Faith Is Imperfect without Morality

ibn azem

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Faith Is Imperfect without Morality

Faith is such a power that keeps man away form low attributes; means acts, and encourages him to achieve high attributes and clean morals. That is why wherever Allah(swt) called his slaves towards virtue or whenever He wanted them to hate evil, He declared it as an essential requirement of the Faith in their hearts.

For example, when He (swt) , in surah at-Tawbah, commands men to adopt righteousness and to speak truth, He addresses them as, "O you who have faith! Fear Allah and be with the truthful people." (9:119)

Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) has nicely explained it that when faith is firm and belief is strong, then strong and lasting morals will be developed, and if the moral character is low then faith will accordingly be weak.

A man who is immodest and ill mannered and who adopts bad habits without caring for others is like the person about whom the Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam), said: "Modesty and faith are twins. One who gives up one has to lose the other too." (Ahmed). Once the Prophet (saws) passed by an Ansari (Madinite) who was scolding his brother about his immodesty, the Prophet (saws) advised him to let him go, as modesty was a branch of faith.


A man who harasses and harms his neighbor is called cruel and stonehearted by the religion. In this connection the decision of the Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) is: "By Allah he cannot be a Mumin (faithful); by Allah he cannot be a Mumin; by Allah he cannot be a Mumin. He was asked: 'who?' He answered: 'He from whose misdeeds his neighbor is not safe.'" (Bukhari)


The Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) advises his companions to keep away from the talk that is trash, the acts that are wicked, and the deeds that are senseless. He (saws) says: "A person who believes in Allah and the Hereafter should speak about good things or else should keep quiet."(i.e. abstain from dirty and evil talk, and should think before uttering) (Bukhari)


In this way, through the truth of faith and by means of its perfection noble qualities are nurtured and developed and they are guarded and kept secure till they bear fruits.


[Adopted from: "Muslim's Character" by M. Al-Ghazali
 
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