Religion is a Name of Sincerity

عَنْ تَمِیْمِ الدَّارِیّ ؓ اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اﷲِ ﷺ قَالَ ’’اَلدِّیْنُ اَلْنَّصِیْحَۃُ ثَلاَ ثَاً قُلْنَا لِمَنْ!قَالَ لِلّٰہِ وَ لِکِتَابِہٖ وَلِرَسُوْلِہٖ وَ لِأَئِمَّۃِ الْمُسْلِمِیْنَ وَ عَامَّتِہِمْ ‘‘(رواہ مسلم)

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It is narrated on the authority of Tamim ad-Dari  ؓ  that the Apostle of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: Al-Din is a name of sincerity and well wishing. Upon this we said: For whom? He replied: For Allah, His Book, His Messenger and for the leaders and the general Muslims. (Muslim)

Explanation:

الدین النصیحۃ (Religion is a name of sincerity):

The word ‘النصح’ literally means being free of adulteration. The honey refined from vax is called ‘ناصح العسل’. Similarly, the phrase نصح قلب الانسان  is used when a man’s heart is free of any dishonest intention, malice, jealousy, rivalry and ill-will against others – so to speak – the appearance of man should be in communion with his inner self. Says Allah, the Almighty in the Holy Qura’n:

’’تُوْبُوْ ااِلَی اﷲِ تَوْبَۃً نَصُوْحاً‘‘(التحریم :۸(

“Turn to Allah with a faithful repentance.”

لله (Sincerity for Allah):

Sincerity for Allah here refers to have no dishonesty between the Creator and his creatures. One’s heart should be the reflection of his sincerity, the natural outcome of which is that he ascribes no partner to Allah, the Almighty and his whole life is the reflection of sincerity on contrary to the Christians that the believe in Tirnity, the Jews who believes in Hazrat Uzair to be Allah’s son, the pagans of Arab, who would declare the Angles to be Allah’s daughters, and in our country, India, the concept of innumerable gods is to such extent in Hindus that they believed in each and every pebble to be their god. Thus, they are subject to ascribe the partners to Allah, the Almighty.

Associating anyone to Allah’s attributes, believing in someone to have the power of any harm or benefit or considering anyone to difficulty-remover is called to associate someone in Allah’s attributes. Regrettably, despite living in Hindu society, many of Muslims are subject to perpetrate the sin of associating anyone to Allah’s attributes having a lot of wrong notions.

All the acts like passing an order, legislating and declaring anything to be lawful and unlawful are the rights and powers of Allah, the Almighty. In fact, associating anyone to these powers and rights is contrary to the sincerity for Allah, the Almighty. This is the same thing which Allah, the Almighty has condemned in the verse:

“They have taken their rabbis and their monks as gods beside Allah.”

Hence, Hazrat Adi bin Hatim Tai ؓ, who was a Christian before converting to Islam, asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ, “O Messenger of Allah ﷺ! We never believed in our religious leaders to be god. The Holy Prophet ﷺ asked, “Did not you believe that whatever they declared lawful, it was lawful and whatever the declared as unlawful, was unlawful?” Hazrat Adi ؓ replied, “Yes.” The Holy Prophet ﷺ said, “It is what is deemed to take someone as his god.”

ولکتابہ  (The sincerity for His Book):

Sincerity for Allah’s Book means to have true belief in the Book Allah, the Almighty has revealed to the Holy Prophet ﷺ and to submit oneself to the main objective of its revelation. More importantly, believe in it to be a Book of Guidance. As for fulfilling the right of sincerity for Allah’s Book, we can do it through three ways:

• To recite the Holy Qura’n considering its phonetic rules and clearly with Tartil (in a distinct and measured tone) and as much and possible as well as act upon the commandment:

’زَیِّنُوْالْقُرْآنَ بِاَصْوَاتِکُمْ‘

“Beautify  the Qur’an with your voices.”(Sahih)

• We should deliberate in the verses of the Holy Qura’n so that we are acquainted with their meanings and thus attain Allah’s pleasure having acted upon His teachings. Says Allah, the Almighty in the Holy Qura’n:

’’کِتَابٌ اَنْزَلْنَاہٗ اِلَیْکَ مُبَارَکٌ لِیَدَّبَّرُوْا اٰیَاتِہٖ وَ لِیَذَّکَّراُوْلُوْالْاَلْبَابِ‘‘  (صٓ:۲۹(

“This is a blessed Book We have revealed to you, so that they deliberate in its verses, and so that the men of understanding may heed to advice.”

