5. Don’t over praise: Prophet Pbuh heard a person praising over praising to someone.

So
Prophet Pbuh said that you have broken his back (means don’t make false praise). (Bukhari)
6. Away from fanaticism: We should avoid from fanaticism, as enmity leads towards
injustice. That’s why Islam strictly advises to his followers to stay away from it as it stops
people from doing justice with people even if they deserve that. Allah says in Quran, as
mentioned:
‫ب لِلتَّ ْق َوى‬ ِ ِ ٍ
ُ ‫َل يَ ْج ِرَمنَّ ُك ْم َشنَآ ُن قَ ْوم َعلَى أََل تَ ْعدلُوا ا ْعدلُوا ُه َو أَق َْر‬
“And let not the hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just that is nearer to piety” (Sura
Maidah, 8)
7. Do not criticize if you dislike something: Especially in food and eating stuffs because
someone made it for you that require a great deal of effort done before it. So, it hurts the
emotion of a person. As Prophet Pbuh used to put things aside if He Pbuh didn’t like it, but
never said a word or show unfavorable expressions.

3.4 Truthfulness & Honesty

Islam commands the Muslims to be honest and truthful to him and to others. This order
recurrently comes in the Noble Qur’an and the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh). Islam
orders the Muslim to tell the truth even if it is against the one’s own interest. Islam orders him
not to cheat or betray other people. A Muslim is ordered by Allah to be truthful in his words and
deeds, privately and publicly alike. Islam demands us to stay loyal, true and honest in life. We
have the living example of our beloved Prophet Pbuh as people despite the enmity called him as
“sadiq and amin”. Allah swt says in Quran:
‫ين‬ ِ ِ َّ ‫يا أَيُّها الَّ ِذين آمنُوا اتَّ ُقوا اللَّهَ وُكونُوا مع‬
َ ‫الصادق‬ ََ َ َ َ َ َ
Oh you who believe! Be careful of (your duty to) Allah and be with the true ones. (Sura al-tauba,
v. 119)
Honesty does not only implies in words by telling the truth in all situations and under all
circumstances. It also implies fulfilling the promises, whether written or given verbally, in text
and spirit. Honesty also implies giving an honest opinion and the right advice to the one who
asks for it. Honesty also implies doing one’s work as sincerely and as flawlessly as possible.
Honesty also implies carrying out the duties as fully and completely as possible whether the
person under supervision or not. Honesty means giving every person his due and deserved rights
without his asking for these rights. Honesty will be doing the right thing in the right way at the
right time. Honesty means objectivity in judgment, objectivity in assessment, and objectivity in
decisions of all types. Honesty implies the right selection of people and the right promotion of
personnel, i.e., selection by merit and promotion by merit, not by temper or favoritism or
personal relationships.
Quran stresses a lot on the subject of honesty and truthfulness, as mentioned:
ِ ‫يا أَيُّها الَّ ِذين آمنُوا ََل تَأْ ُكلُوا أَموالَ ُكم ب ي نَ ُكم بِالْب‬
‫اا ِل‬َ ْ َْ ْ َ ْ َ َ َ َ

