DO NOT HURT OTHER PEOPLE

WHO IS A TRUE MUSLIM?
In a Hadith the Holy Prophet ﷺsaid;

“A true Muslim is one whose actions and words other Muslims are safe from.”

It means that if a Muslim hurts or causes distress to other people then he is not being a true Muslim. For example, if a person doesn’t pray Namaz (Salah) it doesn’t mean that can be declared a non-Muslim or Kafir, it is just that their behaviour is not becoming that of a Muslim. Similarly, if a person harms other people or hurts other people’s feelings, even though he will not be called a non-Muslim but he is not exhibiting behaviour becoming of a Muslim. That is the true meaning of this Hadith.

THE FIVE FACETS OF ISLAM
There are five facets or components of Islam;
ﷺAqa’id (beliefs), for example, Allah Ta’alah is the one and only God, and Muhammad )1( is His last Prophet and Messenger
(2) Ibadah (acts of worship), for example, Namaz (Salah), Fasting (Saum), Zakat and Hajj, (3) Ma’amlat (financial transactions), this includes all buying, borrowing and selling,
(4) Ma’ashrat (how we should interact with people we come across in our daily lives), and (5) Akhlaq (purification of internal attributes), meaning we are required to acquire certain positive internal or spiritual attributes like Tawazu (humility), Ikhlas (purity of intention) and Zuhud (not having love of material wealth), and get rid of certain negative internal attributes like Takabbur (believing one to be superior to others), Riya (ریا impurity of intention), and Hassad (حسد jealousy) etc.

WHAT DOES MA’ASHRAT (معاشرت) MEAN?
The Hadith above describes the core principle of Ma’ashrat. No human being lives alone, nor are we meant to be living alone. We are always interacting with other people, our family members, friends, neighbours, work colleagues, people in the Bazar, people from other nations and religions etc. What are the guiding principles about how should we interact with all these people? These principles are called Ma’ashrat. It is a very important component of Deen (religion), particularly because almost all of it belongs to the arena of rights of other people (حقوق العباد). However, many Muslims these days are not even aware that Ma’ashrat is such an important and core component of Deen, and are completely unaware of the commandments given by Allah Ta’alah and the Holy Prophet ﷺabout the rules of interacting with other people.

IMPORTANCE OF TEACHINGS OF MA’SHART
The commandments around Ma’ashrat (ways of interacting with people) have been given great importance in the Holy Quran. For example, it is a principle of Ma’ashrat that if a person goes to someone’s home, they must seek permission before entering that person’s home. Allah Ta’alah has revealed two whole ruku (رک%ع) in Quran Karim about this
permission taking. On the other hand, Allah Ta’alah has given the command to pay Salah (Namaz) about 62 times in the Holy Quran, but Quran Karim does not give us any detail about the correct method of praying Salah, and rather has left it to the Holy Prophet ﷺto teach everyone how to pray Salah correctly. In addition, a great part of Surah Al-Hujraat consists of commandments about Ma’ashrat. And yet, in our everyday lives we behave as if commandments relating to Ma’ashrat are not even part of Islam.

)تزکیھ( IMORTANCE OF MA’ASHRAT IN TAZKIAH
People sometimes believe that Muslims who undergo internal purification (تزکیہ) just keep reciting Tasbeeh (تسبیح), doing Allah’s Zikr (reciting Allah’s name), or keep performing Ibadah (acts of worship). But in Hazrat Thanvi’s (Rehmatullah Elaih) Khanqah (place of internal purification) there wasn’t as much emphasis on Zikr, Tasbeeh and Ibadah, as on this core principle of Ma’ashrat that a person should never unjustly hurt or cause inconvenience to another human being.
Hazrat Thanvi RE used to say that if I hear about my one of my disciples that he is not following the routines (معمولات) (e.g. Tasbeehat or recitation) that he was taught, I feel sad, if I hear that one of them is not being punctual with Fara’id (compulsory acts of worship) I feel unhappy with them, but if I hear that one of them has taken money from someone unjustly, or has caused hurt or harm to another human being unjustly, I feel like hating him that person.

