Malfuzat - Volume VII — Page 88
Malfuzat - English translation of Urdu Volume 7 88 becoming a true monotheist, that he rectify his morals. I see the moral climate of this age to be in serious decline. The disease of ill thinking is rife among most people. They do not hold a good opinion of their brother and upon the most trivial of matters, they begin to entertain evil thoughts about their fellow brother. They start to attribute such faults to him that if those very faults were directed at him [the accuser], he would find it extremely unpleasant. For this reason the first requirement is that to the best of your ability, do not think ill of your brothers and always keep good impressions because it increases love and amicability develops, and mutual strength is created, and due to this, people can avoid some other faults, like malice, hostility, jealousy, etc. Then I see that many have no compassion for their brothers. If a brother is dying of hunger, the other does not pay attention and is not prepared to take care of him; or, if he is involved in some other kind of trouble, they do not spend any part of their wealth on him. In the Noble Hadith there is a command to take care of the neighbour and to sympathise with him; moreover, even to the extent that if you cook meat, add more broth so that you can give it to him as well. 1 What happens now is that they only feed themselves and pay no heed to these things. Do not think a neighbour means only the one who lives next to your house. Instead, those who are your brothers are also neigh- bours, even if they are at a distance of a hundred miles. 1. See S a hih al-Bukh a r i , Kit a bul-Adab, B a b al-Wa sa t i bil-J a r, Hadith 6014; see also S a hih Muslim, Kit a bul-Birr wa a s - S ilati wal- A d a b, B a b al-Wa s iyyah bil- J a r wal-I h s a n il a ihi, Hadith 2625 [Publisher]