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“Oh ye who believe! Eat not up each other’s property by unfair and dishonest means.” (Sura Al-
Nisa, v: 29)
A severe warning is given in the following verse to traders who cheat in weighing, Allah says in
Glorious Quran:
‫َّاس‬
ُ ‫وم الن‬ ٍ ‫ك أَنَّ ُه ْم َم ْب ُعوثُو َن لِيَ ْوٍم َع ِظ‬
ُ ‫يم يَ ْوَم يَ ُق‬ َ ِ‫وه ْم يُ ْخ ِس ُرو َن أ َََل يَظُ ُّن أُولَئ‬ ُ ‫َّاس يَ ْستَ ْوفُو َن َوإِ َذا َكال‬
ُ ُ‫ُوه ْم أ َْو َوَزن‬ ِ ‫ين إِ َذا ا ْكتَالُوا َعلَى الن‬ ِ َّ ‫ويل لِلْمطَِّف ِف‬
َ ‫ين الذ‬ َ ُ ٌ َْ
‫ين‬ ِ ِّ ‫لَِر‬
َ ‫ب ال َْعالَم‬
“Woe unto those who give short measure, those who when they are to receive their due from
people, demand that it be given in full but when they have to measure or weigh whatever they
owe to others, give less than what is due. Do they not know that they are bound to be raised
from the dead (and called to account) on an awesome Day, the Day when all men shall stand
before the Sustainer of all the worlds?” (Al-Mutafifeen, v: 1-6)
In the same way, the under mentioned verse exhorts Muslims to be very particular about their
trusts and about other people’s rights.
‫ات إِلَى أَ ْهلِ َها‬
ِ َ‫إِ َّن اللَّهَ يأْمرُكم أَ ْن تُ َؤدُّوا ْاألَمان‬
َ ْ ُُ َ
“Allah does commands you to render back your trust, to those to whom they are due.”(al-Nisa,
v:58)
Prophet Pbuh often used to say in his sermons: “Remember, there is no faith in him who is not
trustworthy; there is no place for him in religion that cares not for his pledged word or promise.”
Another tradition says: “The signs of a hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he is false, when he
promises, he fails; and when he is trusted, he plays false.” (Sahih Bukhari)
Moreover, Prophet Pbuh warned us of the dangers inherent in dishonesty, and the benefits of
living in an honest way. He Pbuh said: “Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness
leads to Paradise. In addition, a man keeps on telling the truth until he becomes a truthful person.
Falsehood leads to wickedness and evil-doing, and wickedness leads to the (Hell) Fire, and a
man may keep on telling lies till he is written before God, as a liar”. (Sahih Al-Bukhari)
Honesty in business: A true Islamic society is based upon honesty and justice, and is intolerant
of dishonesty in all its various forms. Honesty in all business transactions is emphasized and the
Prophet PBUH exhorts Muslims to be scrupulously honest in all their dealings and condemning
those who cheat in business. The sacred Prophet has said: “He who cheats is not of us.
Deceitfulness and fraud are things that lead one to Hell.”
Once Prophet of Allah came upon a heap of corn in the market of Medina and thrust his hand
onto it. His fingers felt damp. On being asked, the trader replied that rain had fallen upon it. The
Prophet observed, “Why did you not then keep (the wet portion of) it above the dry corn, so that
men may see it? He who deceives, is not one of us.”
Thus traders who cheats by showing to customers a dishonest sample or by concealing from
them the flaws of the article they offer for sale are not true Muslims in the judgment of the Holy
Prophet and, God-forbidding, they are going to end up in hell. Another tradition says: “The seller
must explain to the buyer the defects, if any, in the quality of the article offered for sale. Should

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this not be done, the seller will permanently be caught in the Wrath of Allah (according to
another narrator the exact words, ‘he will always be cursed by the angels’).”
A tradition goes even to the extent of saying that, “If a person made a recommendation for
anyone in a just manner and gratified party gave him something as a gift (in return for it) and he
accepted it, then he committed a grave error (meaning that it, too, is a form of bribery).”
Truth in Speaking: It is of the mannerism of the high path of Islam to be honest when one
speaks. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Honesty certainly leads to
goodness, and goodness leads to paradise. Truly, a man keeps speaking the truth until he is
inscribed as being true through and through. And lying leads to going wrong, and going wrong
leads to hell. Truly, a man lies and lies until he is inscribed as being a liar through and through”
(Sahih Muslim).
It is prohibited to lie, except when making up between two people, or lying to an opponent
enemy in war strategically, or to one’s wife as in praising her. It is also unlawful to praise or
blame another with a falsehood. The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Lying is wrong, except in three
things: the lie of a man to his wife to make her content with him; a lie in war, for war is
deception; or a lie to settle trouble between people” (Musnad Ahmad).
Ibn Jawzi has said, “The criterion for it is that every praiseworthy objective in Sacred Law that
cannot be brought about without lying, is permissible to lie for if the objective is permissible, and
obligatory to lie for if the objective is obligatory.” When lying is the single way to get one’s
right, one may lie about oneself or another, if it does not harm the other. And it is mandatory to
lie to if necessary to protect a Muslim from being murdered. But whenever one can achieve the
objective by words that merely give a misleading impression with actually being untrue, it is
unlawful to tell an absolute lie, because it is needless.
3.5 Sincerity