BECOME A HUMAN BEING FIRST THREE KINDS OF ANIMALS
Imam Ghazali Rehmatullah Elaih used to say that Allah Ta’alah has created three kinds of animals. The first kind are those animals who only provide benefits to human beings, for example, goat and cow. When they are alive they provide milk, and when they stop giving milk they are slaughtered and their meat is eaten. They do not harm others. The second kind are those animals who only harm people and no obvious benefit comes from them, for example. Snake and scorpions. Whenever they come across a human being they try to harm him. The third kind of animals are those which are neither beneficial, nor harmful, for example, fox and hyenas living in the jungle.
After describing these three types of animals, Imam Ghazali Rehmatullah Elaih addresses human beings and says, O’ human being! You are the most superior (اشرف المخلوقات) of all living creatures and animals. If you don’t want to be a human being and want to become an animal, then become an animal of the first kind so that you are beneficial to others, and do not harm anyone. And if you can’t become an animal of the first kind, at least become an animal of the second kind so that if you can’t provide benefit to anyone, then at least do not harm others. If you start harming others rather than provide any benefit to them, then you will join the likes of snakes and scorpions.”
Hazrat Thanvi Rehmatullah Elaih often used to say that if you want to become a Sufi or a saint, there are many Khanqah (places of internal purification) which can teach you how to do that. Go there. But if you want to become a human being first, then come here. The primary and most important task for all of us is to become good human beings, becoming a
Sufi or a saint comes later. And a person cannot become a good human being until he learns the principles of Ma’ashrat and practices them in his everyday life.
What is most important is that first and foremost we become good human beings. Being a Muslim comes later. Being a pious Muslim comes much later. If we are not good human beings we can never become good or pious Muslims. And to become a good human being, it is necessary to follow the Islamic teachings of Ma’ashrat. We should not harm anyone or cause distress to anyone, either through our words, or through our actions. Only then we may become good human beings.

PROTECTING OTHERS FROM HARM
The rule for Nafl Ibadah (non-obligatory acts of worship, نفل) is that if we carry these out we will Insha’Allah (God willing) get great rewards in the Aakhirah (Hereafter), but if we do not perform these we won’t be asked why did we not perform Nafl salah or recite Tasbeehat. These acts bring great thawab (eternal reward) and we should endeavor to carry these out, but we won’t be held accountable if we don’t.
گنا ِه ( On the other hand, if we cause harm or distress to another human being it is a major sin We will certainly have to account for why we carried out such a deed, on the Day of .)کبیره Qiyamah. That is why if ever there is a situation that a conflict arises between a Nafl prayer and protecting people from some sort of harm, and we can carry out only one of these, then the Shariah dictates that we should let go of the Nafl prayers, and make sure that we protect people from harm.

WHEN ONE SHOULDN’T PRAY SALAH WITH JAMAAT
Muslim men have been ordered to pray Salah with Jamaat in Masjid. In a Hadith the Holy Prophet ﷺsaid that I feel like appointing someone else as Imam one day so that I can go to people’s homes to see who are the people who do not come to Masjid to pray Salah with Jamaat, and then set their houses on fire.
However, all Fuqaha (Islamic jurists) agree that if a person is suffering from a disease that produces such strong malodour that it will be distressing to other people, then that person is not allowed to got to Masjid for Jamaat. It is not just that he is allowed not to go to Masjid, but rather if he insists on going he will be committing a sin because he will be causing distress to other people. This shows that the principle of not causing distress or harm to other people is so central in Shariah that people have been ordered to give up an Ibadah as important as Jamaat if it would lead to causing distress to other people.

