title: Good Manners (Part 3 of 3)

Read Part 1 and Part 2

By now, it should be crystal clear how important manners are in Islam. Unfortunately, some people might still try to clear themselves of having to do anything because they claim we live in an age where good people are taken advantage of. Because of some negative experience they’ve had, they think that trying to be polite and courteous, today, can only lead to trouble.

This is a big mistake. Allah (Exalted and Sublime is He) did not create his shariaa for a limited time. The Prophet’s sunnah and the Quran are for everyone, regardless of their age or location. Furthermore, let us look at how the Prophet behaved with his people who were physically harming him and plotting to kill him. These people were literally forming a gang to kill him….but still the Prophet returned the trusts they’d left at his home. His good manners were unshaken by the fact they displayed the worst kind of manners possible. Equally important is the fact that in the Quran, Allah tells prophet Musa (peace be upon him) to go to Pharaoh, who called himself the lord and who massacred hundreds of babies, and to remind him of his real Lord in a gentle manner. Regardless of how rude people might be to us, no one is going to ever reach Pharaoh’s level and still we are supposed to be polite.

You might think “I know all that, but it’s really difficult to be polite with someone rude. There’s only so much I can take!” I don’t deny that it can be extremely difficult and unfortunately, I’ve often found myself being rude back, but I try to remind myself that it was Allah (Exalted and Sublime is He) who put me in contact with that person. He is the One Who chose for me to have to deal with that rude person. And since He chose that, there must be wisdom and a greater good to come out of it if I remain patient and polite. Perhaps, my being courteous will give me an elevated status in jannah. Perhaps, Allah will erase my sins. In the end, dealing with rude/biased/ etc people is part of the test of this life.

In conclusion, there is only one Lord. He sees everything including how we treat His other servants. It doesn’t make sense to think that we can have a good relationship with Him while abusing His slaves. To truly worship Allah is to imitate Him as much as possible and that means to imitate His good manners.

Read Part 1 and Part 2