Let me begin with the ayat 4 Surah al-Qalam:
And verily ,you(O Muhammad s.a.w) are on exalted standard of character.
When 'Aishah,may Allah be pleased with her, was asked about the Prophet's manners,she said,"His manners were the Qur'an".(Recorded by Muslim)
The Messenger of Allah s.a.w said,"Indeed,I have been sent to complete the noblest of manners".(Recorded by al-Bukhari)
Many of our social problems today arise from bad akhlaq. Looking at some behaviours of some of our fellow muslims/muslimahs, we are ashamed of their conduct.How could they called themselves muslims/muslimahs? What kind of upbringing are they getting from their parents and teachers and society at large? All of us have a share in this!
I am writing this to remind myself of my responsibility as a father before my kids leave my home. My points of concerns are their iman,ilmu and akhlaq. Have I done enough? In my case, I hereby aknowledged that I have not done enough. How about you? Just compare our efforts ,money and time spent on our children to get good results in their exams as compared to better akhlaq? At the same time ,are we showing them good examples?
Please take some time to give it a thought and do something about it now.
PS:During a seminar last week, the Mufti of Perak lamented about parents neglecting their duties in taking care of their children.He broke down while relating his personal experience how he was taught good manners by his father.
Adib, I enjoyed reading this post. Good topic.
Posted by: Emily | Friday, August 18, 2006 at 11:00 AM
Emily,
We discussed this subject matter before during our Bookcrossing meeting.I know what you meant.Thanks for taking time to write a note at my blog.
My regards to you and your family members.
Posted by: Adib | Friday, August 18, 2006 at 12:29 PM
Spot on observation. The family is the smallest unit of a society, but the most important as it is the inner circle of the bigger community picture.
Will definitely keep this thought in mind as I have got more responsibilities now.
Posted by: omecool20 | Friday, August 18, 2006 at 01:32 PM
Yes, cannot agree more. Good family upbringing must be inculcated since young. Iman, Ilmu, Akhlaq yg baik membimbing ke arah insan yang mulia.
This may be slightly off-track;
Real incident on ahlak.
I was once questioned by an Arab (non-muslim) man on why the muslim men can do the “naughty’ things before marriage but the women cannot. I had to explain to him that acts that are sinful will always remain sinful to whomever who did it regardless of gender. He said “no” his Arab friends told him that it is ok for men but not women. Again, I said NO & what was told to him by his men friends was WRONG.
Then he asked me why is it still being done? By this time some how I sensed that this guy was trying to be either “funny “or trying to demean Islam (showing that there’s double standard).
I told him, “If you asked me why your men friends still do it, then, I can only think that there must be something really very wrong with their ahlak”
The word “ahlak” came out spontaneously, and since he’s Arab, I thought I need not correct/change it to “morals”.
To my surprise, he looked stunt when he heard my answer and then abruptly ended the conversation. We then had a silent journey back to the office; no more conversation. I guess the word really meant something to him or it could have hit him hard…..
PS:
To all Arab & muslim men out there I know not all of you are like the ones related in the above incident. It’s not the race or the gender. It is the person him/ her self.
Posted by: su | Friday, August 18, 2006 at 04:24 PM
The Meaning and Origin of Akhlaq:
The word akhlaq is the plural for the word khulq which means disposition. "Disposition" is that faculty (malakah) of the soul which is the source of all those activities that man performs spontaneously without thinking about them. Malakah is a property of the soul which comes into existence through exercise and repetitive practice and is not easily destroyed.
Posted by: Adib | Friday, August 18, 2006 at 11:39 PM