KISSING HAJAR al-ASWAD AND CAUSING DISTRESS TO OTHERS
Which Muslim doesn’t know about the sanctity of Hajar al-Aswad (the black stone of Ka’abah)? It has been said in a Hadith that Hajar al-Aswad is like the hand of Allah Ta’alah on this earth and that kissing Hajar al-Aswad is like shaking hands with Allah Ta’alah, and that kissing Hajar al-Aswad wipes a person’s sins clean. The Holy Prophet ﷺhimself kissed Hajar al-Aswad.
But on the other hand, it has been said that if in order to kiss Hajar al-Aswad, we there is a risk that we will end up pushing other people and hurting them, then in that situation we have been forbidden to try to kiss Hajar al-Aswad, and it has been declared Hara’am and a major sin (گنا ِە کب 0/ە) if it leads to other people being hurt. This shows how much importance Shariah
places on not hurting other people and not causing them harm or distress, that we have been told to give up important Ibadah (acts of worship) if carrying them out would lead to other people being hurt.

READING THE HOLY QURAN LOUDLY
Every Muslim knows that reading the Holy Quran is such a great act of worship that we get the thawab (eternal reward) of ten virtues for reading every letter. It has been said that reciting the Holy Quran is the greatest Ibadah amongst all Zikr and Tasbeehat. While reciting the Holy Quran loudly is generally preferable but it is not allowed to recite the Quran loudly if it would lead to disturbing a person who is sleeping or resting.

THE HOLY PROPHET ﷺWAKING UP FOR TAHAJJUD
The Holy Prophet ﷺwoke up for Salah of Tahajjud every night. He never missed Tahajjud Salah. However, it is narrated in Ahadith that when he woke up for Tahajjud Salah, he got up quietly and opened the door quietly so that he wouldn’t wake up his sleeping wife and disturb her. The whole Quran and Hadith are full of injunctions about not hurting people. There are numerous examples where Shariah tells us to take extreme care not to harm or hurt other people.

NOT HURTING OTHERS WITH ONE’S WORDS
In this Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺhas used two words, being safe from a person’s hands, and being safe from his tongue. Being safe from a person’s tongue means that a person doesn’t say any words which cause distress or hurt to another person. Even if we need to criticize a person we should not use harsh words, and should use words which do not hurt his feelings, or cause as little hurt as possible. For example, one may that what you said hurt me, or maybe you should reconsider what you have done, rather than using abusive or foul language, or making snide comments. Taunting someone means making hurtful comments indirectly. An Arab poet has said that a wound caused by a spear can heal, but a wound caused by words doesn’t.

DO UNTO OTHERS WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO UNTO YOU The Holy Prophet ﷺ has said;
َاِح َّبِللن َّا ِسماَتحّبِلَنفِسک “Like for others what you would like for yourself.”
When we are about to say something to someone we should just pause for a moment and reflect whether I would have liked if this person had said exactly the same thing to me. Would it have made me happy, or sad and upset? And then don’t say it if you wouldn’t have liked the same thing being said to you. We have two different standards, one is what we can say to people, the other is what others can say to us. But if we follow this Hadith of the Holy prophet ﷺ and stop saying to others what we wouldn’t want to say to us, a lot of interpersonal conflicts would just disappear.

THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK
In a Hadith the Holy Prophet ﷺsaid, “the thing that will most commonly make people fall face down in Jahannam (Hell) is their tongue”.
Therefore, we should pause for just a few moments before we say something, and should consider whether what I am going to say will please Allah Ta’alah, or will it displease Him. Initially one has to make an effort to do it, but with practice it becomes second nature. Then a person only says things which are in accordance with Allah Ta’alah’s wishes, and doesn’t say anything which is hurtful to others. And if a persona makes a mistake, then as soon as they realize it, they should ask the other person to forgive them and do Istighfar from Allah Ta’alah.

HURTING NON-MUSLIMS IS EQUALLY WRONG
In this Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said that a true Muslim is one whose hands and tongue other Muslims are safe from. Because of that wording sometimes people misunderstand that in this Hadith Muslims have been prohibited from harming other Muslims only, and that this Hadith does not prohibit them from causing harm to non-Muslims. This is not correct. In this Hadith only Muslims have been mentioned because in most places where Muslims lived then, they generally came across other Muslims only. Otherwise, this commandment applies equally to Muslims and non-Muslims, that in conditions of peace it is as strictly prohibited to cause harm to a non-Muslim as it is to another Muslim. If there is a declared Jihad between a Muslim state and a non-Muslim state that is a separate matter, but hurting non-Muslims from nations who are not at war with a Muslim government is also prohibited under this Hadith.

