Treat People with Moral Conduct

Holy Prophet (saww) said: "You can not treat (please all the) people by means of your wealth; hence you should treat them by means of your moral conduct".

 

Moral conduct is a mood arousing good behavior with others by showing cheerful face, nice wording, and kind manners. When he was asked about the limit of moral conduct, Imam As-Sadiq (a) answered: “It is to be modest, to speak honorably, and to meet your brother cheerfully.”

 

One of the expectations that every judicious individual exerts efforts for achieving is to have an attractive personality. It is surely a noble aim that cannot be attained by everyone except the virtuous and those who are characterized by knowledge, ability, liberality, courage, and the like good traits. All virtues, however, cannot be true matters of admiration unless they are connected to moral conduct. On that account, moral conduct is the core and pivot of virtues. The Ahl ul-Bayt (a) used a variety of instructive methods in favor of glorifying the moral conduct so remarkably:

 

The Prophet (s) said: “The best of you are the most well-mannered and generous ones who go on intimate terms with people and people go on intimate terms with them, and whose places of residence are frequently trodden on by guests.”

 

“He who has a good nature will have the reward of those who observe fasting in days and keep awake praying at nights.”

 

Imam al-Baqir (a) said: “The most perfect believers, in the sight of faith, are the most well-mannered.”

 

Imam as-Sadiq (a) said: “After the fulfillment of the obligatory religious duties, the most favorable thing that a servant offers to Allah is to extend the moral conducts over people.”

 

“Allah gives a servant for his moral conduct the same reward that He gives to the Mujahid.”

 

“The moral conduct dissolves sins in the same way as the sun dissolves snow.”

 

“Piety and moral conduct construct the countries and prolong the ages.”

 

“If you want to be respected, you should be lenient, and if you want to be disrespected, you may be severe.”

 

God did not send any messenger to people before He had adorned him with moral conduct, which is, then, the symbol of the prophets’ virtues and the title of their personalities.

 

The Prophet Mohammed (s) was the ideal example of moral conduct, as well as the other high moral standards. By means of his ideal moralities, he could seize the hearts, and deserved, worthily, the praise of God: “Most surely, you conform yourself to sublime morality. (68:4)”

 

Imam Ali (a), describing the moralities of the holy Prophet (s), said: “He was the most generous, the bravest, the most truthful and the most faithful, and in terms of temper, the most lenient and in terms of association, the most honorable. Any one seeing him for the first time is filled with awe, and any one associating with him loves him. I have never seen his like before and after him.”

 

As a picture of the Prophet’s moral conduct, it is sufficient to refer to his story with people of Koreish who allied each other against him and showed him various sorts of bitterness that obliged him to flee his hometown. When God gave him victory against them, they were quite sure he would revenge himself upon them.

 

He said nothing to them but, ‘What do you think I am going to do with you?’

 

‘Only the good, for you are a noble brother and the son of a noble brother,’ answered they.

 

He said: ‘I will repeat the same wording of my brother Joseph the prophet: "Today, you are not condemned". Go, you are released.’