Our faults

Hadhrat ‘Ata Sulami (May Allah shower His mercy on him) sewed a cloth and as far as possible tried to make sure that there was no flaw in it.  Then he took the cloth to a cloth-seller in the market.  He gave it a very low price and said: There are so many flaws in the cloth.  The Shaykh started crying like anything.  So much so that the cloth-seller regretted and said:  You can take the price you desire.  The Shaykh said:  Dear friend!  My crying is not for what you think.  Instead I am crying because I am well aware of this craft.  I had sown the cloth very carefully so that no defect should be there in it.  When I showed it to someone who could recognize the flaws, he pointed out so many defects in the cloth that I was unaware of them.  What will happen to our deeds!  When they will be presented before Almighty Allah, so many defects will be revealed in them which we are unaware of today.

 

Hadhrat Bishr Hafi (May Allah shower His mercy on him) says:  Picking out flaws in someone and speaking ill of them is to interfere in Allah’s intent, because that person and his acts are all created by Almighty Allah.  To speak ill of the act is to speak ill of the One who does it.

 

Imam Ghazali (May Allah shower His mercy on him) has written that no one is without flaws.  Thus, thinking ourselves to be flawless and picking out flaws in others is a grave fault and a sin.  It seems reasonable that in leisure, we should reflect on our own condition and try to remove whatever defect one sees in oneself so that one never gets the chance of picking out flaws in others.

 

Hadhrat Bayazeed Bustami (May Allah shower His mercy on him) says:  A human being reaches the pinnacle of accomplishment when he realizes the flaws in oneself and gives others’ permission to describe them.

 

The way a mirror doesn’t hide your faults from yourself and doesn’t reveal them to others, similarly Muslims also shouldn’t hide a Muslim’s faults from himself and shouldn’t reveal them to others.  For particular reasons, expressing others’ faults is permissible, but without them, it is simply impermissible.

 

Hadhrat ‘Ali (May Allah be well pleased with him) says:  Don’t express the faults of others.  It might be that person might already have been forgiven.  Don’t be unafraid of even small sins.  It might be that you would be punished because of them only.

 

Hadhrat Maimoon bin Mahran (May Allah shower His mercy on him) would tell his friends and relatives:  You tell me my faults even though I mightn’t like it.  A person can’t be a real well-wisher of his brothers and friends unless he tells them things that they don’t like.

 

Translation of couplet:

 

I am saddened by the friend who declares my ill manners to be good,

Where is that audacious friend who would reveal my faults to me?