An Islamic Treasury of Virtues
2. What is Faith?
~ 66 ~
“Some people belong to God.” Asked who they
were, he said, “Those who adhere to the Qur’an.”
(AL-DARMI,
SUNAN)
LIKING CRITICISM
The Caliph Umar once came to the drinking
place of the Bani Harithah where he came upon
Muhammad ibn Maslamah. “How do you find
me?” he asked Muhammad. “By God, I find you
just as I would like you to be and just as it
would please any well-wisher to see you. You
are good at accumulating wealth, I see, but you
keep your hands clean of it yourself,
distributing it equitably.
“But,” went on Muhammad ibn Maslamah, “If
you adopt a crooked course, we will straighten
you, just as we straighten swords by placing
them in a vice.” At these words, Umar, the
second Muslim Caliph, exclaimed: “Praise be to
God, who has put me among a people who will
straighten me when I become crooked.”
(KANZ AL-UMMAL)
