Tuesday, August 29, 2017

The 4 Pillars of Noble Manners -

The 4 Pillars of Noble Manners -

Imam Abi Zayd al-Qayrawaanee (May Allah have mercy on him) says:
"The Hadiths of morals and manners have been combined into four narrations. They are:

1. The Prophet ﷺ  said: "Whoever believes in Allah and the last day then let him say (a word that is) good or be silent."

2. The Prophet ﷺ said: "From the goodness of a person's Islam is that he leaves off that which does not concern him."

3. The Prophet  ﷺ  said to the one who sought advice from him: "Do not become angry!"

4. The Prophet ﷺ said: "None of you (truly) believes until he loves for his brother, what he loves for himself."

Hence, these four narrations- are all from forty hadeeth of the narrations collected by Imam Nawawee (May Allah be pleased with him).

All of the Hadiths related pertaining to conduct, return back to these four narrations.
This benefits us (knowing) that whoever is given success toward the understanding of these narrations, as well as the application of them then verily the pillars of conduct will be gathered with him and that which they stand upon.

 Explaining The 4 Pillars of Noble Manners -

 The  first  pillar:  Safeguarding  the  tongue  and  its  evidence is  the  statement  of  the  prophet ﷺ :   “Whoever  believes  in  Allah  and  the  last  day,  then  let  him say  (a  word  that  is)  good  or  be  silent.”   This  is  the  first  pillar,  and  whoever  does  not  safeguard  his tongue  will  not  be  from  the  people  of  morals  and  manners.

Hence,  from  the  tremendous  foundations  and  strong supports  which  morals  and  manners  are  established upon…is  safeguarding  the  tongue. Meaning:  taking  it  into account  and  holding  it  back  from  speech,  except  for  what  is beneficial  in  it.

 So, the  prophet  ﷺ  said: “…then  let  him  speak  good  or  be  silent.” In  it  is  a  call  to  pondering  over  one’s  speech  prior  to speaking;  because  speech,  before  it  exits,  you  own  it…and when  it  has  exited  it  owns  you!  For  this  reason,  from  the beauty  of  an  individual  is  that  he  reflects  upon  his  statement before  he  speaks.

 The  second  pillar  from  the  pillars  of  morals  and  manners:
Distancing  oneself  far  away  from  meddling  and  being involved  in  what  does  not  concern  him;  and  that  the individual  does  not  delve  himself  into  what  does  not concern  him.
 
Thus,  the  meddling  person  will  not  be  one  of morals  and  good  manners,  because  his  meddling  and delving  himself  into  what  does  not  concern  him  removes him  from  good  manners  and  takes  him  outside  of  its boundary. 

However,  when  he  is  far  away  from meddling…he  is  far  away  from  entering  into  what  does  not concern  him.  Hence,  this  is  from  the  characteristics  of  good manners.  Rather  it  is  from  the  pillars  of  good  manners.  The proof  of  this  is  the  statement  of  the  prophet   ﷺ :   “From  the  goodness  of  the  person’s  Islam  is  that  he  leaves off  what  does  not  concern  him.”

 The  third  pillar  from  the  pillars  of  morals  and  good character:  the  avoidance  of  being  driven  by  human emotions,  in  particularly  anger. 

When  the  person  gets excited  and  he  becomes  angry,  upon  him  is  that  he  does  not proceed  at  the  time  of  his  anger.  Meaning  that  he  does  not carry  out  a  statement  or  an  action  because  any  statement  he carries  out  at  the  times  of  anger,  and  any  action  he  carries out  at  the  time  of  anger,  in  most  cases  will  be  away  from  the realm  of  morals  and  manners.  Surely,  it  has  been  said regarding  the  dispraise  of  anger  and  its  ugliness: “Anger…the  first  part  of  it  is  insanity  and  the  final  stage  is regret”.

 When  the  person  is  driven  by  his  emotions  and  by  his  anger this  is  conducive  to  falling  into  major  evils  and  many  actions where  its  end  results  are  not  praiseworthy. 

 The  fourth  matter  from  the  pillars  of  morals  and  good manners:  Soundness  of  heart;  that  is  there  will  not  be  in  the heart  of  the  person  any  jealousy,  malice,  grudges, resentment,  or  anything  like  this  from  the  diseases  of  the heart  and  its  illnesses.  

 “None  of  you  will  (truly)  believe  until  he  loves  for  his brother  that  which  he  loves  for  himself.”
 Hence,  this  is  the  narration  (used  as)  a  support  on  the  topic of  good  character.  When  the  person  has  reached  the  extent  of actualizing  this  narration,  and  he  has  gained  mastery  over this  narration,  then  he  will  safeguard  his  heart,  and  cleanse his  soul  from  evil  and  inner  corruption  .  Then  verily  he  –by the  permission  of  Allah-will  actualize  in  himself  good character  at  the  time  of  his  most  splendid  image  (i.e.  when he  is  physically  looking  his  best)  and  in  his  most  beautiful apparel.  He  ﷺ to  said  “None  of  you  truly  believe until  he  loves  for  his  brother  that  which  he  loves  for himself.” 
 
- taken from 'Noble Manners based on four pillars' by Sh Abdur Razzak Al Badr.