Sincerity is a crucial element of repentance and salvation in Islam. Muslims are primarily
encouraged to practice sincerity in their relationships with God, as well as to be honest in
relationships with one another. Sincerity before God is associated with faithfulness in Islam. It is
one of the most important criteria God uses to judge the state of an individual's heart.
Linguistically it means “to make something free” and literally it means “to do an action only for
the sake of Allah swt.” The Arabic word for sincerity is "ikhlas." God judges the actions of
people to determine whether they are sincere. In particular, he discerns whether a person
commits good deeds out of genuine desire to please him or merely to attain the adulation of other
humans. Ikhlas is often translated into English as "sincerity of intention," a distinction that
underscores the centrality of personal motivation. Allah swt explicitly mentioned in Quran the
importance of sincerity, as mentioned:
‫ين الْ َقيِّ َم ِة‬ ِ َ ِ‫الزَكاةَ وذَل‬ ِِ
ِ ‫صين لَهُ الدِّين حنَ َف‬ ِ ِ
ُ ‫كد‬ َ َّ ‫الص َالةَ َويُ ْؤتُوا‬
َّ ‫يموا‬
ُ ‫اء َويُق‬
َ ُ َ َ ‫َوَما أُم ُروا إََِّل ليَ ْعبُ ُدوا اللَّهَ ُم ْخل‬
“They were commanded only to worship Allah swt, devoting their faith to Him alone and to
practice regular prayer.” (Al-Bayinah, v. 5)

