General Behavior (Kitab Al-Adab)

كتاب الأدب

Chapter 6: Regarding good interactions with people

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin

A man asked permission to see the Prophet (ﷺ), and the Prophet (ﷺ) said: He is a bad member of the tribe. When he entered, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) treated in a frank and friendly way and spoke to him. When he departed , I said: Messenger of Allah! When he asked permission, you said: He is a bad member of the tribe, but when he entered, you treated him in a frank and friendly way. The Messenger of Allah replied: Aisha! Allah does not like the one who is unseemly and lewd in his language.

The tradition mentioned above has been transmitted by `A’isha through a different chain of narrators. This version has

the Prophet (ﷺ) said: `A’isha! There are some bad people who are respected for fear of their tongues.

Narrated Anas ibn Malik

I never said that when any man brought his mouth to the ear of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he withdrew his head until the man himself withdrew his head, and I never saw that when any man took him by his hand and he withdrew his hand, until the man himself withdrew his hand.

Chapter 7: Modesty (Al-haya)

`Abd Allah b. ‘Umar said

The Prophet (ﷺ) passed by a man of the Ansar when he was giving his brother a warning against modesty. The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) said : Leave him alone, for modesty is a part of faith.

Abu Qatadah said

We were sitting with `Imran b. Hussain and Bushair b. Ka`b was also there. `Imran b. Hussain reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: Modesty is good altogether, or he said: Modesty is altogether good. Bushair b. Ka`b said : We find in some books that there is a modesty which produces peace and dignified bearing, and there is a modesty which produces weakness. `Imran b. Hussain repeated the same words. So `Imran became angry so much so that his eyes became red, and he said : Don’t you see that I am transmitting a tradition from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and you are mentioning something from your books? He (Qatadah) said : We said : Abu Nujaid, it is sufficient.

Abu Mas`ud reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying

One of the things people have learnt from the words of the earliest prophecy is : If you have no shame, do what you like.

Chapter 8: Regarding good character

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: By his good character a believer will attain the degree of one who prays during the night and fasts during the day.

Narrated AbudDarda'

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: There is nothing heavier than good character put in the scale of a believer on the Day of Resurrection.

Abu al-Walid said: I heard 'Ata al-Kaikharani say: Abu Dawud said: His name is 'Ata b. Ya'qub. He is the maternal uncle of Ibrahim b. Nafi'. He is called Kaikharani or Kukharani.

Narrated AbuUmamah

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: I guarantee a house in the surroundings of Paradise for a man who avoids quarrelling even if he were in the right, a house in the middle of Paradise for a man who avoids lying even if he were joking, and a house in the upper part of Paradise for a man who made his character good.

Harithah b. Wahab reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying

neither the Jawwaz nor the Jazari will enter paradise. He said that the Jawwaz is the one who is coarse and uncivil.

Chapter 9: Regarding exaltation being disliked in (worldly) matters

Anas said

The she-camel of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) called al-Adba’ had not been outstripped by another, but an A`rabi (a nomadic Arab) came on a young riding camel of his and it outstripped it. That distressed the companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), but he said: It is Allah’s right that nothing should become exalted in the world but he lowers it.

Narrating this story Anas reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying

It is Allah’s right that nothing should become exalted in the world but he lowers it.

Chapter 10: Regarding it being disliked to praise (people)

Hammam said

A man came and praised ‘Uthman in his face, al-Miqdad b. Al-Aswad took dust and threw it on his face, saying : The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) said : When you see those who are given to praising people, throw dust in their faces.

Abu Bakrah said that when a man praised another man in his face in the presence of the Prophet (ﷺ) said

You have beheaded your friend (saying it three times). He then said : One who cannot help expressing praise of his companion, should say : I consider him such and such (as he intends to say), but I do not declare him pure with Allah.

Narrated Abdullah ibn ash-Shikhkhir

I went with a deputation of Banu Amir to the apostle of Allah (ﷺ), and we said: You are our lord (sayyid). To this he replied: The lord is Allah, the Blessed and Exalted. Then we said: And the one of us most endowed with excellence and superiority. To this he replied: Say what you have to say, or part of what you have to say, and do not let the devil make you his agents.

Chapter 11: Regarding gentleness

`Abd Allah b. Mughaffal reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying

Allah is gentle, likes gentleness, and gives for gentleness what he does not give for harshness.

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin

Al-Miqdam ibn Shurayh, quoting his father, said: I asked Aisha about living in the desert. She said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to go to the desert to these rivulets. Once he intended to go to the desert and he sent to me a she-camel from the camel of sadaqah which had not been used for riding so far. He said to me: Aisha! show gentleness, for if gentleness is found in anything, it beautifies it and when it is taken out from anything it damages it.

Ibn al-Sabbah said in his version: Muharramah means a mount which has not been used for riding.

Narrated Jarir

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who is deprived of gentleness is deprived of good.

Narrated Sa'd

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: There is hesitation in everything except in the actions of the next world.

Chapter 12: Regarding gratitude for acts of kindness

Narrated Abu Hurayrah

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who does not thank the people is not thankful to Allah.