Respecting the Muslim

llah created the human-being in the best of forms. He made him benefit from what is in the sky and Earth. He endowed upon him a mind, tongue, lips, eyes and ears so that one uses these organs in the accepted way to please Allah, i.e., to obey him and perform obedience to Him.

Allah, ta^ala, said in the Qur’an:

وصوركم فأحسن صوركم وإليه المصير

Wa sawwarakum fa’ahsana suwarakum wa ilayhil-masir.

Ayah 3 of Suratut-Taghabun means: {Allah created you having a good shape & To Him [His judgement] is the return.}

Allah gave the Muslim a merit over others, because he has fulfilled the greatest obligation, which is believing in Allah and stating that Allah is clear of having partners.

The Muslim has several rights. The Religion has urged us to respect the Muslim and not to demean him. The Religion also made hurting a Muslim a sin for which one deserves to be punished. If one gossips about another without an excuse one commits a sin of the tongue. If one hits him unrightfully, then one commits a sin of the body, and so forth.

Sins of the Heart

Actions that harm a Muslim often begin with internal thoughts and feelings. Among the most significant sins of the heart are arrogance, enmity, and envy. These feelings can lead a person to look down on a fellow Muslim, which is an act of great evil.

Arrogance is divided into two types, as mentioned in the Hadith of the Prophet narrated by Muslim:

الكبرُ بَطَرُ الحقِّ وغَمْطُ النّاس

The first type is to reject the truth. This occurs when one knows that another is saying the truth, but despite that, rejects the truth because the one saying it is poor, has less power, is of the opposite gender, or the like.

The second type is for the person to look highly to oneself while looking down on others, because Allah gave one a lot of money, power, or due to other matters.

Arrogance is an enormous sin. On the Day of Judgment, the arrogant people will be in their human shape but have the size of small ants. Other people will step on them, but they will not die. Their punishment on that day will be fitting to their sin.

In Islam, you are urged to humble yourself. Furthermore, the messenger of Allah was once preaching to the companions when he utged hem to be humble by saying, “You are inattentive of one of the most virtuous acts of worship, humbling yourself”. In this directive he was addressing only a particular few among the companions, and not all of them. 

Our master ^Umar Ibnul-Khatab was extremely humble. It is mentioned that he once dressed appropriately for Friday prayer. On his way to the Mosque, a spout extending from the home of Al-^Abbas spilled some water and blood on him. The blood came from two chooks that had been slaughtered on the roof top, and was being cleaned away with water. ^Umar went and washed off the blood stains then said: “That spout needs to be removed”. So it was removed. When Al-^Abbas realised it was removed he said to ^Umar that the Prophet ﷺ is the one who put it there. As if to say to him, how can you have it removed when the Prophet ﷺ is the one who placed it there?! So ^Umar said, “Then it shall be restored as it was”, and told Al-^Abbas to climb on his back to replace it.

Here he is, the Caliph of all believers, ^Umar Al-Faruq, the one known for his sharpness in differentiating between right and wrong, telling Al-Abbas, who is the uncle of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, to climb on his back in a gesture of humility to help him restore the spout. He insisted that Al-^Abbas climb on his back. And there he was, ^Umar-the Caliph bent over to gently carry Al-^Abbas onto his back, which he did and the spout was restored.

Sins of the Tongue

The tongue can be a source of great harm. Mocking a Muslim, making fun of them, or saying anything that causes them pain is considered a sin.

The Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said:

بحسب امرئ من الشر أن يحقر أخاه

Bihasbi-mri’im minash-sharri ay yahqira akhah. Which means:

“Belittling one’s fellow Muslim is an act of great evil.” 

This Hadith, narrated by Muslim, emphasises that any word, action, or even a gesture intended to hurt or ridicule a fellow Muslim is a grave offense. Respecting one another, both in public and in private, is essential.

In the end, We ask Allah the Exalted to make us among those who are humble, and righteous. Ameen