Guide: Muslims and Muslimah

How a Muslim should Associate with Others

Salam so today we will be discussing the topic of associating with other people. Living in the West Muslims tend to face a lot of islamphobia with females specifically hijabis facing more of it because we're just visibly Muslim. With that there can be a lot of things we can do especially in this month of Ramadan.

As we all know kindness is a mark of faith for a Muslim. We must be kind to everyone non Muslim and Muslim alike. The Prophet SAW said "You do not do evil to those who do evil to you. But you deal with them with kindness and forgiveness." Narrated in Al Bukhari. That shows even the Prophet SAW said to treat those who do evil to us who are mean to us to answer back with kindness instead of anger. We should not under any means cause harm and do evil to other people we should only do good and respond with kindness.

As well we should also keep our tongue under control. We should not spew hatred back. We should not backbite and slander people. The Prophet SAW said "Most of your sins are because of your tongues." Narrated in العجم الكبير الطبراني
This shows that most of our sins we do are because of how we speak. If we learn to control ourselves when around people we will have less sins InshaAllah. We must refrain from anger and be kind and humble.

The next point is being humble. We must act humbly and have humility. Humility is equivalent to submission to Allah. We should abandon all selfishness and pride in our human power, and stand humbled, meek, and submissive as servants of Allah above all else. In Jahliyya that was unheard of. No one was humble they were proud and had limitless self confidence. But we are a merely one human on this Earth everything good or bad great or terrible it's all from the Creator of the World and our Lord Allah Glorious and Exalted is He. The sin of Iblis was arrogance. He believed himself that he is of an elevated status and would not humble himself to the will of Allah. We must always remember we have nothing except what Allah SWT has blessed us with. The last thing we want to do is follow in the same footsteps as Iblis. We must practice humility with other people we should not feel prideful even if you live in a mansion and you see someone living in a box. We should be grateful and say Alhamduilah for everything. Even if you were the one living in the box and starving like millions of people we must say Alhamduilah because our financial status and everything else can change in a single moment if Allah wills. If He wills it to be it will be. If He doesn't will it to be it won't be. This also can stem into the importance of zakat. We should always give zakat especially if we have an abundance of wealth we should support our fellow human beings and treat them with kindness always.

The next thing is manners (Adab). We need to have manners and be respectful to everyone in and out of public. Courtesy, respect, appropriateness, posture when sitting, cleansing oneself. These are all examples of manners. Adab is the Islamic etiquette. It's how a Muslim should behavior. A Muslim should have adab everywhere and to everyone. Saying Salam Alaikum to a Muslim is adab, saying alhamduilah when sneezing and the reply yarhamukallah is adab. It's concerned with all areas of an individuals life. Non Muslims the vast majority will not pick up a Quran or a Hadith and read it. They are going to read you. They are going to see your manners and your morality. You are showing everyone how a Muslim is suppose to act. Now that said everyone isn't perfect but everyone can try to implement it into their daily life. Try to always have good manners to be respectful to everyone. Even if they aren't respectful to you and trust me I know how difficult it is. I have had people yell at me through cars throw pencils and paper at me. I have a friend who had a table thrown at her. But in those times we must remember this is just a test from Allah SWT and we must be the flower that gives its fragrance even to the hand that crushes it. We must show them that this is Islam and we don't stoop to their levels. Their actions say more about them and the way they were taught and if we react in a negative way we are no better than them.

The last thing is morality (akhlaq). This refers to your deeds, good character, attitude, actions and it covers physical and spiritual aspects. So good compassion, friendly, wise and a kind leader, humble, maintain modesty and dignity, love and fear Allah. What I mean is you love Allah with your heart but you fear for the punishment if you do commit a sin like let's say shirk which is a grave sin. As well modesty is just not in the clothes it's also the way you carry yourself. If you carry yourself with respect and you're polite and you smile and you are open people will see you and in turn Islam in a positive way. But if it's the opposite people will see you and Islam in a negative way. You have two responsibilities in life. First your responsibilities towards Allah and second your responsibilities towards other people around you. This second action of yours towards other people is called as akhlaq. Read Quran, understand it, if you always follow the directives of Quran it will come into your actions This is the best Akhlaq. Muhammad s.a.w. has said," I have been sent to complete the best of Akhlaq." "The heaviest thing on the Day of Judgment will be Akhlaq." This shows how important it is. You should have good akhlaq because that is going to be the heaviest thing on the Day of Judgement.

I hope this answers on how a Muslim should be to people. I think a major thing is definitely be kind to everyone. Respect others even if they are mean to you. On the Day of Judgment you're going to be held accountable for your own deeds and actions and they will be held accountable for theirs. Try your best to worship your Lord in all things and also be respectful. The more you learn about Islam and follow the rules the more humble and nice you should be instead of judgmental and mean and if you do act that way often there's something a miss because that's not what Islam teaches. Always be kind be happy be respectful say Alhamduilah for everything. Ramadan Kareem everyone and you're all in my duas and keep me in your duas as well. Salam Alaikum.