TRUTHFULNESS

Allah says, “The believers are but those people who believed in God and His Messenger without ever feeling doubt there after and strive with their souls and possessions in the way of God; those are the ones who are the truthful.” (49:15).

Telling truth and avoiding lies are the two important characters of an ideal Muslim. Truthfulness plays an important role in Islam; but we have, in general, restricted itto something about truthful tongue. We think that we are truthful because we are true to our words, true to our dealing, keeping our promises and more like that. It is because we have restricted truthfulness only to these things. But it is a wide issue.Islam, however, teaches that truthfulness is far more than having an honest tongue.Sometimes we act as the biggest liars, but don’t realize it.

One of these lies is that when we give the testimony of our faith i.e. Oneness of Allah and that Mohammad (SAW) is the last Messenger.

لاالہ الااللہ محمد رسول اللہ 

Giving testimony means the declaration that we follow each and every action according to Islam i.e. according to Quran and Sunnah; but we usually don’t. The ‘Kalimah tayyibah’ is, in fact, a declaration of one’s belief that Islam is the true religion. It is the submission before Allah to be his sincere and faithful servant, obey His commandments and avoid all the forbidden things. Giving testimony doesn’t mean only to recite it, but it means to surrender all our wills to Allah Almighty. But we don’t surrender; we have restricted Islam under the boundariesof some obligatory prayers as salah, fasting, pilgrimage etc. After performing these prayers, we do whatever we want according to our own will. We do our business and jobs the way we like. We follow our ancestors even if it may be against Islamic laws and follow the customs of our society even if these are contrary to Islam that we witness in our marriage ceremonies, death anniversaries and more. Fact is that we are slaves of our will; not our Lord.

​Prophet (SAW) said: “the first effect of لاالہ الااللہ is that it should prevent its reader from all the forbidden things.” Nonbelievers of Mecca at the time of Prophet (SAW) understood what the Kalimah expected from them, realized that they will not fulfill its requirements and openly disagreed. But we think that just giving testimony only is sufficient to enter paradise. This is not the fact, the Truth is something else. It is to follow each and every action of our life according to Allah’s will; the true purpose of our life. Giving testimony but not implementing its fundamentals in our practical life, values nothing.

​Allah says, “Don’t fear the people but fear me and do not exchange my verses for a small price. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed- then it is those who are the disbelievers. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed- then it is those who are the wrongdoers. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed then it is those who are the disobedient” (Al-Maidah:43 to 49).

​Allah also says, “Do you believe in a part of the scripture and reject the rest? What else, then, could be the, retribution of those among you who do this than that they should live in degradation  in the present life and that on the day of resurrection, they should be sent to the severest chastisement?” (Al-baqarah: 85).

​These verses fit completely to our lives; in general we obey some orders of Allah and disobey those which contradict our will. Allah has explained it clearly that the one who does not follow Quran (commandments from Allah) is disbeliever, wrongdoer and disobedient; that way majority of us are disbeliever, wrongdoer and disobedient.

​Allah ordered us in surah Al-baqarah: 208 “O believers enter into Islam completely and do not follow the footsteps of Shaitan, surely he is your clear-cut enemy”. It means follow Islam in every aspect of life. He ordered us to take Islam as complete code of life. The great Islamic scholar, Syed Abul A’la Moudoodi (RtA) said that not more than 0.001 percent of Muslim knew what Islam actually was. Islam, He wrote, was not a birth right, nor a simple proclamation of the shahadah (testimony), but the testimony to an individual’s absolute obedience to God – Islam found meaning only in the context of works. He wrote, “You must remember that you are a born slave of God. He has created you for his servitude only.” He viewed absolute obedience to God as a fundamental right of God. A man doesn’t have the right to choose a way of life for himself or assume whatever duties he likes. Islam, he said, is not a religion in the sense this term is commonly understood. It is a system encompassing all fields of living.

​Last word: Muslims need to understand the meaning of being Muslims that we proudly announce. It demands that we need to be true God-fearing and obey Islam in every aspect of life. There is a thin but sharp line between Islam and Kufur(Disbelief) that needs to be respected. We should remember this clear order of Allah in our entire life; “Enter in to Islam completely.” (Al-baqarah:208)