Did you know? (Inspirational Islamic Stories)

Tell the truth and watch your relationships shine

"O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah and be with the true ones." - Quran 9:119

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,

"You must be truthful, for truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise. A man will keep speaking the truth and striving to speak the truth until he will be recorded with Allah as a Siddeeq (speaker of the truth). Beware of telling lies, for lying leads to immorality and immorality leads to Hellfire. A man will keep telling lies and striving to tell lies until he is recorded with Allah as a liar." (Muslim)

Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ra) said: “The truth teller achieves three things: trust, love, and respect.”

Truth Builds Trust
( By Wael Abdelgawad, islamic Sundays.com)

My daughter Salma is three years old. She goes to bed at 7:30pm, and I remain beside her until she sleeps. On certain evenings I have a martial arts class, and I hope that Salma will fall asleep quickly so I can hurry to my class before it's over (my mother watches her until I return). Sometimes Salma asks me, "Baba, are you staying home tonight or going to your class?"

I know that if I lie and say, "I'm staying home," that will comfort her and she'll fall asleep quickly, allowing me to go to class. On the other hand, if I say, "I'm going to my class," she'll deliberately struggle to stay awake, chattering and rolling around in bed, because she does not want me to leave.

So what do I do? I say, "If you fall asleep soon I will go to my class, otherwise I will stay." I tell her the truth, even it means that I miss my class, because I could not live with myself if I lied to her for selfish reasons, even if it's a "harmless" lie.

Some days I get to my class, some days I don't.

I follow this same strategy in every aspect of my relationship with her. If she says, "Baba, can we go to the zoo on Saturday?" I never say, "We'll see," just to placate her and change the subject. Someone did that with me in my childhood and I always hated it because I knew that it really meant "no" and was just an obfuscation. So with Salma I might say, "If it's sunny we can go to the zoo Insha'Allah," and when the day comes and it's sunny I will take her to the zoo no matter what, short of an emergency. Or I might say, "Sorry baby, we need to go shopping on Saturday and we won't have time."

My point is that I'm always honest with her even when the answer may upset her, and the result is that she trusts me. I see in my interaction with her that she accepts my word and believes me.

I know these are small examples. There's nothing earth shaking about telling the truth to a little child. But you know, many people do routinely lie to their children for the sake of convenience.

Prophet Muhammad saws was a perfect example of honesty.  Even before his Prophet Hood, he had earned the titles of Al Amin (the trustworthy one) and As Sadiq (the truthful).

Al Amin, the Prophet Muhammad once gathered all the people of Mecca and asked them, 

“O people of Mecca!  If I say that an army is advancing on you from behind the mountains, will you believe me?” 
All said in one voice, 

“Yes, because we have never heard you telling a lie.” 

All the people, without exception, swore to his truthfulness and honesty because he had lived an unblemished and extremely pious life among them for forty years.

-Abdullah wept until he was faint and kept repeating the words “the day when all men shall stand before the Sustainer of all the worlds.”  He was amongst the most honest and trustworthy men, but being reminded of the punishment for those who are deceitful filled him with fear.

A Muslim seeking to please God and follow the path of righteousness should be aware of the dangers of deceit and dishonesty.  However, equally he should know that God is all Merciful and all Loving, willing to forgive even the gravest sins for those who strive for His sake.  Honesty is very important in the life of a believer. 

For those who wish to be among the truthful, Prophet Muhammad has left us with these words of guidance, 

“Let he who believes in God and the Last Day either speak good or keep silent”. (Saheeh Muslim)