Forty Gems of Beauty — Page 71
71 immediately next to Shirk and disobedience to parents. In another Hadith, it is related that once a Muslim sought of the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him) to instruct him about the sin which he should give up first, for he pleaded that he was very weak and too far gone into diverse sins to muster strength enough to banish them all. He (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him) advised him to give up lying first. [The man] promised to do so and returned to his home. Later, when through force of habit he felt the urge to commit some other vice, it occurred to him that the matter may reach the ears of the Prophet of Allah (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him) and he might interrogate him, and since he was committed against lying, he knew not what he would say; or if some other Muslim came to know of it, he could not imagine how he would manage to explain it away. Ultimately, on further reflection, he thought it better to give up all vices, since he had committed himself against false speech. Accordingly, by giving up lying, he was blessed with the strength to give up all other sins too. The Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has thus by classifying lying as a cardinal sin next to Shirk and disregard of parents, disclosed a psychological truth that can be so helpful to Muslims in suppressing vice. The truth is that lying is one of the meanest and lowest kinds of vices, and it is the duty of every decent person to first get the better of this evil tendency from among all the vices. Incidentally, it must be remembered that the injunction to shun lying does not necessarily carry the sense that truth must be told, even when one is not called upon to do so. All that it means is that whatever is deposed should be done truthfully and without an admixture of lies, in any case. There are otherwise many occasions when, in the interests of national, family, or personal situations, some