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Moreover, Allah swt said to His beloved Prophet Pbuh to declare in front of people to teach them
the importance of sincerity, by saying:
‫ين‬ ِ ِّ ‫اي َوَم َماتِي لِلَّ ِه َر‬
َ ‫ب ال َْعالَم‬
ِ ُ‫قُل إِ َّن ص َالتِي ون‬
َ َ‫سكي َوَم ْحي‬
ُ َ َ ْ
“Say, My prayer and my worship and my life and my death are devoted to Allah, the Lord of the
world. (Al-’Anaam, 162)
Moreover, Prophet Pbuh said: three actions from which every Muslim should not be inattentive
in any case: 1) Sincerity in actions, 2) Advising the people, 3) Stick to the Muslim community.
(Sunan Tirmazi)
Fuzail bin ayaz said: “sincerity is based on two things: “akhlas” and “aswab”, i.e. in any action if
a person’s intention is sincere i.e. akhlas but the action is haram, it will be rejected. If an action is
halal i.e. aswab but the intention is not sincere, even then it will be rejected. Only when action is
halal and the intention is sincere, then it will be accepted by Allah swt.
Intention is the base of every action and it is like the soul of it, because this is the thing which led
a person to perform an action; good or bad. Moreover, it affects the hearts as hearts are the place
of intentions. When the intention goes wrong, the heart corrupts and vice versa. That’s why
Prophet Pbuh emphasized a lot on this account by saying: “Acceptance and rejection of actions is
based on intentions, and a person will eventually get what he indented for”. (Bukhari)
Moreover, Prophet Pbuh said: “if a person does proper ablution and intends for congregational
prayer in masjid but when he reached, finds out that the prayer has ended, afterwards he
performed his prayer alone. Allah swt gives him the full reward of the prayer like as he
performed with the congregation based on his sincere intention.” (Sunan Abu Dawd)
Vulnerability of lack of sincerity: A Muslim does every action only for the sake of Allah as He
swt deserves only to be worshipped to get reward in the akhira. Without having sincere intention
a person will not get anything but the tiredness. Moreover, Quran gives strict warnings to those
who do things for worldly pleasure and pride, as Allah swt says in the Quran:
‫صنَ ُعوا فِ َيها‬ َ ِ‫َّار َو َحب‬ ِ ِ ِ ِ َّ َ ِ‫ف إِلَي ِهم أَ ْعمالَهم فِيها وهم فِيها ََل ي ب َخسو َن أُولَئ‬
َ ‫ط َما‬ ُ ‫س ل َُه ْم في ْاآلخ َرة إََِّل الن‬
َ ‫ين ل َْي‬
َ ‫ك ا لذ‬ ُ ْ ُ َ ْ ُ َ َ ْ ُ َ ْ ْ ِّ ‫ْحيَاةَ الدُّنْ يَا َوِزينَتَ َها نُ َو‬ َ ‫َم ْن َكا َن يُ ِري ُد ال‬
‫اا ٌل َما َكانُوا يَ ْع َملُو َن‬ِ ‫وب‬
ََ
“Whoever desires the worldly life and its glitters, We will fully recompense them for their deeds
therein, and therein they will not be defrauded. They will have nothing but the fire in the
Hereafter. (Al-Hud, 15-16)
Furthermore, Prophet Pbuh said: “whoever acquire knowledge not for the sake of Allah but for
the sake of getting world, he will not get even the smell of Heaven.” (Sunan Abu Daud)
Types of good actions not for Allah swt:
1. Good deeds when performed only with the intention of getting wordly reward or
worldly pleasures, like protection of wealth or better life in the world or protection from
calamities and catastrophes, etc.

2. Committing good actions for the sake of Ria (showing off) i.e. for the sake of
pride and respect from people.

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 3. A person performs good deeds only for the sake of money, i.e. if a person
performed hajj for others on wages or fight in the cause of Allah with the intention of
getting the war booty, etc.

4. Action that has been performed only for the sake of Allah swt but it banish him
from the circle of Islam, i.e. addition of any obligation by himself like in namaz addition
of rakat or rejecting any principle of Islam.

RIYA (Show off):

Riya refers to doing things that are pleasing to Allah with the intention of seeking admiration
from others. The intention in such cases, therefore, is usually to show off one’s good deeds to
win praise and admiration of others. It amounts to practicing virtue out of vanity, with the aim of
achieving popularity among people. Riya makes us focus on earning appreciation from people
rather than seeking Allah’s favor and acceptance. It makes us focus on people’s appreciation of
our virtuous acts, which means we give importance to them, and not to Allah the Most
Benevolent.
RIA is one of the greatest threats for a Muslim and to be ranked as hypocrisy as mentioned in
Quran, Allah says:
‫َّاس َوََل يَ ْذ ُك ُرو َن اللَّهَ إََِّل قَلِ ًيال‬
َ ‫سالَى يُ َراءُو َن الن‬
ِ َّ ‫ادعُهم وإِذَا قَاموا إِلَى‬
َ ‫الص َالة قَ ُاموا ُك‬ ُ
ِ ِ
َ ْ ُ ‫ين يُ َخاد ُعو َن اللَّهَ َو ُه َو َخ‬
ِِ
َ ‫إِ َّن ال ُْمنَافق‬
“The hypocrites try to deceive God, but He is deceiving them. And when they stand for prayer,
they stand lazily, showing off in front of people. (Al-Nisa, 142)
And this riya is more vulnerable than the fitna of Isa (a.s) and dajjal, as Prophet Pbuh said: “Shall
I not tell you the thing which is more dangerous than the fitna of dajjal? It is “shirk al- khafi” i.e.
Riya.” (Ibn-e-Majah)
Types of RIYA:
1) Intention of an action is for someone else not for Allah swt.
2) Intention of an action is for Allah swt, but changes later on for someone else.
3) Intention of an action from beginning till end only for the sake of Allah swt, but when
someone praised him, start feeling proud and likes that people continue praising him.

