What Makes Someone Truly Virtuous?

Alhamdulillah. Continuing.

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In the chapter of authored by he mentions in the first narration of this chapter forch.

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He says on the authority of who narrates that it was said, "Oh messenger of Allah, who are the most dignified, the most virtuous, the most meritworthy of people?" He said, "Those of them who exhibit the most tawa." He was then said, "Not we did not mean this. We're not asking about this." He said, "Yuf, the prophet of Allah, son of the prophet of Allah, son of the prophet of Allah, son of the of Allah." They said, "Neither is this what we intended with our question." He said, Then do you intend to ask me about who are the most virtuous from the tribes of the Arabs lineage wise? He says the best of them in Jahia are still the best of them in Islam provided they understand provided they have knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah. This narration has been collected by both bkari and Muslim. Here Abu narrates that the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam was asked who is the most virtuous of people? Who has the highest merit of people? Who is most respectable, most dignified, highest in stature of people? and who is most esteemed amongst mankind. And so in a general sense it is the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam responded saying, "Generally speaking, those of them who are most exhibiting of tawa, those who are most obedient of Allah with the intention of worshiping Allah with said obedience. These are the most virtuous people." They said, "This is not what we meant. Meaning the question at first was who is the most virtuous of people? Of people. This could be general of all people. It could be specific meaning people of lineage or it could be specific meaning who are the best of the tribes of the Arabs which is what he was what they actually intended by their question. And this shows us that we mentioned that half of knowledge is question. H half of all knowledge is a question. The other half is answer the correct answer to that question. And if a person is unable to put their question or to get the knowledge they are seeking with the question they're unable to put their ailment into words in order to ask questions and and seek that knowledge then the person's knowledge will be flawed. One of the things that honestly is a bit disheartening is how in a hurry we are to get things. You know, it's we're a product of our environment and our environment is all based on same day shipping and get it now. get it immediately. You don't even need to have money. Just get it and pay it later. You don't have money, that's fine. Here's a credit card, right? We don't have to wait for anything anymore. And so this makes its way into our behavior in all aspects of our lives. And a part of that that suffers is our seeking of knowledge. asking a question that is not pondered, that is not properly worded, that is not properly thought out. And the idea is, well, what's the harm? Right? Oh, there's the she looks he's not doing anything. let me just go and and just you know think of stuff on the fly to ask. This is a deficient way of seeking knowledge. We have to take the time to be deliberate in the questions and the answer is only going to be as good as the question is. If the question is worded properly, if the question is focused properly, then the answer will be likewise worded properly and focused properly. And it takes time to fashion a question properly. And a person should always try to answer the question before they ask it to themselves. Meaning in order to ensure that they are getting what they are seeking. And so here they asked him a question, but it was too vague. And so the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam answered based on the way that the question was worded. what is meant by here? And so the original question is what are the mo who are the most virtuous of people meaning in all things in all aspects generally the most esteemed of mankind. He said and this is the reason that this narration is in this chapter. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala answered this question. He said, "And second of all, we learn from this narration that not only do we take the time to make sure that we word questions properly, to make sure that we mold things over, that we think about them, that we spend time with our questions as much as we spend time with the with the answers to those questions." But furthermore, we see that the answer itself needs to not skip over the Quran and skip over the Sunnah. The prophet sallallah.aii wasallam was asked the question. The first place he went to look for the answer was where? In the Quran. He found the verse that answers that question. So he didn't say anything more, anything less. He said exactly what Allah taught him in the Quran. And so they said, "This isn't what we intended by our question." So he said, "So now the next the next the next guess for what it is that they intend is who is the most virtuous of people in origins and lineage, right?" And so he said Ysef he has the best lineage. The best lineage. Does this mean that he is better than the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam? Not in a general sense. But as we mentioned before, virtues some someone less virtuous may be more virtuous in particular aspects. And so Ysef is most virtuous of mankind in lineage. Why? The prophet sallall.aii Wasam says Ysef he is the prophet of Allah. Son of the prophet of Allah son of the prophet of Allah is son of the of Allah Ibraim. What better lineage than that? Four generations of prophets. They said this isn't what we intended again. And so the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam now is forced to ask them, "Are you asking me about the tribes of the Arabs? Now he's asking them questions because it's clear that they're unable to word their question to get what they what they need. So instead of just answering, let me help them word their question properly. And so now he's asking qu they came with a question. Now he's asking them questions. Are you asking me about the precious metals of the Arabs? and so a is a precious element, an element, a precious metal if you will, gold and silver. And so he says, , are you asking me about the precious metals of the Arab tribes, meaning which tribes are most virtuous? He said, the most virtuous of them The most virtuous of them before Islam are still the most virtuous of them after Islam provided they provided they understand they have understanding of the Quran and Sunnah. This is a prerequisite to virtue isn't it? Understanding of the Quran and Sunnah. It's a prerequisite. It's a condition of virtue, isn't it? Is there any way that I can be really, really smart or really have super good intentions and just stumble my way into virtue? You know, it's saying, you know, the Quran and Sunnah, knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah, that is where excellence is going to come from. If a person doesn't have knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah, they do not have the physical or the they do not have the materials needed, the knowhow needed in order to reach those excellent levels even if they want to, right? And so knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah is where is where the details come from. If you went to buy a car, collector, a collector's car, car of a collector, a very, very expensive nice car, would you be okay with it being having a scratch over here, broken headlight, missing tires, details? The more expensive it is, the more detail oriented it is. Is that not correct? That's what knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah is. This idea that we don't need knowledge. And we're not speaking about just general knowledge. Intimate knowledge of the Quran, intimate knowledge of the Sunnah, constantly studying from today until the day we die in order to reach high levels with Allah. And all we need is just to have a good heart and a pure heart and as long as my intentions are good, everything will just be okay. And I don't really need to know all that fancy stuff. Leave that for the scholars. And you hear the stories of the the young man who's pure at heart is more virtuous than the elderly scholar who is impure at heart, etc., etc. These fables and these fantasies are killing us. We have to understand that excellence and excellence and knowledge go hand in hand. You don't find one without the other. Excellence and knowledge go hand in hand. That's why the Quran has been preserved. Not just for scholars. As a matter of fact, when did we start to fall as an ummah? when we relinquish the Quran to just the scholars say you know the Quran that's for scholars we're out here doing the work let the scholars study the Quran and you know we will leave them at that and a scholar is only going to be as good as his as his people are and a teacher is only going to be as good as his students are and so knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah and understanding of the Quran and Sunnah is a pre-erequisite to excellence. There is no excellence without that knowledge. That is why Allah taught us of two types of people with respect to knowledge and aldim. They are the ones who have knowledge but do not implement it. They are the ones who try to implement without knowledge. We are taught to seek refuge with Allah and ask Allah to guide us the opposite of both of those paths. every single salah, every single think about that and that is with respect to people's relationship with knowledge.