Prophethood: Truthfulness

From: http://www.infinitelight.org/content/view/708/4/
Aspects of His Life - Aspects of His Life
Written by Fethullah Gülen
Wednesday, 22 February 2006
Article Index
Prophethood: Truthfulness
Some of His Predictions
The Future
The Distant Future
Scientific Developments
Page 1 of 5
Truthfulness is the cornerstone of Prophethood. No lies or deceit, whether explicit or implicit, were ever heard from them. The Qur'an declares: Mention Abraham in the Book: Surely he was a most truthful Prophet (19:41); Mention Ishmael in the Book; surely, he was a man of his word, and he was a Messenger, a Prophet (19:54); and Mention Idris (Enoch) in the Book; surely he was a most truthful Prophet. We elevated him to an exalted place (19:56–57). We also read in the Qur'an that a fellow prisoner addressed Prophet Joseph: Joseph, O most truthful one (12:46).
The Prophets had to be endowed with truthfulness, for God wants everybody to be truthful and extols the truthful: O you who believe, fear God and be with the company of the truthful! (9:119), and: The believers are those who believed in God and His Messenger without ever feeling doubt thereafter, and strove with their souls and possessions in the way of God; those are the ones who are the truthful (49:15).
The Qur'an praises believers who, without faltering, carry out their promises: Among the believers are the valiants who have kept their promise which they gave to God: Some of them carried out their word [and were martyred] and the others are expecting (their turn); they have never thought of going back on their word (33:23).
This verse extols the heroes of Uhud, a decisive turning point in Islamic history. After the Qurayshi unbelievers were defeated at Badr, they had spent a whole year preparing for a deadly retaliatory blow at the Muslims. Meeting at the foot of Mount Uhud, a few miles from Madina, the Muslims at first were victorious and the Quraysh began to flee. At this crucial point, the archers whom God's Messenger had positioned at 'Aynayn pass left their positions, against the Prophet's command, and pursued the enemy. Khalid ibn Walid, commander of the enemy's cavalry, took this opportunity to surround the Muslims from behind. As a result, the Muslims experienced a reverse. Such leading figures as Hamza, Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr, 'Abd Allah ibn Jahsh, and Anas ibn Nadr were martyred. Even the Prophet was wounded.
Let us note here that during the battle, God's Messenger, the Prophet of forgiveness and mercy who was sent as a mercy for creation, raised his hands toward God and, while bleeding profusely, asked for the enemy to be forgiven: "O God, forgive my people, for they do not know." [1]
Anas ibn Nadr was the uncle of Anas ibn Malik, the servant of God's Messenger. Although he had sworn allegiance with God's Messenger in 'Aqabah before he emigrated to Madina, for some reason he did not fight at Badr. He so regretted this that he told God's Messenger: "O Messenger of God, if God allows us to confront them once more, they will see what sufferings I will inflict on them!" He fought fearlessly at Uhud, especially when the Muslims suffered a reverse. Just before being martyred, he told Mu'adh ibn Jabal with a smile: "By God, I sense the scent of Paradise behind Uhud."
The Qur'an exalts in the above verse (33:23) those martyrs who fulfilled their promise to God through His Messenger, as well as others expecting martyrdom, to show that they were true to their words. They are not the only ones extolled here; rather, all who fulfill their words and keep their promises are mentioned here.
God's Messenger was known as a truthful person even before Islam. The Makkans, even the unbelievers, called him al-Amin, the Trustworthy One, the Truthful. Even his enemies did not accuse him of lying after he proclaimed his Prophethood. After the Treaty of Hudaybiya (6 AH), God's Messenger sent letters to the rulers of neighboring countries. The Emperor of Byzantium received it in Syria at a time when a Makkan trade caravan headed by Abu Sufyan was in the area of Damascus. The Emperor summoned him, and the following conversation took place:
— Do the elite or the weak mostly follow him?— The elite.— Has anyone apostatized after converting?— Not yet.— Do his followers increase or decrease?— They increase daily.— Have you ever heard him tell a lie?— No, never.
Struck by Abu Sufyan's answers, at that time the bitterest enemy of Islam, the Emperor acknowledged Muhammad's position: "It is inconceivable for one who has never told a lie during his whole life to invent lies against God." [2] The Emperor was right. Why would a believer who had never told a lie, even in jest, suddenly begin to lie, especially against God, when he is 40 years old and getting closer to the grave?
The Makkans agreed unanimously that God's Messenger was a truthful person. Once before his conversion, Yasir asked his son 'Ammar where he was going. 'Ammar said that he was going to Muhammad. Being fully satisfied of his son's safety while with Muhammd, he replied: "Muhammad is a trustworthy person. The Makkans recognize him so. If he claims Prophethood he must be telling the truth, for no one has ever heard him tell a lie."
