As
I thought about this man’s behaviour- his lies, I began to ponder.
Despite making such oath, he had no qualms in violating it. Clearly it
was just a lip service.
I wondered what was on his mind at that
very moment when he made that promise. Why would someone who swear to
tell the truth went against his very own words just seconds later?
Didn’t that promise mean anything to him? When he verbalized the
promise, was he smiling inside, plotting the lie already? Didn’t he
think that he will be found out one day? What about the impact of his
lies to others? Especially to the victims and the innocents? Didn’t he
think about that?
Whatever the real reason that made that man
told the lie, only Allaah knows. Perhaps he was desperately in need to
lie in order to save someone else, perhaps to protect others, to avoid
shame, perhaps to run away from punishment. Who knows, right?
But
you know what? Those excuses are not even valid excuses. Our Prophet
SAW had said that we can’t even fib or tell a lie even when we are
joking.
In fact, telling the truth is so significant in our lives that if we are able to do it, guess what is the reward awaits us?
Our
beloved Prophet SAW has given us an antidote to help us from telling
what are untrue even if it’s a joke! He (SAW) has said that…
I
guarantee a house in the middle of Paradise for the one who leaves off
lying even if it be in jest. (at-Tirmidhî on the authority of Abû
Umâmah)
Something amazing had struck me in this
hadeeth. Do you want to know which one? Well, the word middle. Yup,
that word. Prophet SAW said if we leave the habit or act of lying, he
would guarantee us a house in the middle of the Paradise? SubhanAllaah.
My question is why middle? How significant is that, right? And why is it significant?
Well,
if we look at today’s property market, any property in the middle of a
city is usually the best, and not to mention- usually is the most
expensive one!
Well,
let us reflect on this. Offices in the middle of New York city,
apartments in the centre of London, condominiums in the middle of Kuala
Lumpur, hotels in the central Paris and land plots in centre of Tokyo –
what do they have in common? That’s it. You got it. The most expensive
rent slapped on each and every door there!
Prophet (peace be upon him) had definitely used a comparison we can understand.
So, MashaAllaah, an absolutely magnificent reward by just withholding from telling a lie and come out with the truth. Truly…
I remembered a Moroccan proverb that says…
Love truth even if it harms you, and hate lies even if they serve you
SubhanAllaah, isn’t that an excellent suggestion?
My
dad once told me that if a person lies, he has to remember everything
that he has lied about. When a liar is being asked to repeat what he
said 3 days ago, there is a possibility that he will contradict or
change some of what he had said, unless he could remember exactly what
was being said earlier. Changes to his story would become more apparent
as time goes by. It seems that when we lie, our brain could easily get
confused of what was said or not said before.
No wonder our beloved Prophet SAW has advised us this…
‘Leave
that which makes you doubt for that which does not make you doubt, for
truthfulness is certainty and tranquility, whilst lying is doubt and
confusion.” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, 2520; al-Nisaa'i, 8/327; and
Ahmad, 1/200)
SubhanAllaah.
Lying is doubt and confusion… So, my dad was right after all. No wonder
that man was caught. He couldn’t make his statements consistent. He got
confused!
Let me share with you a story of a farmer and his watermelon…
There
was a farmer who grew watermelons. He was doing pretty well, but he was
disturbed by some local kids who would sneak into his watermelon patch
at night and eat his watermelons. After some careful thought, he came
up with a clever idea that he thought would scare the kids away for
sure.
He made up a sign and posted it in the field. The next
day, the kids showed up and they saw the sign which reads, "Warning!
One of the watermelons in this field has been injected with cyanide."
The
kids ran off, made up their own sign and posted it next to the farmer's
sign. When the farmer returned, he surveyed the field. He noticed that
no watermelons were missing, but the sign next to his reads, "Now there
are two!"
Yikes! I know…
Indeed, our beloved Prophet SAW was right.
For truthfulness is certainty and tranquility, whilst lying is doubt and confusion.
And confused, will the farmer be…
I
asked myself- Do I ever want to be the farmer? Wondering which two of
my watermelons are contaminated? Goodness, I would definitely have
countless of sleepless night crying over all the melons I have to throw
away! Not to mention the regrets I would have. Na’udhubillaah.
Realizing
this, I am determined to get my act together. I shall strive for my
Jannah by being truthful. After all, there is a great reward attached
to it, don’t you agree?
Well, since having a property in the
middle of Paris is a far-fetched reality for me at this moment, I would
strive for something better, something that I could do now. My own
property in the middle of His Paradise! InshaAllaah.
What
about you my friends? Fancy a property that would last for eternity?
Let us do this together. Every single time we feel like telling a fib
as our way out of something, remember of the guarantee Prophet (peace
be upon him) had given us, a home in the middle of Jannah.
And if having property doesn’t excite us, perhaps remembering the farmer and his watermelon would… :))
Copyright (c) Sis Zabrina 2007
Sis
Zabrina, a ‘Life Storyteller’ who writes about daily happenings in
life, viewed and analyzed from a unique perspective and blended with
the Quranic verses and Hadeeth of the Prophet SAW for a solution to
illustrate the easiness, simplicity, relevancy and completeness of
Islam to today's world. Her first Islamic motivational book will be
available online mid-July 2007. She maintains an active blog at
http://wisdomthruwords.blogspot.com
Copyright (c) Sis Zabrina 2007
~Your Source for Islamic Motivational and Inspirational Stories~
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