GENERAL BEHAVIOR AND SUNNAH OF THE PROPHET SAWS (PEACE AND BLESSINGS OF ALLAAH BE UPON HIM)

The proper way to thank Allaah
If a Muslim receives a bounty or is rescued from some trial, it is recommended for him to perform the prostration of thankfulness. Abu Bakrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) reports that: “When the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) received something which pleased him or glad tidings, he would make prostration in thanks to Allah.” (Abu Dawood, no. 2774;. It is saheeh, and was also reported in Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh, no. 1494)

Ritual purity (tahaarah) and facing the qiblah is not a requirement to make the prostration of thankfulness, however, if one makes wudoo’ and faces the qiblah, that is preferred. (Majmoo‘ Fataawa by Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 4/216.)



Accepting money or property received without asking for it
If something (e.g., money, property, etc.) which is halaal (Islamically permissible) comes to you, whether through another person or other entity, without you asking, yearning or begging for it, and without you having degraded yourself, then he should accept it. ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that: “The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘If something (i.e., money, property, etc.) comes to you for which you did not yearn or ask for, then accept it. Otherwise do not bother about it.’” (Saheeh al-Bukhaari, no. 1404)



Asking a Muslim host about food or drink he serves
If a Muslim is served food in his Muslim brother’s house, and he is worried about whether the meat is halaal or haraam, he may eat it without questioning because, in Islam, the principle is that a Muslim is trustworthy. The evidence for this is the saying of the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “If one of you enters the house of his Muslim brother and he offers him food, let him eat it and not ask anything about it, and if he offers him something to drink, let him drink it and not ask anything about it.” (Ahmad, 2/399; al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, no. 627)

This is also because such interrogation may insult his host and make him feel that he is being doubted.



Walking with only one shoe on if the other one is damaged
If someone walking with shoes on, and breaks or tears one of them, he should not walk with only one shoe, while his other foot is bare. He should either repair the broken shoe and wear both, or take off both and walk barefoot. Walking barefoot at times is sunnah. The evidence for this is the narration of Abu Hurayrah that: “The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘One should not walk with only one shoe. One should either wear both or take both of them off.’” (Saheeh al-Bukhaari, no. 5518)

The scholars have said a number of things about the reason for doing so. The most authentic of these is what has been described by Ibn al-‘Arabi and others that “It is the way of walking of the Shaytaan”. (Fath al-Baari, 10/310) The evidence for this is the report of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Indeed the Shaytaan walks in one shoe.’” (al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, no. 348)



Good dreams
If a Muslim sees a good dream, it is recommended for him to do the following: He should praise and thank Allah, may He be glorified. He may interpret it himself or discuss it with a knowledgeable person who may interpret it for him.

He should not tell anyone about it except someone who may give him good advice, or someone who is wise, or someone he loves. He should not inform someone who may become jealous of him.

The evidence for this is the report of Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (may Allaah be pleased with him): “The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘If anyone of you sees a dream that he likes, then it is from Allah, and he should thank Allah for it and tell it to others.’” (Saheeh al-Bukhaari, no. 6584)

And it was also reported from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that: “The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Do not narrate your good dreams to anyone except a knowledgeable person or someone who may give you good advice.’” (Jaami‘ al-Tirmidhi, no. 2280; al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, no. 1119)

This is because such persons may interpret it in the most appropriate way, unlike one who is jealous or ignorant.
Bad dreams
If a Muslim sees a bad dream (nightmare), he should do the following:
He should spit (dryly) to his left three times
He should seek refuge in Allah from Shaytaan three times
He should seek refuge in Allah from the evil of the dream
He should stand up and pray
He should change the side on which he was sleeping if he wants to continue to sleep, even if that means turning onto his left side
He should not inform anyone
He should neither interpret it himself nor ask anyone else to interpret it.

The evidence for this is the narration of Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him) that: “The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘If any one of you sees a dream that he dislikes, he should spit to his left three times, seek refuge in Allah from the Shaytaan, and turn over on to his other side.’” (Saheeh Muslim, no. 2262)

According to another report, the wording is: “He should seek refuge in Allah from its evil, so that it does not harm him.”

The narrator of this hadeeth said: “I used to see dreams that weighed heavier on me than a mountain, but as soon as I heard this hadeeth, so I never worried about it again.” (Saheeh Muslim, no. 2261)

Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported that a Bedouin came to the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said: “O Prophet of Allah, I saw a dream that my head was chopped off and rolled away, and I ran after it.” The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to him: “Do not tell people the Shaytaan is playing with you in your dreams.” (Saheeh Muslim, no. 2268)

According to another report, the wording is: “If anyone sees something he dislikes, he should get up and pray.” (Jaami‘ al-Tirmidhi, no. 2280; Saheeh al-Jaami‘, no. 3533)



Being affected by seeing a woman
If a Muslim sees a non-mahram woman, and this has an effect on him, then if he has a wife he should go home and have intercourse with her so that he may rid himself of whatever affected him. The evidence for this is the narration of Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him): “The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘If any one of you is attracted to and likes a woman, he should go back to his wife and have intercourse with her, because this will rid him of whatever affected him.’” (Saheeh Muslim, no. 1403)