4) Riya in clothes, i.e. wearing patched clothes with the intention that people would call him
zahid or abid.

5) Riya in conversation, i.e. speak in a sermonized way so that people would start calling
him great scholar.

Ways to get sincerity: It is very important to get rid of riya and to establish the pure relation
with Allah swt. For that there are some methodologies by which we can get sincerety.
1) Knowledge: It is the key feature of achieving perfection in anything i.e. by
knowing every single aspect and types of riya so to avoid it.

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 2) Knowing attributes of Allah: i.e. by knowing it that Allah swt is the only one
who can give benefits and no one beside Him could harm me or that getting praise of
someone does not make me greater in the sight of Allah. So why should I perform actions
for the sake of others. This rational thought will help him to get rid from riya.

3) Appreciating the rewards of akhira: i.e. by realizing that what Allah swt will
provide me with His countless blessings in the hereafter, if I stay sincere with Him in my
entire life. This would be a very helpful remedy to avoid riya from being penetrated into
the heart.

4) Continuity of azkar: i.e. learning about the things which led the satin to run
away as satin is the source that injects the riya into the heart of a person. So with the
remembrance of Allah we can surely get rid of it. As mentioned in hadith: “when a
person gives azan, the satin runs away to the point where he cannot hear the voice of
muezzin.” (Bukhari)

5) By supplications: i.e. by asking Allah swt the strength and power to get
protection against riya. Prophet Pbuh said that: “O you people! Fear from Allah swt about
this shirk, which is agile than the walking of an ant. They asked O Prophet of Allah, how
could we protect ourselves from it? Prophet Pbuh taught them a supplication i.e.:
‫َستَ غْ ِف ُر َك لِ َما َلَ أَ ْعلَ ُم‬ َ ِ‫ك أَ ْن أُ ْش ِر َك ب‬
ْ ‫ وأ‬،‫ك َوأَنَا أَ ْعلَ ُم‬ َ ِ‫َعوذُ ب‬
ُ ‫اللَّ ُه َّم إِنِّي أ‬
“O Allah! I seek refuge of yours from the shirk known to me and seek forgiveness of
yours from shirk I am unaware of.” (Musnad Ahmed)
3.6 Fulfillment of Promise

Lexically in Arabic it is pronounced as “al-’ahd” or “misaq” i.e. “keeping something safe”,

literally it means “fulfillment of agreements or contracts what you agreed upon”. Fulfillment of
Promise is an essential part of a Muslim’s Conduct. When a Muslim undertakes a thing, he
should respect the undertaking. When he enters into any contract he should honor it till the last.
This is the demand of the faith that when a man talks of any enterprise, he should have the
intention of taking it to completion, like the water which does not rest till it flows down to the
lower level. He should be known among the people as a man of reliable promises, and there
should be no fear of any breach of promises or of any dubious dealings from him.
Fulfillment of the promise is necessary. Similarly when an oath is taken, it should be redeemed.
But this fulfillment of promise or the redeeming of the oath and pledges is necessary when the
dealing is legitimate and concerns truth, otherwise honoring the promise in connection with
something sinful and disobedience to Allah has no value, and there is no importance of oath in
sin. Allah’s Messenger has said: “If someone has taken an oath, but saw an aspect of goodness in
another thing, he may break his oath and pay compensation (atonement), and should perform the
act which is better and has goodness.” (Muslim)
It is not proper for a man to insist on redeeming the oath if taken on wrongthing. On such
occasions it is better to break the oath. In a hadith it is stated: “It is sinful for a man among you

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