
Enhance Your Character
Chapter 4
People listen with their eyes and don’t care about what you say until they see what you do. What does your character communicate to others?
Harvard Law School, one of the most prestigious institutions of its kind in the world, has posted the following verse of the Quran at the entrance of its faculty library, describing the verse as one of the greatest expressions of justice in human history.
“O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your relatives, be he rich or poor, Allah is a Better Protector to both (than you). So follow not (your) low desires lest you may avoid justice, and if you distort or refuse to give it, verily, Allah is Ever Well-Acquainted with what you do.” (4:135)
Having the Courage to Match Your Convictions
Allah has already informed us that it is “[He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed…” (67:2)
The Prophet ﷺ said, “The best amongst you are the best in character and manners.” (Bukhārī) and “Nothing is heavier upon the scale of the believer on the Day of Resurrection than his good character…” (Tirmidhi)
Ibn Al-Qayyim said, “The religion itself is entirely good character, so whoever surpasses you in character has surpassed you in religion.”
These internal states should translate themselves in to proper conduct. The righteous person is one who fulfils the rights of Allah and the rights of His creation. In contrast, oppression is the violation of these rights.
The Muslim world, although possessing the correct creed, has been absent amongst the Ummah in terms of implementation. The decadence we are in today is perhaps because the Muslims have the characteristics of the people of falsehood and yet the Islamic qualities that are rooted in our deepest traditions are somehow best exemplified these days by Non-Muslims.
There are far too many people who claim to have lofty values but are not seen in their character. You can talk till the cows come home — but until you show it, it doesn’t count for much. Credibility ends up falling through the gap between what is espoused and what is practised.
Justice Exists When the Truth is Honoured
“Those who are ready to sacrifice for invalid beliefs would always win over the Muslims who are not prepared to sacrifice for God.”
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks remarked “Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence and thereby eventually lose all ability to defend ourselves and those we love.”
Ibn Taymiyyah said “Verily Allah helps a just country even if it is a disbelieving one, and He does not help a wrong doing country even if it is a Muslim one. It is through justice that men are made noble and wealth is made abundant” — When a people honour certain truths of social justice, they reap its rewards.
In ‘al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah,’ Ibn Kathir ends his section on the Battle of Yarmuk by describing the moment that the humiliated remnants of the Roman army arrived back at Antioch to report to their emperor, Heraclius, the details of how they’d been shattered by the army of Khalid bin al-Walid. Heraclius said: “Woe to you! Tell me about these people who fight you. Aren’t they human beings like you?”
They replied: “Yes.” Heraclius asked: “Are you greater in number, or they?” They replied: “Rather, we outnumber them many times over in every battle.” Heraclius then asked: “Why, then, do they defeat you?”
So, one of their elite stepped forth and explained: “Because they get up at night to pray, fast during the day, fulfill their promises, enjoin what is good, discourage what is bad, and are fair to each other, while we drink alcohol, fornicate, indulge in what is forbidden, break our agreements, violate and oppress others, encourage what angers God, discourage what pleases Him, and spread corruption on Earth.” Heraclius said: “You have spoken the truth.”
The first Muslims’ belief in the Oneness of Allah and their reliance on Him are what purified their souls, honed their ambitions and gave them a sense of pride and power; that enabled them to establish truth and justice, and motivated them to conquer lands, rule nations, ransom them from spiritual and intellectual slavery to soothsayers, rabbis, monks and clergy, liberate them from the injustice and tyranny of kings, establish the foundations of civilisation, and revive and develop different branches of science and technology.
Dawah — An Invitation
In the arena of calling non-Muslims to Islam, many sincere da‘wah veterans often express their regrets about spending much of their strongest years — their youth — in fiery argumentation. Their focus on identifying the inconsistencies of false beliefs dwarfed their effort in showcasing the marvelousness of Islam, and only decades later did they realise the futility of the former and the efficacy of the latter.
