Gardens of the Righteous — Page 300
300. GARDENS OF THE RIGHTEOUS 358. . On the Undesirability of Praising a Person to his Face 1794. Abu Musa relates that the Holy Prophet heard a man praising another one extravagantly, whereupon he said: You have ruined (or you have broken the back of) this man (Bokhari and Muslim). 1795. Abu Bakr relates that mention of a man was made to the Holy. Prophet and someone praised him. The Holy Prophet said to the latter: Fie on you, you have cut the throat of your companion. He repeated this several times and then added: If you must praise somebody, you should say: I reckon So and So is such and such if you consider him such; and you will be accountable to Allah and no one can be declared pure before Allah (Bokhari and Muslim). 1796. Hamam ibn Harith relates on the authority of Miqdad that a man started praising Uthman and Miqdad sat down on his haunches and began to thrust pebbles into the mouth of the speaker. Uthman asked him: What is the matter? He answered: The Holy Prophet has said: When you see such as praise others fill their mouths with dust (Muslim). 359. . On the Undesirability of Leaving or Coming to a Plague-Stricken Town. Allah, the Exalted, has said: 406. Wheresoever you may be death will overtake you, even if you be in strongly built towers (4:79). 407. Do not push yourselves into ruin with your own hands (2:196). 1797. Ibn Abbas relates that Umar ibn Khattab started towards Syria and when he arrived at Sargh he was met by Abu Ubaidah ibn Jarrah, the commander of the Muslim forces, and his officers who told him that an epidemic had broken out in Syria. Ibn Abbas relates: Umar said to me: Call in the earlier Emigrants. I called them and he told them that an epidemic had broken out in Syria and took counsel with them but they differed among themselves. Some of them said: You started on an errand and we do not see why you should back away from it. Others said: You have the companions of the Holy Prophet and many other people with you and we do not see why you should expose them to this epidemic. He asked them to withdraw and asked me to call the Helpers. So I called them and he took counsel with them and they followed the Emigrants and differed among themselves as they had differed. So he asked them to withdraw and asked me to call the prominent among the Quraish out of those emigrants who were present at the fall of. Mecca. So I called them and not any two of them differed in their view. They