Download PDF: LS2 A governor carries goods

Humility towards others is an integral part of Islamic faith and a sign of Allah’s servants as Allah Almighty signifies its importance in the Holy Quran:

وَعِبَادُ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَمْشُونَ عَلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ هَوْنًۭا وَإِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ ٱلْجَٰهِلُونَ قَالُوا۟ سَلَٰمًۭا

And the bondmen of the Most Gracious who walk upon the earth humbly, and when the ignorant address them they answer with “Peace”.

(Al-Furqan 25, Verse 63)

وَأخرج الخرائطي فِي مَكَارِم الْأَخْلَاق عَن الفضيل بن عِيَاض فِي قَوْله {الَّذين يَمْشُونَ على الأَرْض هونا} قَالَ: بِالسَّكِينَةِ وَالْوَقار {وَإِذا خاطبهم الجاهلون قَالُوا سَلاما} قَالَ: إِن جهل عَلَيْهِ حلم وَإِن أُسِيء إِلَيْهِ أحسن وَإِن حرم أعْطى وَإِن قطع وصل

Sayyiduna Soofie Fudhail ibn Ayadh explained the verse as follows:

“And the bondmen of the Most Gracious who walk upon the earth humbly” i.e. peacefully and with dignity “and when the ignorant address them they answer with ‘Peace’” i.e. if someone behaves badly towards them due to ignorance they are humble, if someone wrongs them they repay with goodness, if someone deprives them they are generous and if someone cuts ties with them they reconcile.

(Makarim al-Akhlaq, Tafseer Al-Durr al-Manthoor)

At the same time, the Almighty expresses dislike to the one who displays arrogance, as it is evident from the following verse of the Holy Quran:

Sura Al-Israa 17 : Verse 37

وَلَا تَمْشِ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا ۖ إِنَّكَ لَن تَخْرِقَ ٱلْأَرْضَ وَلَن تَبْلُغَ ٱلْجِبَالَ طُولًۭا

And do not walk haughtily on the earth; you can never split the earth, nor be as high as the hills.

Hadeeth:

مَا تَوَاضَعَ أَحَدٌ لِلَّهِ إِلاَّ رَفَعَهُ اللَّهُ

The one who shows humility for the sake of Allah certainly elevates him.

(Muslim # 2588)

لاَ يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ مَنْ كَانَ فِي قَلْبِهِ مِثْقَالُ حَبَّةٍ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ مِنْ كِبْرٍ وَلاَ يَدْخُلُ النَّارَ مَنْ كَانَ فِي قَلْبِهِ مِثْقَالُ حَبَّةٍ مِنْ إِيمَانٍ ‏‏

“Whoever has a mustard seed’s weight of pride (arrogance) in his heart, shall not be admitted into Paradise. And whoever has a mustard seed’s weight of faith in his heart, shall not be admitted into the Fire.”

(Tirmidhi #1998)

The Hadeeth also indicates that arrogance does not unite with Iman.  Allahu Akbar!

It is reported that one day while Hadrat Sayyiduna Salman – may Allah be pleased with him – was the Governor of Madaa’in, a person arrived from Syria. He also had a lot of goods with him and was looking for someone to carry these goods. His eyes fell of the eminent companion. Obviously, he had no idea who Hadrat Sayyiduna Salman – may Allah be pleased with him – was and called him to carry his goods. He also noticed that Hadrat Sayyiduna Salman – may Allah be pleased with him – was a well-built person wearing ordinary clothing and perhaps he was one of the people employed in the market place to carry the goods of people. The amazing thing is that the eminent companion was not embarrassed carrying the heavy load of this person. As Hadrat Sayyiduna Salman – may Allah be pleased with him – was walking, obviously, the people in the region knew who he was and some of them came forward offering to carry the goods.

When the owner of these goods heard the title, “governor” he was completely shocked and also began to perspire. He also apologised that he was completely unaware of his identity. However, Hadrat Sayyiduna Salman – may Allah be pleased with him – accepted his apology and still insisted that he would carry the goods of the person to his chosen destination. Hadrat Sayyiduna Salman – may Allah be pleased with him – also said that he had carried the goods of this person for three reasons.

  1. The reason is that no pride or arrogance comes near him.
  2. He had helped another Muslim brother.
  3. If he had not chosen him, there is a possibility that he would have chosen someone weaker, hence he felt that it would be only proper that he carries those goods.

The following has been extracted from a short play which appeared in the town of Halifax in the UK. The person reading these lines was a black Muslim.

He explained, “The Creator had created the heavens and earth and also mankind. He had also written their destiny. Those who were rich received wealth and those who were poor received poverty. And then, there was me who was created black. No part of the earth welcomed me. The White placed handcuffs on my hand and said to me with great disdain, ‘You are a black person, you are a slave and the son of a slave. You should look after the animals and take care of the crops because you are an ordinary worker.’

“I continued in this fashion from generation to generation until someone appeared in Arabia who called to me and said, from today, a White is not superior to a Black or a Black superior to a White. An Arab is not superior to a non-Arab and a non-Arab is not superior to an Arab”.

This is the true message of Islam which the West had forgotten. There was no other religion which brought about this transformation. If the Jews and Christians had brought about this type of change, then there would be no slavery but slavery existed until a few years ago. Anyone who was not a Jew or Christian was given a second-class status. Even in the modern world this continues but it is carried out in a subtler manner.

Now we are seeing the buying of entire countries in the form of international aid and trade. The name given is trade and business but the currencies of countries are changed and manipulated so that the other country becomes subservient to the master powers. It is a tragedy that Muslims are unable to see these things. When we look at the four principles given by Sayyidi A’la Hadrat – may Allah be pleased with him – on the economic revival of Sunni Muslims years ago, certainly, the Sunni Muslim community would have become the most powerful economic powerhouse in the world today.

Sadly though, Muslims look to the West for direction. Yet, when you inspect the points given by A’la Hadrat– may Allah be pleased with him – you will see that it was the West who copied his ideas while the Sunni Muslims merely watched and waited. It is not possible that we can have an international financial revolution when we ignore the Awliya who have been sent to this world to guide the Muslims in every aspect of their living? After all, Islam is a complete way of life. If politics and economics were different subjects separate from religion, then surely another religion would have been sent calling itself finance and politics. But that is not the case. Hence the answer to everything is found in Islam. We make Du’a that the Muslims wake up to the reality of what amazing guidance they have in the religion of Islam.

May Allah make us humble to our fellow brethren so that we live in peace and harmony with each other as Muslims and spread peace through our character.

May Allah Almighty take away all the pride and arrogance from our hearts so that we may prosper as the true servants of Allah and allow the bud of Iman to flourish in our hearts.

Ameen.