The man who promised to tell the truth - A Motivational Story

Bismillaah

As Salaamu 'alaykum and peace to all,

That day i was thinking to myself. I have so many flaws in me and I honestly think that I should try my level best to improve myself. Listing the flaws in my head, i got dizzy! So, i kept thinking, which of the ones (my flaws) in my list do i want to overcome first? Then, Allaah gave me the answer...

I found a story of a man who asked the same question to Prophet Muhammad SAW. Here it is...

Once a man came to the prophet Muhammad (S) and said, "Oh Prophet of Allah, I have many bad habits. Which one of them should I give up first?" The prophet said, "Give up telling lies first and always speak the truth." The man promised to do so and went home.

At night the man was about to go out to steal. Before setting out, he thought for a moment about the promise he made with the prophet. "If tomorrow the prophet asks me where have I been, what shall I say? Shall I say that I went out stealing? No, I cannot say that. But nor can I lie. If I tell the truth, everyone will start hating me and call me a thief. I would be punished for stealing."

So the man decided not to steal that night, and gave up this bad habit.

Next day, he felt like drinking wine, when he was about to do so, he said to himself, "What shall I say to the prophet if he asks me what did I do during the day? I cannot tell a lie, and if I speak the truth people will hate me, because a Muslim is not allowed to drink wine." And so he gave up the idea of drinking wine.

In this way, whenever the man thought of doing something bad, he remembered his promise to tell the truth at all times. One by one, he gave up all his bad habits and became a good Muslim and a very good person.

What a wonderful story. It motivated me to improve myself, alhamdulillaah. I thank Allaah, alhamdulillaah for showing me the way out of my problem. I also then found some hadeeth on the importance of being truthful.

‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘You must be truthful, for truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise. A man will keep speaking the truth and striving to speak the truth until he will be recorded with Allaah as a siddeeq (speaker of the truth). Beware of telling lies, for lying leads to immorality and immorality leads to Hellfire. A man will keep telling lies and striving to tell lies until he is recorded with Allaah as a liar.” (Reported by Muslim, 4721)


Al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib (may Allaah be pleased with them both) said: “I memorized from the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): ‘Leave that which makes you doubt for that which does not make you doubt, for truthfulness is certainty and tranquillity, whilst lying is doubt and confusion.” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, 2520; al-Nisaa'i, 8/327; and Ahmad, 1/200)


So, there is no doubt about it. This is my first jihad for myself. To always always strive to speak the truth, Insya'Allaah. What about you?

Copyright (c) Sis Zabrina 2006
~ Your Source for Islamic Motivational and Inspirational Stories ~


Sis Zabrina
Life Storyteller
Author of Life is an Open Secret - 18 Inspirational Stories from Ordinary life experiences

~ Life Storyteller Blog: Your Source for Islamic Motivational and Inspirational Stories~

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Comments

Anonymous said…
Bismillah

As Salamu Alaikum

I enjoyed reading your post. it was very informative. I recently jpined the group seeking_alRahman also and I am gald I found this group.

One of the things the Prophet(pbuh) said was when asked how to know a hypocrite was (I paraphrase) : when asked for the truth he lies. He backbites, and he never repays a debt.

AS Muslim we should always thrive to tell the truth.
Sis Zabrina said…
Bismillaah

As Salaamu 'alaykum brother Ron,

Glad to know you dropped by my blog. Thank you. Please drop in often, Insya'Allaah i would try to keep enticing everyone to come back with good stories!:)) You are right on the hadeeth. Come to think about it, it is really easy to lie. An easy way out. But, the reality is that it will come back and bite us one day. Then, that is painful!

See you again here, Insya'Allaah. Salaam
Sharique said…
Assalamu Alaikum,
True indeed are the words of Prophet Muhammed(sallalhu alaiye wassalam). Speaking the truth always can save us from committing a sin. Hypocrisy corrupts the heart and a hypocrite can never attain satisfaction. I had a friend who converted to islam but later we found that he was a hypocrite (may Allah forgive me for attributing this to him) so reverted back. Muslim for a change!!
Sis Zabrina said…
Bismillaah

As Salaamu 'alaykum brother Sharique,

Na'uzubillaah, May allaah protect us all from the fitnah in this dunya and the hereafter. Ameen...

Sis Zabrina
Anonymous said…
mashallah very nice, do you have the refereance source for this story ??