From the Teachings of the Prophet

In the Hadith al-Qudsi, Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him narrated:

أوصانى ربى بتسع أوصيكم بها أوصانى بالإخلاص فى السر والعلانية والعدل فى الغضب والرضا والقصد فى الفقر والغنى وأن أعفو عمن ظلمنى وأعطى من حرمنى وأصل من قطعنى وأن يكون صمتى فكرا ونطقى ذكرا ونظرى عبرا

"My Lord commanded me to command you to observe nine virtues:

He commanded me to:

• be sincere and purify my intention in all what I do in secret and in public.

• be just and fair when angry and when contented,

• spend in moderation when I am poor or rich.

• forgive those who oppressed me,

• give those who deprived me,

• keep contact with those who broke their relations with me,

• contemplate when I am silent,
• make sure what I say is in accordance to what pleases Allah,
  
• learn from what I see.

This hadith shows us the importance of sincerity and seeking Allah's pleasure alone, in all what we do. Doing any thing to please others, show off, gain praise or claim status or any worldly thing for ourselves will be rejected by Allah. To be true Muslims means all aspects of our life should be devoted to Allah as it is said in the Qur'an: "Say, my prayers and sacrifice, my life and death are all for God the Lord of the worlds."

Allah wants us to be fair and just with everyone all the time. He does not want us to be biased; we should not allow enmity or friendship to interfere with our decisions and judgements.

Allah wants us to be wise and generous not spendthrifts or misers.

Allah wants us to keep our hearts clean and pure devoid of hatred and enmity. So, He wants us to learn to forgive, and give up the desire to take our revenge.
He wants us to lean to give those who refused to help us when we wanted help; and to keep good relations even with those who once broke their contacts with us.
By doing so, our hearts will be clean and pure and also our minds. With clear minds and clean hearts we can spend our time and energy in anything that is good and useful to us and to others, instead of thinking of hatred or spreading it.

Allah wants us to elevate ourselves by acquiring the best of characters, and by connecting ourselves with our Creator all time. When we are silent, we think and we reflect. When we are engaged in talking, we say what pleases Allah. He also wants us to learn from what we see in this life, which is full of messages of guidance for those who can see.

This hadith clearly reflects the true nature of Islam and its Prophet who gathered all these virtues in his character. This hadith also shows the true reality of submission to Allah. It makes us realise the connection between the word Islam, which means submission to Allah, and the Arabic word salam, which means peace. All these nine virtues are keys to peace with one self and peace with others.

All these nine virtues depict the picture of the devoted Muslim as Allah wants him/her to be.
Any fair person, when approaching such teachings, can easily grasp the reality of the religion of Islam. And he can easily realise how some persons claim false accusations about Islam and its Prophet in order to mislead many people in the world, who do not know the Islamic teachings.

Imagine when all these nine virtues, that are mentioned in the hadith, are gathered in one person, what a wonderful person he/she will be!
When these virtues are adopted by a society, what a wonderful society it will be!
When the world adopts these virtues, what a lovely peaceful world it will be!