EVIDENCE FOR PROHIBITION OF HURTING NON-MUSLIMS
It is narrated in the Holy Quran that when Hazrat Musa AS (Moses) lived in Egypt under the reign of Pharaoh, and the whole nation besides Hazrat Musa AS was involved in disbelief (Kufr), there was a fight between an Israelite and an Egyptian. Hazrat Musa AS punched that Egyptian which unintentionally resulted in his death. Even though that Egyptian was a non- believer Hazrat Musa deemed his death a sin for himself and said,

“Moreover, they have (levelled) a charge of offence against me, and I fear they will kill me;” ]26:14[

The question is that the Egyptian was a non-believer, and killing a non-believer is part of Jihad. Then why did Hazrat Musa AS deem it a sin for himself and did Istighfar (asking Allah Ta’alah for forgiveness)?
Hazrat Thanvi RE said that the reason was that even though that Egyptian was a non-believer but at that time the Israelites and the Egyptians were living in peace with each other. If Muslims and non-Muslims are living with each other and there is peace between them, then non-Muslims have all the same rights under Shariah for their worldly affairs as do Muslims. Just like it is unlawful under Shariah to cause any sort of harm to a Muslim, similarly it is unlawful under Shariah to cause any sort of harm to a non-Muslim, as it is their basic right as a human being. The first duty of a person is to become a good human being. Becoming a Muslim and a Sufi comes next, and it is a basic rule of humanity that a human being should not cause harm to another human being. The rights of Muslims and non-Muslims are no different in this regard.

BREAKING A PROMISE IS ALSO CAUSING HARM
There are some things we do without realizing that these are also included in causing harm to other people with one’s words, for example not keeping one’s promises. For example, we promise a person that we will visit them at a certain time, or that we will do something for them by a certain time. But then we neither do it, nor bother telling them that we won’t be able to do it. This causes distress and inconvenience to the other person and is comprised of two sins. The first sin is that of breaking a promise. The second sin is that of causing harm to someone through one’s words. This is also included in the meaning of the Hadith above about not causing harm to other people through one’s words.

MISUSE OF LOUD SPEAKERS
Sometimes gatherings are held within mosques for which an internal loud speaker would have sufficed to carry the voice of the speaker to the people attending inside the mosque. However, the external loud speaker is also turned on for no good reason. As a result of this voice of the speaker is carried to the entire neighbourhood whether they want it or not. A person may want to sleep, or maybe sick and wants to rest, or want to recite the Holy Quran, or do Zikr (remembrance of Allah’s name), but they are all disturbed by the forced sermon being broadcast through the loud speaker. This is also included in causing harm through one’s words.

AN INCIDENT IN THE DAYS OF HAZRAT OMAR FAROOQ RAA
In the days of Hazrat Omar Farooq RAA a preacher used to give sermons in Masjid-e-Nabvi. Hazrat Aisha’s house was adjacent to Masjid-e-Nabvi. Even though there was no loud speaker in those days but that person used to deliver sermons in a very loud voice which disturbed Hazrat Aisha RAA when she did her Zikr, recitation of the Quran, or was busy in her other household chores. Hazrat Aisha RAA requested Hazrat Omar Farooq RAA to ask this preacher not to give sermons with such a loud voice so close to her house. Hazrat Omar RAA advised that person not to give his sermons at that particular place as it disturbed Hazrat Aisha RAA. The preacher stopped, but as he was very fond of giving sermons he restarted after a few days. When Hazrat Omar RAA heard about this, he called that preacher and said, “I am forbidding you for the last time. If I hear again that you have given a sermon at this spot I will break my cane on your back.”

