukharī and Sahīh Muslim]
He also explained the effects that honesty and dishonesty have on our interpersonal dealings: “Honesty and clarity are blessed for both parties to a sale, while concealment and deceit destroy the blessings of their sale.” [Sahīh al-Bukharī and Sahīh Muslim]
We must be honest in our relationship with Allah. There are many dimensions to this most important expression of honesty. There is our sincerity to Allah. Then there is being cognizant that Allah is ever watchful of what we do. There is the sense of humility and shame that we must feel before Him. If we truly want to be honest in our relationship with Allah, we must become so fully sincere to Him that there remains in our hearts no other motive for what we do but to seek His pleasure. We must care nothing for the thanks and appreciation of our fellow men. We can achieve this by making our greatest concern the attainment of Allah’s mercy. We must be constantly aware that Allah is ever watchful over us. This will make us feel too shy to ever willingly disobey Allah.
Honesty with other people is also extremely important. There are many aspects to this as well.
First, we must be honest in our dispensation towards others. We should not behave deceptively and present a false face to people. Instead, we must be genuine and straightforward with people as much as possible.
We must be honest in what we say. This requires from us to be careful to ascertain the truth of the news that we hear before we go ahead and pass it on to others. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “It is enough to make a person a liar that he tells others everything that he hears.”
We must be honest in giving advice to people. We should be sincere in our advice and truly do our best to help people avoid misfortune and attain what is good for them.
We need to be even more honest with our spouses. We must be able to confide in them and speak freely to them about our concerns, our secrets, and our ambitions. A husband or wife is a life partner, a friend, a confidant. The more openly a husband and wife are able to communicate with each other in an atmosphere of trust and confidence, the stronger their relationship will be.
Honesty, in fact, engenders strength on every level. On the personal level, it provides integrity, self worth, and inner fortitude. On the social level, it lends depth and substance to our relationships with other people. On the spiritual level, it brings about the sincerity to our Lord that is the key to our salvation.

Courtesy Of: IslamToday.net

Reciting The Holy Qur’an May 27, 2008

Posted by aymenmd in Religion.
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  1. Reciting the Holy Qur’an with eagerness and farvour and put all your heart and soul in the recitation. Be sure that love of the Qur’an means love of God.

    The Prophet of God (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) affirmed:

    ” The best form of worship for my followers is recitation of the Qur’an “.

  2. Engage yourself in the recitation of the Qur’an most of the time and never feel wary of reciting the Holy Book.

    The Holy Prophet of God (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) affirmed:
    ” God has ordained that any man who engages himself in the recitation of Qur’an so constantly that he finds no time to send prayers to me, I shell provide him more without asking than those who ask “.     ( Tirmidhi)

    Further than this, the  Prophet of God (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) observed:
    ” The servant gets nearest unto God by means of reciting the Qur’an “.         (Tirmadhi)
    Instructing the people to recite the Holy Qur’an, The Prophet of God (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) also observed:
    “The man who has studied the Qur’an and recites it daily can be likened to a basket full of musk whose sweet smell is making the whole atmosphere fragrant. And the man who has studied the Qur’an but dose not recite it may be likened to a bottle full of musk whose moth has been sealed with a stopper “.

  3. Recite the Qur’an with the sole motive of seeking guidance. Do not recite the Holy Book for the sake of gaining popularity, or establishing a reputation for good, harmoniuse recitaation or making a name for piety. These are base motives and he who recites the Qur’an with these motives in mind can obtain no guidance from the Qur’an.

  4. Take care to be completely neat and clean before you sit down for recitation. Do not touch the Holy Book without performing ablution and recite it sitting in a clean and tidy place.

  5. Sit cross-logged with your face towards the Qiblah and recite the Qur’an with your head bowed, with utmost care, complete attention, eagerness of heart and in a proper manner.

    God affirms:

  6. As far as possible recite the Qur’an in a clear and distinct manner and read the letters correctly and utter the syllables in proper style and recite slowly.

    The Holy Prophet ( Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) observed:
    ” Use your voice and style to recite the Qur’an in the best manner”.( Abu Dawud)

    The Holy Prophet ( Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) observed:
    ” He who recites the Qur’an will be told on the Day of Judgment “. Recite the Qur’an now in the same clear and distinct manner and in the same harmonious style in which you used to recite it with care and propriety in the world and as a reward for the recitation of each verse you shell be elevated one degree higher and your ultimate place is near the end of the final verse”.     ( Tirnidhi)

  7. Do not recite in an extremely loud or very low voice. Keep your voice at a medium pitch.

    God ordains:

    Wa la tajhar bisalatika wa la tukhafit biha wabtaghi baian dhalika sabila.