We must be credible and conversant in denouncing falsehood, but even more so in promoting truth. We must continue to be disapproving of darkness, but be even better at lighting candles. So much of our preaching falls short in that, and so much of our Islamic work is stifled by our delusions about its reality.
If we are truly invested in people’s wellbeing and salvation, we must recognise that it is not enough to critique the dominant narrative; we need to offer a better narrative. Too few Muslims are dedicated to crafting compelling illustrations of how Islam best actualises justice in real world and social harmony in society.
As one prominent international caller said, “When someone has worthless sand in their palm and you attack it, this convinces them of its worth and increases their protectiveness of it. But when you simply present your diamonds, they usually tuck their sand-filled hand behind their back in shame and quietly loosen their fingers.”
While the guidance of Allah applies to all people, surely it is the ulema, the people of dhikr, who ponder His Message and give us our best living examples of how to take heed. It is by the examples they set that ulema do justice or injustice to their inheritance from the Prophet ﷺ .
The Balance — Between Negligence and Excess
This is the complete, perfect and comprehensive religion of Allah, which combines the rights of Allah and the rights of people, and explains matters of this world and matters of the Hereafter.
“And thus We have made you a middle (just) nation that you may be the bearers of witness to the people and (that) the Messenger may be a bearer of witness to you…” (2:143)
Interestingly this ayah falls bang in the middle of the surah (which contains 286 ayats).
In their dua’s the Muslims frequently say, “Our Lord, give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire” (2:201).
However in real life we see people who are painfully fragmented and full of irreconcilable contradictions. Our beliefs clash with our actions. Our emotions and desires are in conflict with each other and repeatedly overthrow our best instincts. We lack a sense of proportion and over emphasise the small stuff. We make solemn pledges to ourselves only to break them. We are a hodgepodge of ideas, impulses and actions that make very little or no sense.
We hardly know what we want and where we are heading. Nothing in us is in its place. Inside us is a huge boiling cauldron endlessly cooking strange broths.
Islam is a balanced religion that pays attention to the human inclination towards leisure and fun, and strives to direct it in a correct manner that will be beneficial and not harmful, that is moderate and not extreme.
Games and sports that produce benefit, like thinking skills, strategies, language development, or physical abilities are permissible, or possibly recommended in some situations, depending on the need of the person and the level of benefit gained from the game.
It turns out that even positive traits, in excess, may also impede your performance, and the real secret to success may be to know exactly where you fall on each spectrum, and how to make the most of your strengths and account for your weaknesses.
The relative importance of each trait will be determined by the job you are doing, so the particular thresholds would need to be adapted depending on whether you are hoping to succeed in, say, a technical position.
So, the people who are most just are those who recognise by way of knowledge and action the legislated limits in their manners and deeds.
Almost everyone will fall outside the optimum range for at least some of these traits, but this needn’t be a problem if we have people who can rein us in.
Relaxation has a limit: and it is to collect yourself and your strength to prepare for more serious matters later, and to save this so that you don’t become weak or tired. When you exceed this limit, this becomes laziness and waste, and you end up missing out on so many things that could benefit you.
Generosity has a limit between two extremes: and whenever this limit is exceeded, this becomes wastefulness and extravagance. When you fall short of this limit, you become cheap and miserly. Spending needs courage, because the miserly are usually cowards who fear poverty, but the person with courage moves forward fearing nothing but Allah. A person should develop an understanding of their own realities as to apply due balance.
Bravery has a limit: and when you cross this limit, you become reckless. When you fall short of this limit, you become a coward. This limit is that you put yourself forth when the time is right to do so and that you hold yourself back when the time is right to do so.
Honour has a limit: and if you exceed it, you fall into arrogance and blameworthy traits. Such people are deceived by their strength and they take undue pride in themselves. If you fall short of it, you deviate to humiliation and disgrace.