IMPACT OF OUR BEHAVIOUR ON OTHER PEOPLE
These days we often don’t care about the impact of our behaviour on other people. Many times, when there are sermons going on in mosques the loud speakers are turned on to full volume. No on in the neighbourhood can sleep and everyone gets disturbed because of the noise. If someone requests the perpetrators to turn the volume down, then they are accused of interfering in Allah’s work. What these people don’t realise is that they are not doing Allah’s work, rather they are going against Allah’s word by causing distress, discomfort and inconvenience to other people. It is written in “The Etiquettes for an ‘Alim’ (religious scholar)” that the Alim’s voice should not carry far beyond his gathering. All this is included in causing harm to people through one’s words. Allah Ta’alah has granted us this tongue to do Allah’s Zikr (remembrance), to say what is true, to bring comfort to people through our words. It has not been given to us to make other people miserable.

CAUSING DISTRES TO ONE’S NEIGHBOURS
In a Hadith, it has been narrated that the Holy Prophet ﷺ was asked about a woman who fasted whole day, prayed whole night, but caused a lot of distress and suffering to her neighbours. The Holy Prophet ﷺ said that she will go to Hell. While explaining this Hadith Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi RE used to say that this Hadith strictly forbids causing harm and distress to other people, and clarifies that not casing harm to other people takes precedence over Ibadah (acts of worship). Hazrat Thanvi further used to say that this facet of Ma’ashrat has become so neglected in Islamic teachings these days that no one teaches their pupils that not causing distress and harm to other people is an essential part of Islam.

NOT CAUSING HARM BY HAND
The second instruction that has been given in this Hadith is not hurting people with one’s hand (meaning hurting or harming them physically). The most obvious form of this is hitting someone, but there are many other forms of causing distress to other people by hand which people are not mindful of. For example, when living with other people some people pick up things, for example a towel, from their set place and leave them somewhere else after using them. It causes inconvenience to other people who keep looking for them in their set place.
)گنا ِه کبیره( CAUSING INCONVENIENCE TO OTHER PEOPLE IS A MAJOR SIN
When we (Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani DB) were young we used to do the same. We would pick up one household item from its place and after using it would leave it somewhere else. When our father (Mufti Muhammad Shafi RE) needed that thing then he had to keep searching for it. One day he taught us that when you displace items of common use from their set place it is not just impolite, it is also a sin, because by doing this you are causing distress and inconvenience to other human beings, and causing distress to other people is a major sin. That day we learnt that these injunctions are also a part of Shariah and that causing distress to others is a major sin. These are all included in harming other people with one’s hand.

CAUSING DISTRESS TO ONE’S FAMILY MEMBERS
These days we have become very careless about the rights and feelings of our close family members. Even those people who are polite to their acquaintances, take their close family members for granted and think that if any of my behaviours is causing distress to my wife, or my child, or my brother or sister, then so what. Because they are my close family members, therefore, I somehow have a right to hurt their feelings or cause them distress. This is a great misperception and mistake. The Holy Prophet ﷺ used to be so careful about it that at the time of Tahajjud he did everything very quietly so as not to wake up Hazrat Aisha RAA. Please remember that just like it is a major sin to cause distress to or harm strangers, similarly, it is a major sin to cause distress to or harm one’s close family members.

MAKING THE WALKWAYS DIRTY IS A SIN
A number of times people throw rubbish on the roads or walkways. If someone slips on that, or it cause distress or inconvenience to someone, then it becomes a sin of causing harm to a person. Even if it does not cause harm to anyone, making the common pathways dirty is a sin in itself. In a Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, “There are more than seventy compartments of Iman (faith). The highest compartment of Iman is saying لا الہ الا الله محمد الرسول الله and the lowest is that a person removes things which are dirty or may cause inconvenience or harm to someone from the pathways.” For example, there were some thorns or stones in the
walkways which could have hurt someone. If a person removes them from the pathways so that they do not harm anyone, then this is the most inferior compartment of Iman. If removing harmful things from pathways is a compartment of Iman, then, conversely, littering pathways would be considered a compartment of disbelief (kufr).