  8. Recite the Qur’an whenever you find time, but do try to recite Qur’an in the course of Tahajjud prayer at dawn. This recitation of the Qur’an entails the reward of highest degree and it should be the aspiration of the true believers to attain the apex of excellence in reward for recitation.

  9. Do not complete the reading of the whole of the Holy Qur’an in less than three days.

    The Holy Prophet ( Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) observed:
    ” He who completes the recitation of the full text of the Qur’an in less than three days dose not understand the meanings of the Qur’an at all “.

  10. Keep in mind  the glory and value of the Qur’an and as you observe the etiquette of keeping your person neat and clean while reciting the Qur’an, so also you must purge your heart of evil thoughts, wicked passions and impure purposes. The heart that is tainted with evil and wicked thoughts and passions cannot appreciate and admire the glory and value of the Holy Qur’an nor can the bearer of such an evil heart grasp the meanings and realities of the Qur’an.

    Hadrat ‘ Ikrama ( God be pleased with him) whenever he opened the Qur’an, he often fainted. He used to say:
    ” These are the words of my Great and Glorious Lord”.

  11. Recite the Qur’an with the conviction that on this earth this Book is the only source of guidance for mankind. Meditate and reflect deeply over the meanings of the Qur’an from this view point and try to grasp the realities and learn the wisdom contained in the Book. Do not recite it rapidly but form the habit of reading slowly, distinctly and with careful understanding of the meanings and try to ponder over the message conveyed to us .

    Hadrat ‘ Abdullah b.Abbas (God be pleased with him) often remarked:
    ” I consider it for better to recite small Surahs like ‘ Al-Qari’ah and ‘Al-Qadr’ with understanding and care than to read through the longer Surahs of ‘Al-Baqrah’ and ‘Al-Imran’ at a rapid pace without careful understanding of the meanings of the words.

    The Holy Prophet ( Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) once recited this one verse over and over again all through the night.

    In tu’adhdhibhum fa-innahum  ‘ibabyka wa in taghfir lahum fa-innaka ant-al-aziz-ul-hakim.
    ” If Thou punisheth them, Lo !  they are Thy slaves, and if Thou forgiveth the, Lo ! Thou only Thou art the Mighty, the Wise “.

  12. Recite the Qur’an with full determination to adapt your life to he injunctions of this Holy Book and to reform the pattern of your living in the light of the guidance provided by it. Make constant endeavours  to order your life in conformity with the Qur’anic injunctions and purge your life of all impurities. The Holy Qur’an like a mirror will clearly reflect each blot and spot in your character. It is entirely your own responsibility to wash off these blots and stains from your life.

  13. Feel the full impact of the verses during recitation of the Holy Qur’an. Rejoice and feel happy on reading about the narrations of Divine Mercy, Forgiveness and the Everlasting bounties of Paradise. And on reading about the narrations of the wrath, anger and the terrific punishments of Hell your body should tremble, eyes should flow and the heart should melt with the sentiments of repentance and shame. Your face should glow with the light of happiness on reading about the successes of the pious and faithful people and you should be seized with deep sorrow on reading about the destruction of nations. The study of verses containing warnings and forebodings of torments should make you tremble and your soul should be filled to the brim with the sentiments of gratitude on reading the verses which bear glad tidings.

  14. After reciting the Holy Qur’an offer a prayer. The words of one of the prayers offered Hadrat ‘Umar( God be pleased with him0 are as follows:

Allahummarzuqnit-tafakkura wat-tadabbura bima yatluhu lisani min kitabika wal-fahma lahu-wal ma’rifata bima’anihi wan-nazara fi aja’ibihi wal’amala bidhilka ma baqitu innaka ala kulli shai’in qadir.
” God ! Whatever my tongue recites from Thy Book, grant me the favour to reflect upon it. God ! bestow upon me the understanding of it. Vouchsafe to me the knowledge of its meaning, and the vision to see its niceties. Grant me the favour to act according to its injunctions as long as I live. Your Being is without doubt Omnipotent