User:Asta bint Ahmad

MUSLIM CHARACTER - deception 2

The characteristic of deception where a person is always deceiving those around him is a very bad sign with regard to their faith. So if you find within yourself that this is your character, that you are cheating people all the time, then you are in trouble, you need to stop, and you need to remove this from your character. The way of the believer and the true believer is that he or she is trustworthy and honest. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) even before the revelation came to him used to be referred to as ‘Al-Ameen’, the trustworthy. People knew him for his honesty and trustworthiness and this is proper Muslim character. So we have to avoid deception at all costs and anything which could lead us to it. And that is why the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the use of oaths when selling by traders. He prohibited it. If you want to sell, do not say “By God” “Wallahi” for example “By God, this is the best book on the market,” even though it is not the best book. You are just swearing by God to deceive that person to believe that it is in fact the best. This is forbidden. And if you are selling your car, you know that something is wrong with it. For example, it is rusty so you paint over it, this is deception. Or you put something in the gasoline or in the oil so it doesn’t make noises, and it seems to run smoothly. “Tricks of the trade,” they call it. But these are forms of deception, they are evil, and you cannot engage in this. As a Muslim, if you are selling things or giving things way, you must be truthful and let people know if there is anything wrong with it. This was what distinguished Muslim traders in the past which led to the spread of Islam in many countries where no battles ever took place. Islam spread due to the honesty of Muslim traders following these principles of Islamic business in their trade dealings. Deception remains among the characteristics which we should be careful to avoid in order to have a proper Muslim character. The proper Muslim character is one which is based on the principle which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said and we mentioned in the very beginning, “Righteousness is good character” and that is what we should strive for. That is what the pillars of Islam teach us. That is what the pillars of faith or eemaan develop within us. So we should be conscious in what we are doing and what benefit there is for us in terms of our character, our practice or behaviors, our morals, our dealings with people, and good dealings with people. We should be conscious that each and every principle of Islam is focused on exactly this. Our moral character should be good with regards to God, with regards to other human beings and with regards to the environment, and the world in which we live.