God's Messenger always encouraged truthfulness, as can be seen in his words as recorded in the following Traditions:
• Promise me six things and I will promise you Paradise: Speak the truth, keep your promises, fulfill your trusts, remain (sexually) chaste, don't look at what is unlawful, and avoid what is forbidden. [3]
• Abandon what arouses your suspicions and follow what is certain. Truthfulness gives satisfaction; lying causes suspicion. [4]
• Seek truthfulness even if it might bring you to ruin. [5]
• Always be truthful, for truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise. If you are always truthful and seek truthfulness, God records you as such. Never lie, for lying leads to shamefulness and shamefulness leads to Hell. If you insist on lying and seek deceit, God records you as such. [6]
Due to his truthfulness, God's Messenger rose to such a high rank that his nearness to God is expressed metaphorically in the Qur'an as follows: Then he approached and came nearer, till he was [distant] two bowlengths, or even nearer (53:8-9).
Truthfulness always brings salvation, even if it causes one's death. We die through truthfulness only once, whereas each lie is a different kind of death. One of the most striking examples of this is the case of Ka'b ibn Malik, a famous Ansari poet who swore allegiance to God's Messenger at 'Aqabah. Although he took part in almost all the battles, he missed the campaign of Tabuk without a justifiable excuse.
The Tabuk campaign was very difficult. It took place in mid summer and, what is more, against the Roman Empire. Although God's Messenger always kept the destination of such campaigns secret, this time he disclosed it and wanted every believer to participate. Ka'b completed his preparations but, at the last minute, uncharacteristic negligence kept him from joining the army.
When God's Messenger returned from the campaign, he asked those who had not fought why they had stayed at home. The Hypocrites lied and made excuses, but Ka'b, being unable to lie, told the truth. God's Messenger told him to leave. Thereafter, Ka'b and two other believers who had done the same thing were boycotted. On the order of God's Messenger, no Muslim met with them or spoke to them. They repented publicly, begging God for forgiveness, for 50 days. After this, it was revealed that:
As for those three, the acceptance of their repentance was delayed until, for them, the Earth, vast as it is, was straitened and their own souls were straitened to them, and they perceived that there is no fleeing from God and no refuge but with Him. Then He accepted their repentance so that they could recover their former state. Verily, God is the One who accepts repentance, Most Merciful. (9:118)
After this revelation, Ka'b ibn Malik told God's Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings: "I promise to speak the truth as long as I live." [7]
Truthfulness is the pivot of Prophethood. It could not be otherwise, for if a Prophet were to lie, everything connected with the Divine religion would be upset. All it takes is one lie to call a mission into question. Thus God declares: If he [Muhammad] had invented false sayings concerning Us, We would surely have grasped him firmly, and then cut off the artery of his heart, and none of you could have withheld Us from doing this (69:44–47).
The Prophet never lied or broke his promise, either prior to or during his Prophethood. A Companion remembered: "Before his Prophethood, we made an appointment to meet somewhere. It was, however, 3 days after the appointed time when I remembered it. When I hastened to the appointed place, I found the future Prophet waiting for me. He was neither angry nor offended. His only reaction was to say: 'O young man, you have given me some trouble. I have been waiting here for you for 3 days.'" [8]
[1] Muslim, Jihad, 101; Bukhari, Anbiya', 54.[2] Bukhari, Bad'u al-Wahy, 6.[3] Ibn Hanbal, 5:323.[4] Tirmidhi, Qiyamah, 60; Ibn Hanbal, 1:200.[5] Hindi, Kanz al-'Ummal, 3:344.[6] Bukhari, Adab, 69; Muslim, Birr, 105; Abu Dawud, Adab, 80.[7] Bukhari, Maghazi, 79; Muslim, Tawba, 53.[8] Abu Dawud, Adab, 82.
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Blogger comment:
Prophet Muhammad was never a liar and could not even have the luxury to do so. He was under the microscope as to speak of. He had hundreds of Muslims around him all time except for his sleep among them few were hypocrites. He had the Jews in the same town Al Madina city who were hammering him with questions about his revelation and their prophets as Moses, Jesus and so on. He would buy and sell from and to them. He was not invisible he was very visible to all people to check him out. Some of the Christians also came to see him and he red to them the Quran. God in the Quran made simple difficult test to them to call God if Muhammad is a liar to destroy him and his family and if they are the liars God would destroy them. They did not do that call, God knows well what was in their heart. Polygmy of prophet Muhammad looked by most Muslims as test to the prophet since it happened only when he was about 50 years old and was very busy being the prophet, the governor, the military leader the chief judge.... and so on and taking care of all these women who were in large part widowed and with orphaned children is very great task. If he was a liar he will never do that one of the women (God bless them) would say I caught him on a lie or he had temper but these women were the best of the believers and their homes were the recitation of the Quran and recall of Hadith were the norm. No one of them doubted he was a true prophet from God. A man came from far away after he heard about Muhammad told the people he is a prophet from God and after he checked him out he said: This is not a face of a liar.