The Example of a Believer
Selections of Ahadith from a forthcoming collection called Miftah al-Ma`ani by Syed Iqbal Zaheer
1. Anas b. Malik says the Prophet said, “The best of people to be concerned is a believer who remains concerned about this world, and affairs of the Hereafter.”
(Ibn Majah, Sahih: Arna’ut)
2. Thabit b. Dahhaak reported the Prophet, “Whosoever swore upon anything other than Islam falsely, then, he is what he says; whoever killed himself with something will be tortured with the same thing in the Fire of Hell; cursing a believer is to murder him; and, whoever declared a believer unbeliever, is as if he killed him.”(Bukhari)
3. `Abdul Rahman b. Shimaasa says he heard `Uqba b. `Aamir say on the mimber that the Prophet said, “A believer is another believer’s brother. So it is not allowable for a believer that he should offer to buy what his brother has already bought, nor propose to marry after his brother has already proposed, until he gives up.
– (Muslim)
4. Abu Sabrah said I met with `Abdullah b, `Amr. He narrated to me with his mouth and I wrote down with my pen – what he heard from the Messenger, adding not a letter, nor dropping it. He narrated to me that the Messenger of Allah said, “Allah (swt) does not approve of the obscene, nor of an obscene person. By Him in whose hands is Muhammad’s life, the Hour will not strike until the following appear: Obscenity and obscene persons, severing of the kinship, vicious neighborhood, a trustworthy (person) treated as a dishonest (person) and the dishonest treated as the trustworthy. The example of a believer is like date-palm tree: it feeds on the good, yields the pure, and falls as pure. It neither rots nor can be broken. And the example of a believing bondman is like a piece of pure gold: when it is blown on (in a furnace) and weighed, it does not suffer decrease.” The Prophet also said, “Your appointment is at the Pond. Its width is like its length. It is wider than the distance between Ayla (in Palestine) and Makkah, being a travel time of a month. There at (the Pond) there are cups like stars, its water is whiter than silver. Whoever reached it and drank of it, will never be thirsty thereafter.”
– Hakim
5. Muhammad b. Jubayr reported from his father who said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah say, ‘May Allah (swt) keep a bondsman’s face bright who heard my words, preserved it and then transmitted it unto him who wished to hear. For, quite often a carrier of knowledge and understanding has no personal understanding; and quite often a carrier of knowledge transmits to someone who has a better understanding. There are three things about which a believer’s heart is not deceived: sincerity in his doings; admonishing and advising those in charge of affairs; and holding on to the community, for their supplications will be surrounding (and protecting) them (from all sides).
– Al-Mustadrak
6. Abu `Ubayd said to `Amr b. Anbasa to narrate a hadith which he had heard from the Prophet. He said, “I heard the Prophet say, not twice or thrice, but several times that when a bondsman believer clears his mouth or cleans his nose, his (minor) sins leave out from the ends of his mouth. When he washes his hands, his (minor) sins are scattered from his nails; when he wipes his head, the (minor) sins spread out from around his head; and then, if he stands in Prayers, and does two rak`ah (cycles) doing it with his heart and his whole attention toward Allah, the Mighty, the Great, he comes out of his (minor) sins as he was when his mother gave birth to him.” (Hakim; Dhahabi: ‘On conditions of acceptance set by Bukhari and Muslim’)
7. The Prophet visited a sick person suffering some disorder. Abu Hurayrah was with him. The Prophet said, “Be of good chear for Allah (swt) says, ‘(Fever) is My fire that I let loose upon My believing slave in this world so that it could be his share of the fire of the Hereafter. (Hakim; Dhahabi: ‘On conditions of acceptance set by Bukhari and Muslim’)
