Part 9 Truth and Truthfulness
Truthfulness is one of the qualities Allah (swt) commanded mankind to adopt. All the prophets (pbut), Nabi (as) and the pious were truthful. All humans whether Muslims or non-Muslims, rich or poor, whichever background they come from agree on its importance. The basis for maintaining peace in society is holding firm to the truth, for this reason the Qur’an and Sunnah repeatedly emphasise the importance of speaking the truth.
The Qur’an mentions the virtue of the man and woman who speak the truth. The definition of truthfulness is not restricted to speech but comprises of action and belief too. I present a few verses as examples:
In Surah Nisaa verse 69: Allah talks about the four groups of people he has favoured, from them is the truthful. In Surah Maidah verse 119 mentions that the truthful on Qiyamah shall be given Jannah due to their truthfulness. Surah Taubah verse 119 orders the believers to stay with the truthful.
Surah Ahzaab verse 22 to 24 praise those who speak the truth. Surah Ahzaab verse 35 mentions the reward for those men and women who have adopted truthfulness and other good qualities. Surah Al-Hujuraat verse 15 and Surah Al-Hashr verse 8 gives a definition of who the truthful – Sadiqeen are to summarise they are those who believe in Allah and his Messenger, don’t doubt Islam, work to achieve Allah’s pleasure.
The Ahadith also mention the virtue of speaking the truth and how it is a means of salvation in the hereafter:
1) Abdullah reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:
Truth leads one to Paradise and virtue leads one to Paradise and the person tells the truth until he is recorded as truthful, and lie leads to obscenity and obscenity leads to Hell, and the person tells a lie until he is recorded as a liar
صحیح مسلم، باب قبح الکذب وحسن الصدق وفضلہ، حدیث 6803
2) Narrated Hakim bin Hizam:
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The seller and the buyer have the right to keep or return goods as long as they have not parted or till they part; and if both the parties spoke the truth and described the defects and qualities (of the goods), then they would be blessed in their transaction, and if they told lies or hid something, then the blessings of their transaction would be lost."
صحیح بخاری، باب اذا بین البیعان ولم یکتما ونصحا، حدیث 2079
3) Hasan Bin Ali reported Allah’s Messenger ﷺ as saying: truth is a means of contentment and lying is a means of discontentment.
جامع ترمذی، باب فضلی کل قریب ھین سھل، حدیث 2518
4) Ubadah Bin Samit reported Allah’s Messenger ﷺ as saying ‘Guarantee me 6 things, I guarantee you paradise. Speak the truth, fulfil your promises, carry out the trust, protect your private area, save your gaze from non mahram women and stop yourself from carrying out oppression’
صحیح ابن حبان،باب الصدق والامر بالمعروف والنہی عن المنكر، حدیث 271
5) Imam Malik reports Luqmaan Al Hakeem was asked how did you achieve the status you have, to which he replied ‘I always spoke the truth, fulfilled my trust and stayed away from what did not concern me’
مؤطا امام مالک روایۃ ابی مصعب الزھری، باب ماجاء فی الصدق والکذب، حدیث 2087
6) Abdullah ibn Amr reported Allah’s Messenger ﷺ as saying ‘when you have four qualities, the problems of the world can not harm you. The four qualities are Trustworthy, truthful, good character and halal rizq’
مسند احمد، حدیث 6652
7) Abdullah ibn Amr reported a man came in the presence of and asked tell me of an action through which I shall gain paradise. Nabi (as) replied telling the truth as person who does so is a good person and has security and the one who has security will be entered into paradise. He then asked what action makes a person deserving of hell? Nabi (as) replied Lying as the person is a sinner and a sinner is disobedient and a disobedient will be in hell.
مجمع الزوائد و منبع الفوائد، باب ماجاء ان الصدق من الایمان، حدیث 324
8) Abubakr reported Allah’s Messenger ﷺ as saying: speaking the truth is necessary upon you as it is a good deed and both of them i.e good deeds and truthfulness lead a person to paradise. Abstain from lying as it is a sin and both of them i.e. sins and lying lead one to hell.
موارد الظمآن الی زوائد ابن حبان، باب فی الصدق والکذب، حدیث 106
A point to ponder over:
A person who lies, deceives and defrauds people is considered a clever person however it is a means of the upliftment of peace in society. The hadith tell us lying is a quality of hypocrites.
People now consider lying a part of everyday life including dramas and comedy. Nabi (as) said may there be destruction for him who lies to make others laugh
سنن ابی داؤد، باب فی التشدید فی الکذب
In another narration a person who lies to make others laugh he will fall in jahannum the depth of the fall is the distance between the heavens and the earth
کتاب الزھد والرقائق، باب من کذب فی حدیثہ لیضحک بہ الناس
When a person lies, the angels distance themselves one mile due to the bad smell
جامع ترمذی، باب ماجاء فی الصدق والکذب، حدیث 1895
In one narration: Lying decreases rizq
مساوی الاخلاق للخرائطی، باب ما جاء فی الکذب، حدیث 113
From this we can understand the importance Islam has placed on speaking the truth and avoiding telling lies.
Wasalam
Muhhamad Ilyas Ghumman
Peshawar, Pakistan
Thursday 30th March 2017
Translated by: Maulana Yousuf Baig