47. Good Character

Yahya related to me from Malik that Muadh ibn Jabal said, "Thelast advice the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant himpeace, gave me when I put my foot in the stirrup was that he said,'Make your character good for the people, Muadh ibn Jabal!' " Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Urwa ibn az-Zubayr that A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him andgrant him peace, said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless himand grant him peace, did not have to choose between two matters, butthat he chose the easier of them as long as it was not a wrong action.If it was a wrong action, he was the furthest of people from it. TheMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did nottake revenge for himself unless the limits of Allah were violated.Then he took revenge for it for Allah." Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Ali ibnHusayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib that the Messenger of Allah, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, said, "Part of the excellence of aman's Islam is that he leaves what does not concern him." Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that A'isha, thewife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Aman asked permission to come in to see the Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace. I was with him in the house andthe Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,'He is an evil member of his tribe.' Then the Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, gave him permission." A'isha continued, "It was not long before I heard the Messenger ofAllah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, laughing with him.When the man left, I said, 'Messenger of Allah, you said what you saidabout him, and then before long you were laughing with him.' TheMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, replied,'Among the most evil of people is the one whom people are cautiouswith because of his evil.' " Yahya related to me from Malik from his paternal uncle, AbuSuhayl ibn Malik from his father that Kab al-Ahbar said, "If you wantto know what a slave has with his Lord, then look at whatever goodpraise follows him." Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said said, "I haveheard that by his good character a man can reach the degree of the onewho stands in prayer at night and the one who is thirsty from fastingin the heat of the day." Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said said that heheard Said ibn al-Musayyab say, "Shall I tell you what is better thanmuch prayer and sadaqa?" They said, "Yes." He said, "Mending discord.And beware of hatred - it strips you (of your deen)." Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that theMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Iwas sent to perfect good character." Yahya related to me from Malik from Salama ibn Safwan ibn Salamaaz-Zuraqi that Zayd ibn Talha ibn Rukana, who attributed it to theProphet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The Messengerof Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Every deenhas an innate character. The character of Islam is modesty.' " Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Salim ibnAbdullah from Abdullah ibn Umar that the Messenger of Allah, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, passed by a man who was chiding hisbrother about modesty. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him andgrant him peace, said, "Leave him. Modesty is part of iman." Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab from Humayd ibn Abd ar-Rahmanibn Awf that a man came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless himand grant him peace, and said, "Messenger of Allah, teach me somewords which I can live by. Do not make them too much for me, lest Iforget." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant himpeace, said, "Do not be angry." Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Said ibn al-Musayyab from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah blesshim and grant him peace, said, "A strong person is not the person whothrows his adversaries to the ground. A strong person is the personwho contains himself when he is angry." Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Ata ibn Yazidal-Laythi from Abu Ayyub al-Ansari that the Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, said, "It is not halal for amuslim to shun his brother for more than three nights, that is theymeet, and this one turns away and that one turns away. The better ofthe two is the one who says the greeting first." Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Anas ibnMalik that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant himpeace, said, "Do not be angry with each other and do not envy eachother and do not turn away from each other, and be slaves of Allah,brothers. It is not halal for a muslim to shun his brother for morethan three nights." Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'z-Zinad from al-Araj fromAbu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, said, "Beware of suspicion. Suspicion is the most untruespeech. Do not spy and do not eavesdrop. Do not compete with eachother and do not envy each other and do not hate each other and do notshun each other. Be slaves of Allah, brothers." Yahya related to me from Malik from Ata ibn Abi Muslim thatAbdullah al-Khurasani said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah blesshim and grant him peace, said, 'Shake hands and rancour willdisappear. Give presents to each other and love each other and enmitywill disappear.' " Yahya related to me from Malik from Suhayl ibn Abi Salih from hisfather from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah blesshim and grant him peace, said, "The doors of the Garden are opened onMonday and Thursday. Every muslim slave who does not associateanything with Allah is forgiven except for the man who has enmitybetween him and his brother. It is said, 'Leave these two until theyhave made a reconciliation. Leave these two until they have made areconciliation.' " Yahya related to me from Malik from Muslim ibn Abi Maryam fromAbu Salih as-Samman that Abu Hurayra said, "The actions of people arepresented twice each week, on Monday and Thursday. Every trustingslave is forgiven except for a slave who has enmity between him andhis brother. It is said, 'Leave these two until they turn in tawba.Leave these two until they turn in tawba.' ''