The swan recited a poem,
Sometimes, the truth,Then she said, "O my brothers and sisters, do you know one of the greatest of all moral virtues? Many of the noblest of human qualities like integrity, chastity, and valor springs forth from it." The birds answered, "Tell us, O Swan!" The Swan ssaid, "It is honesty. Some people might suppose that honesty is restricted to words. This is not the case. Honesty can manifest itself in our actions as well as in our innermost state of being.
we are tempted to hide.
Due to our guilt,
or just simple pride.
An exaggeration,
may lead to a lie.
Those that affected,
may break down and cry.
When honesty,
we try to avoid.
Relationships,
are often destroyed.
The great scholar and ethical thinker, al-Muhâsibî, said, “For honesty to be complete, it must exist in three things. It must exist in the heart as one’s faith, it must exist in the intentions behind one’s deeds, and it must be present in the words that one speaks.”
We must be honest in words and deeds. Honesty penetrates the innermost fibre of a person when the inner being is in harmony with the outer self. A person’s deeds are honest only when he practices what he professes. Dishonesty in deed is more despicable than dishonesty in word, for it is only but a hypocritical display of sincerity. This is what the brothers of Prophet Yusuf, alayhissalam, did when they came with Yusuf’s bloodied clothing to their father.
Truth in word is the most familiar and obvious kind of truth, since every statement that is inconsistent with reality is obviously a lie. Allah says,
In the Quran, Allah informs us that our honesty will bring us good even in this world. And of course, honesty will be of doubtless benefit to us in the Hereafter. Allah says,وَ لَا تَقُوۡلُوۡا لِمَا تَصِفُ اَلۡسِنَتُکُمُ الۡکَذِبَ ہٰذَا حَلٰلٌ وَّ ہٰذَا حَرَامٌ لِّتَفۡتَرُوۡا عَلَی اللّٰہِ الۡکَذِبَ ؕ اِنَّ الَّذِیۡنَ یَفۡتَرُوۡنَ عَلَی اللّٰہِ الۡکَذِبَ لَا یُفۡلِحُوۡنَ“And do not say about what your tongues assert of untruth, "This is lawful and this is unlawful," to invent falsehood about Allah . Indeed, those who invent falsehood about Allah will not succeed.” - [QS.16:116]
Apart from being honest in words and deeds, we must be honest in our relationship with our Creator, Allah. There are many dimensions to this most important expression of honesty.قَالَ اللّٰہُ ہٰذَا یَوۡمُ یَنۡفَعُ الصّٰدِقِیۡنَ صِدۡقُہُمۡ ؕ لَہُمۡ جَنّٰتٌ تَجۡرِیۡ مِنۡتَحۡتِہَا الۡاَنۡہٰرُ خٰلِدِیۡنَ فِیۡہَاۤ اَبَدًا ؕ رَضِیَ اللّٰہُ عَنۡہُمۡ وَ رَضُوۡا عَنۡہُ ؕ ذٰلِکَ الۡفَوۡزُ الۡعَظِیۡمُ“Allah will say, "This is the Day when the truthful will benefit from their truthfulness." For them are gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever, Allah being pleased with them, and they with Him. That is the great attainment.” - [QS.5:119]
There is our sincerity to Allah in terms of our belief – where we acknowledge and accept that He is the Supreme Sovereign and the One and Only deserving to be worshipped. Then there is being cognisant that Allah is ever watchful of what we do.
There is the sense of humility and shame that we must feel before Him. If we truly want to be honest in our relationship with Allah, we must become so fully sincere to Him that there remains in our hearts no other motive for what we do but to seek His pleasure.
We must care nothing for the thanks and appreciation of our fellow men. We can achieve this by making our greatest concern the attainment of Allah’s mercy. We must be constantly aware that Allah is ever watchful over us.
Apart from being honest in our relationship with our Creator, we must be honest in with fellow humans. Honesty with other people is also extremely important. There are many aspects to this as well. First, we must be honest in our dispensation towards others. We should not behave deceptively and present a false face to people. Instead, we must be genuine and straightforward with people as much as possible. We must be honest in what we say. This requires from us to be careful to ascertain the truth of the news that we hear before we go ahead and pass it on to others.
We must be honest in giving advice to people. We should be sincere in our advice and truly do our best to help people avoid misfortune and attain what is good for them. We need to be even more honest with our spouses. We must be able to confide in them and speak freely to them about our concerns, our secrets, and our ambitions. A husband or wife is a life partner, a friend, a confidante. The more openly a husband and wife are able to communicate with each other in an atmosphere of trust and confidence, the stronger their relationship will be.
Our beloved Prophet (ﷺ) was renowned for his honesty long before he began to receive revelation and became Allah’s Messenger. He had been known among his people for years as al-Ameen (The Trustworthy). The Prophet (ﷺ) informed us of the effects that both honesty and dishonesty have on our personalities. Hasan ibn Ali reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
Abdullah ibn Mas’ud reported that The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:دَعْ مَا يَرِيبُكَ إِلَى مَا لَا يَرِيبُكَ فَإِنَّ الصِّدْقَ طُمَأْنِينَةٌ وَإِنَّ الْكَذِبَ رِيبَةٌ"Leave what makes you doubt for what does not make you doubt. Verily, truth brings peace of mind and falsehood sows doubt." [Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2518; Sahih]
He also explained the effects that honesty and dishonesty have on our interpersonal dealings. Hakim ibn Hizam reported that The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said,عَلَيْكُمْ بِالصِّدْقِ فَإِنَّ الصِّدْقَ يَهْدِي إِلَى الْبِرِّ وَإِنَّ الْبِرَّ يَهْدِي إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ وَمَا يَزَالُ الرَّجُلُ يَصْدُقُ وَيَتَحَرَّى الصِّدْقَ حَتَّى يُكْتَبَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ صِدِّيقًا وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَالْكَذِبَ فَإِنَّ الْكَذِبَ يَهْدِي إِلَى الْفُجُورِ وَإِنَّ الْفُجُورَ يَهْدِي إِلَى النَّارِ وَمَا يَزَالُ الرَّجُلُ يَكْذِبُ وَيَتَحَرَّى الْكَذِبَ حَتَّى يُكْتَبَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ كَذَّابًا"You must be truthful. Verily, truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise. A man continues to be truthful and encourages honesty until he is recorded with Allah as truthful. And beware of falsehood. Verily, falsehood leads to wickedness and wickedness leads to the Hellfire. A man continues tell lies and encourages falsehood until he is recorded with Allah as a liar." [Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2607;Muttafaqun Alayhi]
Honesty, in fact, engenders strength on every level. On the personal level, it provides integrity, self worth, and inner fortitude. On the social level, it lends depth and substance to our relationships with other people. On the spiritual level, it brings about the sincerity to our Rabb that is the key to our salvation.الْبَيِّعَانِ بِالْخِيَارِ مَا لَمْ يَتَفَرَّقَا فَإِنْ صَدَقَا وَبَيَّنَا بُورِكَ لَهُمَا فِي بَيْعِهِمَا وَإِنْ كَذَبَا وَكَتَمَا مُحِقَ بَرَكَةُ بَيْعِهِمَا"Both parties in a business transaction have the right to annul it, as long as they have not separated. If they are truthful and clear with one another, there is blessing in their transaction. If they lie and conceal something, the blessing of their transaction will be eliminated." [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1973; Muttafaqun Alayhi]
At the end of the day, everyone deserves our honesty. Nobody wants to be lied to, not even us. And Allah knows best.
- AM Ba Dahdah, Honesty, Islam Today
