Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Keep away from ill-thinking/suspicions because ill-thinking is the greatest falsehood.” [Bukhari]
During the golden Abbasid period, one of the scholars in Baghdad, the capital of the Muslim caliphate at that time, was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem.
One day an acquaintance met the great scholar and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"
Scholar: "Hold on a minute, before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."
The Man: "Triple Filter Test?"
Scholar: "That's right, before you talk to me about my friend it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
The Man: "No, actually I just heard about it and ..."
Scholar: "All right, so you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"
The Man: "No, on the contrary..."
Scholar: "So, you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: The filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"
The Man: "No, not really."
Scholar: "Well, if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"
Allah tells us in the Quran: "O you who believe! Avoid much suspicions, indeed some suspicions are sins. And spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh (meat) of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is the One Who accepts repentance, Most Merciful." [49:12]
Abu Bakr (radi Allahu anhu) would keep a stone in his mouth so he could not speak without giving himself time to think first. Let's pass our intended speech through the triple filter test before we madly utter our every thought. And lets subject others to the triple filter test too before we hear any damaging number of things from them.
~Courtesy SAK
During the golden Abbasid period, one of the scholars in Baghdad, the capital of the Muslim caliphate at that time, was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem.
One day an acquaintance met the great scholar and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"
Scholar: "Hold on a minute, before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."
The Man: "Triple Filter Test?"
Scholar: "That's right, before you talk to me about my friend it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
The Man: "No, actually I just heard about it and ..."
Scholar: "All right, so you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"
The Man: "No, on the contrary..."
Scholar: "So, you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: The filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"
The Man: "No, not really."
Scholar: "Well, if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"
Allah tells us in the Quran: "O you who believe! Avoid much suspicions, indeed some suspicions are sins. And spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh (meat) of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is the One Who accepts repentance, Most Merciful." [49:12]
Abu Bakr (radi Allahu anhu) would keep a stone in his mouth so he could not speak without giving himself time to think first. Let's pass our intended speech through the triple filter test before we madly utter our every thought. And lets subject others to the triple filter test too before we hear any damaging number of things from them.
~Courtesy SAK
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3 comments:
what a beautiful rendition. A perfect recipe to stay away from apparently smaller sin that leads to bigger problems.
Reminds me of a hadith where a nomad asked Hadhrat Muhammad SAWW that ive lots of bad habits ... how can I make myself free of them. Hazur SAWW told him not to lie and asked him to come after two weeks to tell about his progress. For the fear of telling about his sins to Hazur saww, he started avoiding them and ultimately when he met Hazur saww again ... he said i did not do any sin and he was thankful for apparently a smaller tip but in actual a life-size remedy.
Thanks for sharing .. may we be able to apply it in our lives too.
nice one
Ameen...JazakAllah khayr for a lovely comment moi :)
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