Character Speaks Louder than Actions

Once Umar bin Al Khattab r.a. , during his khilafa , gave a bag of money to a man and said to him , "Go and give it to Abu Obaida bin Jarra, and wait under an excuse to see what he does with the wealth." The man went and handed over the sack of money to Abu Obaida r.a. and waited there under the pretex of some excuse to see what happens to the money. He saw that Abu Obaida divided those coins into small bags and called upon his servants and said " give this bag to so and so widow, and this bag to so and so needy and that bag to so and so orphan.. and he did it till all the money was over. Then the man returned and reported to Umar r.a.. He thanked Allah.

Then Umar r.a. gave another sack of money to the man and asked him to go and give it to Muadh bin Jabal r.a. and instructed him to wait under some pretex of excuse and see what happens to the wealth. The man did as instructed. He saw the same repitition. Muadh r.a to divided the sack into small bags and distributed the wealth too the poor and the needy but there was a coin left in his sack. He heard his wife requesting, " Listen we too are poor arent we? " Upon hearing that Muadh picked up the last coin and threw it inside saying " Take this coin if you dont have money...

Once Umar bin al Khattab r.a. announced, "O people wish what you want to wish " One of the person responded," I wish i had lot of gold which I would spend it in the cause of Allah. " Umar was not sati9sfied. He asked again, " O people! wish what you desire " One of the person said < I wish I had a lot of gold and silver which I would spend in the way of Allah..." Umar r.a. was not satisfied. He kept on asking and the people replied something similar. Then he said , "I wish I had more people like Abu Uabida bin Al Jarrah, Muadh bin Jabal and Salim ibn Moula r.a.a. then I would flood the world with Islam...because their character speaks. BECAUSE THEIR CHARACTER SPEAKS...

See the Character of Prophet Muhammed peace be upon him. On one hand he generously distributed flocks of ship, slaves and wealth to the poor and the needy but refused to give to his own daughter Fatima when she came to ask !

Zainul Abedeen, the son of Hussain bin Ali r.a.a distributed a lot of wealth secretly at night. It used to be huge amount. Only when he died and the act stopped, did people realised who it was who put money in their homes during the night. The people who gave him burial wash shaw marks of sack on his back reflecting how hard he worked to help people.

There was a blind woman who was alone. Abu Bakr and Umar bin al Khattab, Allah be please with both, use to race with each other in serving her, and this continued even during their khilafa. These two noble men did not send their servants to serve the old woman rather they did the job. They cleaned her house, fill the water pot, cooked food for her....

Indeed, giving priority to others over one's own need is a part of good character, and character speaks louder than actions...

Author : Nisaar Nadiadwala speaks and writes on Islam and Muslims. He can be reached a t nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com