In Shaykh’s Company

by Hafeed Abdul Kader

The following words were imparted by Shaykh during his lecture for the exegesis of Ahadeeth some time ago, nevertheless beneficial:

There are 5 branches of Deen; Belief (Aqaid), Ibaadat (Worship and devotion),  Moo’aamalaat (Transaction), Husne Akhlaaq (good character), and Mu’aasharat ([etiquette of] social life).

Mu’aasharat is one branch that is most neglected, and it means that we should live with each other in such a way that no difficulty of any kind is caused to anybody, not even a little. For example when someone is engaged in Salaah, and another person came and sat nearby. Then the sitting person should make sure that his behaviour does not disturb the person even in the slightest.Shaykh then spoke of a Hadeeth, which encourages a believer to help others however also advises not to help if you are going to inconvenience them.   He then  stated another Hadeeth, that states that when our beloved Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wassallam used to come home at night, he conveyed salaam in such a manner that those who were awake would be able to hear, yet not disturb those who were asleep.

Shaykh relayed yet another Hadeeth, wherein it advices the Believers not to come to the Masjid after eating onion or  garlic, Shaykh said, “this is so because the pungent smell that emanates from the mouth and then lingers would not inconvenience fellow Muslims whom were performing Salaah.  However nowadays, we don’t care anymore, all we care about is us and our work, we think to ourselves – my work should get done first!”

Shaykh went on to give another crucial point that “if the Muslims would adhere to these teachings which have been given to us by Nabi Sallallahu Alayhi Wassallam, then even non-Muslims would want to enquire about Islam, and because of our good behaviour they would be attracted to Islam”.

He then went on to give his own life experience with a non-Muslim; “I was once on the motorway going towards Yorkshire, when I came across an Englishman who had stopped his car on the hard shoulder and was peering under the bonnet of his car.  I assumed that his car had broken-down, so I also stopped my car and approached this seemingly helpless fellow.  After some dialogue it became clear that he ran out of fuel, so I offered him to take him to the nearest service station to get some fuel and back.  After declining a few times he reluctantly agreed.

Within no time we were there and back, and during the journey he didn’t speak much.  As he filled the fuel into his car it seemed that his attitude had suddenly changed and when he asked, ‘Are you a Muslim?’, I nodded in the affirmative.  To my surprise he said that something like until today he used to deplore Muslims, but from now onwards he would see Muslims in a different (positive) way. I thought Subhaanallah, how this small, insignificant deed changed a non-Muslims conjectures forever!

Unfortunately we pick and choose Deen wherever we see fit and refuse to follow it as a whole!”.