We usually limit our actions to avoid trade-offs with our other responsibilities and our own weaknesses so as to not overburden ourselves. The basic principle in all this is to choose the path of moderation between excess and negligence. This is what all of the benefits of this world and the next are built upon. In fact, you can benefit your body in no other way, because when some of your activities are done with lack of moderation and either exceed or fall short of it, your body’s health and energy begins to decline accordingly.
Likewise, natural activities such as sleeping, staying awake, eating, drinking, having intercourse, playing sports, spending time alone, spending time with others, etc. — if these are all done moderately between the two blameworthy extremes, this is justice. If you deviate to either extreme, this is a sign of deficiency and will lead to even more deficiency.
Be careful, however, not to impose your own weaknesses on others. It may be the one that you are blaming for being extreme has trained themselves up to do more with their time.
It must be noted though that these attributes are seldom acquired in written books but are rather gained by experience as a gift of Allah.
The Prophets Example
The life and character of the Prophet ﷺ represents the pinnacle of human dignity, decency and greatness.
The Prophet ﷺ could not read or write, yet Alphonse de La Martaine writes: “This man moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples, dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls. Philosopher, Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Conqueror of Ideas, Restorer of Rational beliefs… The founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire — that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?”
When the disbelievers captured one early convert, they interrogated him by asking: “Wouldn’t you rather have Muhammad here in your place, so that we could strike his neck and leave you to be home with your family?”
He replied: “I swear by Allah that I wouldn’t want Muhammad to even be pricked by a thorn where he is now while I’m sitting at home with my family!” After this response, he was executed. The interrogator commented in awe that “I’ve never seen anyone who loves another person the way Muhammad’s companions love him,” and would himself later convert to Islam.
Such companions of the Messenger ﷺ had hearts that were ready. The Prophet ﷺ need only whisper and they would mobilise. Many today limit themselves to their own frame of reference, and thus don’t grasp this concept (or pretend not to). This loyalty is in fact rooted in logic.
Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani explained that “You can comprehend this love through contemplation. This is because your love is apportioned between yourself and others. Loving yourself consists of you wanting to live a life free of problems. This is essentially what people are after. As for loving others, if you think about it, you’ll find that it’s tied in some way to any of the various benefits you attain from them in either the short or long run.
If you reflect over the benefit provided to you by Allah’s Messenger — the man who rescued you from the compounded darkness of kufr and brought you into the light of Iman — you’ll realize that it’s because of him that you will experience the eternal bliss of Paradise, and you’ll realize that this benefit outshines all other benefits. This is the benefit that inspires such love. Since this benefit is found with him more so than anyone else, he thus deserves more of your love than anyone else. But people vary in this love based on their awareness of this or lack thereof.
Abdullah ibn Mas’ud reported: On the day of Badr, we were three men with one camel. Abu Lubabah and Ali ibn Abi Talib were the two who rode with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. It was time for the Messenger of Allah to walk, but they said, “We will walk and let you ride.” The Prophet ﷺ said, “You are not stronger than me and I am not in less need of reward than you.” (Musnad Ahmad)
The Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ provides the means to achieve the noble purpose for which Allah created the human being. Loving the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is not something that is just a stationary belief, rather it is something that drives Muslims to take action.
The Prophet ﷺ life was a seamless and rounded whole. He was the Prophet of mercy and of battle. His entire life was one of worship. Yet this life of intense worship never stood in the way of his everyday life. He had a unique capacity to transform the minutest mundane activity into an act of worship. He saw every activity of life in its proper place. With perfect ease and grace he fulfilled all his roles as a human being. It is only fitting that we try to emulate his ﷺ example within your own capacity.
Character strengths are malleable; they can be taught and acquired through practice. The Prophet ﷺ when he said “Knowledge is acquired by seeking it, and patience is acquired by striving to be patient. The one who strives to attain good will be given it, and the one who strives to protect himself from evil will be protected.” (Bukhari)
The wakeful Muslim finds himself on a quest of constant growth and improvement, working to remove all that which is displeasing to Allāh and replacing it with that which is superior and constantly yields good deeds.
