Salient Features of Muslims

Guidance - II

Abū Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) relates that the Holy Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be with him) said, “A true Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands Muslims are safe, and a true believer is one from whom people’s lives and properties are safe.” This report is from Tirmidhi and Nasai. Baihaqi in the chapter on faith has further added from Fuzala, “A mujahid (warrior in the path of God) is one who wages a war in obedience to God against the evil in his own nature and a muhajir (immigrant) is one who keeps from lapses and sins.”

Islam literally means peace and submission to the Will of God. And true Muslims have certain salient features in strict accordance with the teachings of Islam. They never wrongly injure or kill anyone or damage anybody’s property. Their fellow beings have nothing to fear from them; they feel quite safe in their company and neighbourhood.

A real fighter in the path of God is one who has a perfect control over his temper, and brings it in unison with the teachings of Islam. He never disobeys God or refrains from His worship. This indicates the real nature of jihad or fight in the path of God, which in fact permeates all aspects of a believer’s life. At every turn and every step there are two courses open to him, one towards which the evil in him is inclined, in disregard to righteousness and other moral values, and the other is the one which the Creator has prescribed for him. If he is a mujahid in the real sense of the term, he will control his avaricious nature instead of becoming subservient to it, and spend his whole life in this struggle.

A muhajir (immigrant), in common parlance, is considered one who migrates from one place to another to settle down there for the rest of his life. But a true muhajir is not one who migrates from one place to another. He is one who shuns the evil ways he might have been indulged in – just for the sake of Allah.

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