• We should not stop only deliberating in the verses of the Holy Qua’n, rather do our best to propagate their teachings having acted upon them by on our own and make it the very ambition of our life as the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) is reported to have said:

’’بَلّغُوْا عَنّیْ وَ لَو آیَۃً‘‘

“Convey (my teachings) to the people even if it were a single sentence.”

ولرسولہ (sincerity for His Apostle):

Sincerity for Allah’s Apostle means to profess our faith in his Apostleship and abide by the Shariah he was sent with, not to disregard his sayings and injunctions, devoute our selves fully to make this lifestyle – for which he and his blessed companions exerted all their efforts – dominate over the ones presented by the rest of false religions, prefer his Sunnah to all other ways and attach no more importance to the opinion of any individual of his community.

The Holy Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said:

’’لَاْ یُؤْمِنُ اَحَدُکُمْ حَتّٰی یَکُوْنَ ھَوَاہٗ تَبعاً لِمَا جِئْتُ بِہٖ‘‘ (بخاری(

“None of you can be a perfect believer unless and until all of his whims and wishes are in accordance with the teachings I have been sent with.”

ولائمۃ المسلمین  (Sincerity for Muslim leaders):

Having sincerity for Muslim leaders means to co-operate with them in religious cause and not to stand against them in case they are the true adherent to Islamic teachings. However, if they are deviated from the right path, we must keep the following commandment in our mind:

’لاَ طَاعَۃَ لِمَخْلُوْقٍ فِیْ مَعْصِیَۃِ الْخَالِقِ‘

“There is no obedience to the creature in the disobedience of their creator.”

Thus, it is our religious responsibility to openly criticize them for it and and expose their faults. The steadfastness of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal  ؓ  before the ruler of his time, standing firm of Ibne Taimiya against the tyrant rulers of Egypt and Mujaddid Alf-e-Sani’s raising voice against  the Divine religion in the court of Jahangeer are the living examples of sincerity for Muslim leaders.

و عامتہم (Sincerity for general Muslims):

Sincerity for general Muslims means to provide them with right guidance and rightful counsels for their good rather than deceiving behaving them in such a way which does not correspond with Shariah. There are certain possible ways of sincerity for them they are as follows:

• If the masses are not on the right path, they should be called towards it with beautiful wisdom and make possible attempts to enlighten them with Islamic teachings and create in them Islamic awakening.

• If the masses are heedless of religion, they should be equipped with knowledge and try to establish religious institutes for the imparting education to their adults. Besides it, an arrangement should be made for the education of women and propagate Islamic teachings to such extent that each and every corner of the world resounds with the voice of Allah, the Almighty and His beloved Messenger ﷺ.

• The sick of the society should be enquired after and an arrangement should be made for the treatment of the helpless of them. A whole-hearted co-operation should be extended to the distressed ones. A joint-venture should be made to provided the oppressed with justice while bring the oppressor to his sense by bringing him to the task.

• The funeral rites and ceremonies of the Muslims should be attended and the relatives and backward people should be looked after. The spirit of mutual co-operation and well-wishing should be prevailed to such extent that it must present the same exemplary phenomenon of the prophetic injunction ‘اِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُوْنَ اِخْوَۃٌ’ as had been presented in the blessed age of the blessed companions of the foremost time.

The sum and substance of all the points explained above, we come to know that sincerity occupies an important place in religion. It is for this reason that, whenever the Holy Prophet ﷺ took an oath of allegiance from his blessed companions, it did include the instructions pertaining to sincerity.

It appears in a tradition recorded in Bukhari and Muslim narrated on the authority of Hazrat Jareer bin Abdullah  ؓ that I took made an oath of allegiance before the Holy Prophet ﷺ on establishing Salah, paying poor-due and exercising sincerity for every Muslim. According to a prophetic tradition, the basic touch-stone for one’s sincerity is:

’’یُحِبُّ لِاَخِیْہِ مَا یُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِہٖ‘‘

          “One’s likes for his brother or for his should be that which he loves for himself.”

In reality, it is the same thing required by one’s faith that he should behave everyone with the spirit of brotherhood in the same way as he expects from others.

The tradition mentioned above really is of utmost importance. Only if a believer conceives its real meaning and tries to implement the instructions containing in it in his practical life, it will surely cause to bring about a wholesome and healthy Islamic society and prove to serve an example to others.

May Allah, the Almighty grant us Taufique to act upon each and every instruction we have been furnished with through the tradition mentioned above.