CAUSING MENTAL DISTRESS TO OTHERS
Hazrat Thanvi RE used to say that in this Hadith causing harm through bodily actions of hand and tongue has been mentioned. However, if one does something through one’s hand or tongue which causes psychological or mental distress to someone, then that is included within the meaning of this Hadith. For example, a person takes a loan from someone and promises that I will return this loan to you at this time or within this duration. If he is then unable to repay the loan within this duration then he should let the lender know clearly that he will be unable to repay the loan within the promised timeframe, and give the lender a clear idea of when he would be able to return it. It is not permissible to keep making vague promises, or to not let him know that you are unable to return it. The poor lender keeps waiting that he will get his money back today or tomorrow, and the borrower neither returns his loan, nor lets him know when he will return it. This way the borrower is causing the lender mental anguish as he cannot make any plans about using that money because he has no idea when, or even if, he will get his money back. Such behavior is as Hara’am as causing physical harm to someone.

NOT CAUSING DISTRESS TO YOUR EMPLOYEE
Hazrat Thanvi was so careful about not causing psychological distress to another person to the extent that he used to say that a person should never tell their employee three or four chores to do at the same time. That way they pass the burden of remembering all the chores and their order to their employee. Ideally the person should tell them to do one chore first, and only after they have completed that task, then give them the next task. This way the burden of remembering all the chores remains with the employer.

ENTER ISLAM COMPLETELY
Alhamdulillah (Thank God) the teachers we learnt religion from, balanced all the facets of religion. They didn’t just follow Aqa’id (beliefs) or Ibadah (acts of worship) and neglect all other aspects of Islam. In the Holy Quran Allah Ta’alah says,

“O’ you who believe, enter Islam completely…” [2:208]

It shouldn’t be like we adopt only a few commandments of Islam like doing acts of worship, for example, Salah or fasting, but completely neglect the commandments about Ma’amlat (financial transactions), Ma’ashrat (ways of relating to people), and Akhlaq (internal purification) because these are all essential parts of Deen (religion).

ADA’AB AL-MA’ASHRAT (آداب المعاشرت) (ETIQUETTES OF LIVING IN ONE’S SOCIETY)
This is a small booklet by Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi RE. Hazrat Thanvi used to say that while he could not cover every single etiquette in it, he has written all etiquettes that came to
َٰٓ َّۡ ُٰ ُُۡۡ ۡ َٓ ًَّ یا ُّیھَا ال ِذی َن ا َمنوا ادخلوا ِفى ال ِّسل ِم کافة )٢: ٢٠٨(

his mind at different times. When a person starts reading it gradually they will be able to generalize it to other situations and Allah Ta’alah will guide them about these etiquettes. For example, one etiquette is that when we park our car we should do say in a way that it is not parked illegally, we are not blocking anyone’s way, and we are not cause inconvenience to anyone. Today if a non-Muslim visits a mosque at the time of Friday prayers what impression of Islam and Muslims is he going to get just by looking at how Muslims have parked their cars? We feel proud that we are doing an act of great virtue by coming to the mosque for Salah. What do we do not realize is that we are committing a major sin by parking our cars illegally, or in other people’s driveways or designated parking spaces, causing inconvenience and distress to them. In fact, we are not just committing a sin, we are also representing Islam wrongly. Similarly, if an outsider sees the state of cleanliness in and around mosques he will probably say that these people are not very clean and hygienic, and they cause inconvenience to a lot of people. Is our behaviour attracting people to Islam or repelling them from Islam? (Ma’az Allah, God forbid)
Because we have almost completely let go of the etiquettes of Ma’ashrat (ways of living in a society), rather than presenting a good model of behavior and attracting people to Islam, we are pushing non-Muslims away from Islam by our behavior. May Allah Ta’alah guide us about this aspect of our behavior and grant us a correct understanding of Islam. Ameen

وآخر دعوا ان الحمد ﷲ رب العالمين