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Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) The truthfulAli Zohery, Ph. D.The Prophet was recognized, even by the Quraish of Meccah, hisworst enemies,who called him by the name ofas-Sadiq (the truthful) and al-

Amin(the trustworthy) long before his Prophet hood because ofhis honest and truthful dealings as a trader. But the titles al-Aminand as-Sadiqdo not simply imply honesty in money mattersalone; they are comprehensive and cover righteousness in everyform. Whoever happened to have any dealings with him at thisearly period never ceased to praise him all his life.The consistency of his honest and truthful conduct is proven by

the fact that he began his mission of Prophet hood with thewords: La ilaha illa Llah(there is no deity but Allah) and endedhis Mission with the same thought when he said, on his deathbed:Lord! Blessed Companion on High. Having sincerely andfaithfully rendered his obligations towards Allahs creatures, hethen returned to the loving bosom of Allah and HisCompanionship on High (Bukhari, 4463).

He loved truth intensely, adhered to truth and preachedtruth all his life. He never uttered a single lie all his life, eitherbefore or after his Prophet hood. In the battle of Hunain, whenthe fighting became rough and fierce and the Muslim warriorswere in disarray, and running in all directions and when defeatseemed certain, the Prophet was not in the least in doubt abouthis mission. He declared openly: I am the Messenger of Allah;there is no untruth in this (Bukhari, 4317). This implies thattruth was deeply ingrained in the mind of the Prophet and theonly thing he could do with it was to pass it on to his listeners.

It is because of his universal reputation for honesty and

integrity that the Quran says: 0 Muhammad! We know thatwhat they say grieves you, but it is not you whom they chargewith falsehood; these wicked people are, in fact, denying theRevelations of Allah(Quran, 6:33).

The Prophet went further to say a true action leads to thepath of virtue, and virtue paves the way of a person to paradise,and this person continues to speak the truth until, in the Sight of

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Allah, he is named as-Siddiq(the Truthful). Lying, on the otherhand, leads to vice, and vice leads to indecent acts and a persongoes on lying until, in the Sight of Allah, he is called a liar(Bukhari, 116).

This shows that truth brings peace of mind, but falsehooddisturbs the mind. When the mind is disturbed as a result of vice,there is no way an individual can achieve peaceful coexistencewith another brethren. This is also related to interpersonaltransactions:

A sale agreement is revocable until thebuyer and seller part company. If they tellthe truth and disclose everything relevantto the transaction, it becomes full ofblessings for both of them; but if they

speak falsely and conceal that whichshould be disclosed, the blessing of thetransaction is wiped out. (Bukhari, 2079)

Once a man asked the Prophet about who the best kind ofperson can be and his reply was very clear on this matter:

Four characteristics belong to a believer:when he speaks, he speaks the truth: whenhe is trusted, he fulfils his trust; when hemakes a promise, he abides by his promise;and when he is in dispute with anyone, hedoes not use obscene words (but sticks tothe truth). (Bukhari)

These sayings clearly show that, according to the Prophet,a truthful and righteous person is one who is truthful in words, inintentions, in motives and in actions. The Prophet was anembodiment of truth, honesty and righteousness. He did notspeak anything but truth all his life, did not preach anything buttruth and did not practice anything but truth. He presented theword of truth from his Lord to mankind and stuck to it under all

circumstances; in victory and defeat; in weakness and strength;and in poverty and richness. He never felt doubtful, weak ordisappointed, for he had full trust in his Lord that truth mustprevail over falsehood in the final analysis: Nay, We hurl thetruth against falsehood, and it knocks out its brain, and behold,falsehood perishes! Ah! Woe be to you for the (false) things youascribe (to Us) (Quran, 21:18).

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It is an undeniable fact that truthfulness is an indispensablequality of a Prophet. And this quality was found in absoluteperfection in the person of the Prophet. The Prophet loved truthand righteousness and never spoke a lie throughout his life. Andeven his opponents recognized this great quality of the Prophet.When the Prophet gathered together all his relatives nearMount Safato convey his Message to them, he asked themwhether they had ever heard him tell a lie. They all replied thatthey never had.

Once a group of the chiefs of the Quraish went to the Prophetand repeated the offer previously made by Utbah. The Prophetreplied in these words:

My object is quite different from what youhave said. I have not come to you with my

call for the purpose of amassing wealth, orto secure leadership of the clan or tobecome your king. In fact God has sent meto you as His Messenger and has revealedto me the Law and has ordered me to warn you and to give glad tidings. So I haveconveyed to you the injunctions of Godand have done my responsibility for yourwelfare. Now if you accept what I haveconveyed to you it will be good for youhere and Hereafter. But if you reject it, I willpatiently wait for the Divine dispensationwhen God shall decide between you andme. (Rahman, Encyclopaedia of Seerah,Vol. VIII, p. 161).

This reply of the Prophet showed his determination to fightfor the truth, which he held to be dearer than life. His prayerafter returning from Taif, where he was abused, ridiculed,

stoned and left bleeding from wounds, showed the depth andheight of his love for truth and his sincerity in being willing tosuffer anything for it. Weary and wounded, he prayed to his Lordin these most passionate and honest words:

0 Lord! To You alone I make complaint of

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my helplessness, the paucity of resourcesand my insignificance before humankind.You are the most Merciful of the mercifuls. You are the Lord of the helpless and theweak, 0 Lord of Mine! Into whose handswould You abandon me, into the hands ofan unsympathetic foe who would sullenlyfrown at me, or the enemy who has beengiven control over my affairs? But if YourWrath does not fall upon me, there isnothing for me to worry about. . . I seekprotection in the light of YourCountenance, which illuminates theheavens and dispels every darkness, and

which controls all affairs in this world aswell as in the hereafter. May it never bethat I should incur Your Wrath, or that Youshould be wrathful to me. And there is nopower nor resource, but Yours alone.

There is no doubt that this prayer confirms his extreme lovefor the truth and belief in the Majesty and Grandeur of Allah.This prayer also affords an insight into the working of theProphets mind and reflects the loftiness of his thinking, thepurity of his spirit and the nobility of his feelings. It was aspontaneous expression of his deep love for God, his implicitfaith in His Mercy and Help.

Prophet Muhammad defined a truthful and righteous manin these words: He who is truthful in words, in motives, inintentions, in determination, in obedience, in actions and inreligious duties (Rahman, Encyclopaedia of Seerah, Vol. VIII, p.162).

In addition to the eight character values that have beenexplained, Prophet Muhammad espoused four community

values: 1. charity, 2. forgiveness, 3. hospitality, and 4. mercy inhis public communication. Each of the values will be furtherexplored in the following section.