Sitting between the sun and the shade is not allowed
If the place where one is sitting falls between the sun and the shade, he should change his place, because the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If one of you is (sitting) in shade that diminishes in size, resulting in part of his body remaining in the sun and the rest under shade, he should get up and move.” (Abu Dawood, no. 4821; Saheeh al-Jaami‘, no. 748)

The reason for this is that this is the position favoured by the Shaytaan. The evidence is the Prophet’s prohibition of sitting partially in the sun and partially in shade. He SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “This is the place where the Shaytaan sits.” (Ahmad, 3/413; Saheeh al-Jaami‘, No. 6823)



When illness strikes one’s wife
If an illness strikes someone’s wife, it is recommended for him to do what the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did: “When an illness struck his one of his wives, he ordered for soup to be prepared. Then he ordered her to drink from it. He used to say: ‘This strengthens the heart of the one who is distressed, and cleans the heart of the sick person just as one of you cleans her face with water.’” (Jaami‘ al-Tirmidhi, no. 2039; Saheeh al-Jaami‘, no. 4646)



If one’s children or family members lie
If one of the children or family members of a person lies, he should treat this issue as did the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “If he SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came to know that one of his family members had lied, he would keep away from him until he repented.” (al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, no. 2052; Saheeh al-Jaami‘, no. 4675)



When telling the truth is not the best option
If a Muslim faces a difficult situation where he needs to say what is against the truth in order to protect himself or someone who is innocent, or to save himself from serious trouble, is there a way for him to escape the situation without lying or falling into sin?

Yes, there is a legal way and a permissible escape that one can make use of if necessary. It is equivocation or indirectness in speech. Imaam al-Bukhaari (may Allaah have mercy on him) entitled a chapter of his Saheeh: “Indirect speech is a safe way to avoid a lie”. (Saheeh al-Bukhaari, Kitaab al-Adab (Book of Manners), chapter 116).

Equivocation means saying something which has a closer meaning that the hearer will understand, but it also has a remote meaning which what is actually meant and is linguistically correct. The condition for this is that whatever is said should not present a truth as falsity and vice versa. The following are examples of such statements used by the salaf and early imaams, and collected by Imaam Ibn al-Qayyim in his book Ighaathat al-Lahfaan: It was reported about Hammaad (may Allaah have mercy on him), if someone came that he did not want to sit with, he would say as if in pain: “My tooth, my tooth!” Then the boring person whom he did not like would leave him alone.

Imaam Sufyaan Al-Thawri was brought to the khaleefah al-Mahdi, who liked him, but when he wanted to leave, the khaleefah told him he had to stay. Al-Thawri swore that
he would come back. He then went out, leaving his shoes at the door. After some time he came back, took his shoes and went away. The khaleefah asked about him, and was told that he had sworn to come back, so he had come back and taken his shoes.

Imaam Ahmad was in his house, and some of his students, including al-Mirwadhi, were with him. Someone came along, asking for al-Mirwadhi from outside the house, but Imaam Ahmad did not want him to go out, so he said: “Al-Mirwadhi is not here, what would he be doing here?” whilst putting his finger in the palm of his other hand, and the person outside could not see what he was doing.

Other examples of equivocation or indirectness in speech include the following:
If someone asks you whether you have seen so-and-so, and you are afraid that if you tell the questioner about him this would lead to harm, you can say “ma ra’aytuhu”, meaning that you have not cut his lung, because this is a correct meaning in Arabic [“ma ra’aytuhu” usually means “I have not seen him,” but can also mean “I have not cut his lung”]; or you could deny having seen him, referring in your heart to a specific time and place where you have not seen him. If someone asks you to swear an oath that you will never speak to so-and-so, you could say, “Wallaahi lan ukallumahu”, meaning that you will not wound him, because “kalam” can also mean “wound” in Arabic [as well as “speech”]. Similarly, if a person is forced to utter words of kufr and is told to deny Allaah, it is permissible for him to say “Kafartu bi’l-laahi”, meaning “I denounce the playboy” [which sounds the same as the phrase meaning “I deny Allaah.”]
(Ighaathat al-Lahfaan by Ibn al-Qayyim, 1/381 ff., 2/106-107. See also the section on equivocation (ma’aareed) in Al-Adaab al-Shar’iyyah by Ibn Muflih, 1/14).

However, one should be cautious that the use of such statements is restricted only to situations of great difficulty, otherwise:

Excessive use of it may lead to lying.
One may lose good friends, because they would always be in doubt as to what is meant.
If the person to whom such a statement is given comes to know that the reality was different from what he was told, and he was not aware that the person was engaging in deliberate ambiguity or equivocation, he would consider that person to be a liar. This goes against the principle of protecting one’s honour by not giving people cause to doubt one’s integrity.
The person who uses such a technique frequently may become proud of his ability to take advantage of people.

Finally, I ask Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, to give us a proper understanding of our religion, to teach us that which will benefit us, and benefit us from what He teaches us, to guide us, and to protect us from the evils of our own selves. Allah is the best Protector and He is the most Merciful of all.


~*~ May Allaah bless our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions. ~*~