The Pearls of Islam

24th January 2011 19 Safar 1432 Volume 3 Issue 4 by Emaan Boussabaine

Reminder Series

Honesty

Islam orders the Muslim to be honest to himself and to others. This order repeatedly comes in the Noble Quran and the sayings of the Prophet Mohammed (SAWS). Islam orders the Muslim to tell the truth even if it is against the tellers interest. It orders him not to cheat or deceive other people. A Muslim is ordered by Allah to be honest in his words and deeds, privately and publicly. 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.
Honesty in words implies telling the truth in all cases and under all conditions. Honesty also implies fulfilling the promise, whether written or oral, in text or in spirit. Honesty also implies giving the right advice to one who asks for it. Honesty in ones work implies doing ones work as sincerely and as perfectly as possible. Carrying out duties whether the person is being supervised or not. Honesty means giving every person his due rights without his asking for these rights. Honesty is a blanket term that covers a wide range of traits. It covers telling the truth, sincerity in work, carrying out duties, fulfilling ones word, objective in judgment, and objective decisions. Honesty is the opposite of lying, the opposite of bluffing, the opposite of hypocrisy, the opposite of favoritism and the opposite of deceit. We must be honest in our relationship with Allah. There are many dimensions to the 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 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 can achieve this by making our greatest concern the attainment of Allahs mercy. Honesty with other people is also extremely important. 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 careful to ascertain the truth of the news that we hear before we go ahead and pass it onto others. This hadith can also be seen to apply to those who unwittingly pass on rumors that they might have heard containing unverified information. Oh ye who believe! Eat not up each others property by unfair and dishonest means. (4:29) This verse forbids Muslims against all unclean and corrupt means of making money eg. Dishonest trading, gambling and bribery . Condemning those who cheat in business the sacred Prophet has said: He who cheats is not of us. Deceit-

fulness and fraud are things that lead one to Hell.

In short, all manner of deceit and dishonesty in business is prohibited in Islam. It has been proclaimed to be an act of worthy condemnation. The Holy Prophet has expressed his strong dislike for those who do so. He has said he will have nothing to do with them; they do not belong to him.