how can i acquire good qualities?

praise be to allaah

first of all, a good attitude is the distinctive quality of the best of the messengers and is the best action of his straight successors. this is without a doubt, half of the religion, the fruit of the efforts of the pious and the practice of devout worshippers. and the bad qualities are a lethal poison that lead to the most shameful consequences.

the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) said: "i have not sent but to perfect the best of human nature". narrated by al - bukhaari in al - adab al - mufrad, to 273 and graded as authentic by al - albani in as-silsilah as-sahihah (45).

it was narrated that abu hurayrah (may allaah be pleased with him) said: "the messenger of god (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) was asked about what would be the cause of admission of the majority of the people of paradise and he replied: 'fear god and a good attitude'."

narrated by at-tirmidhi (2004); he said: "is strange but authentic (saheeh garib)". at-tirmidhi was classified as authentic by al - albani in saheeh.

why islam makes much emphasis on establishing the general guidelines for treating diseases of the heart (i.e. spiritual diseases) and ways to acquire good manners, which is considered one of the most important duties, because no heart is safe from these diseases. if the heart is neglected, the disease accumulates. no soul is exempt from inclinations that if they are released and they are not restricted, will lead to the condemnation of the person in this world and in the hereafter.

this kind of medicine requires a deep knowledge of the reasons and causes, and then you need a hard work to remedy it and put things in order, to achieve a successful outcome. allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

"that indeed that will realize the success [in this life and the afterlife] who purify his soul [away from sins]," (ash-shams 91: 9).

the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) used to pray asking for a good attitude, saying: "oh allah, you've taken my beautiful appearance, therefore beautiful beam also my internal attitude". narrated by ibn hibban in his sahih (3/239), and graded as authentic by al - albani in irwa' to al - galil (75).

secondly, if a person knows what its defaults, you can correct them, but however many people are not aware of his faults and failures. a person can see the mote in the eye of foreign and do not see the beam in their own. the person who wants to know their own faults can do four things:

1 - you can sit front a shaykh who observes and corrects the faults of the people, and has a subtle awareness of their problems, to learn from their knowledge and good manners.

2 - you can ask a sincere friend have wisdom and religious commitment that you observe and correct his behavior, so you can draw attention to any unpleasant behavior, and show him his faults both internally and externally. this is what the best and biggest imams of islam used to do. ' umar (may allaah be pleased with him) used to say: "that god have mercy on the man who point me my faults".

3 - you can learn about their faults and breaches of the lips of their enemies, because the eye who is resentful will always notice your bad qualities. a man can benefit more than one enemy which wants to cause problems and mentions his faults, from a friend who praised him and overlooked his faults.

4 - you can mix with the people. everything you see as objectionable among the people, is that of what care should be in your inner selves, because the believer is the mirror of his fellow believer, and in the faults of others, one can see their own faults. he asked jesus (peace be upon him): "who taught you?". he replied: "nobody taught me;" "i saw the faults of the ignorant and eschewed them."

thirdly, attitudes reflect how think and feel a person in their internal jurisdiction. as well as, in general, the external appearance of a person cannot be beautiful if your eyes and not your nose, your mouth or her cheeks are beautiful, and everything should be beautiful so that the external appearance is beautiful, so also are the four requirements for inner beauty, which must meet all to demonstrate a good attitude and beautiful ways. if all four requirements are met and balanced, is then acquire good qualities, which are: a strong and solid knowledge, self-control in times of tension and anger, control of desires and instincts, and an appropriate balance between these three aspects.

with respect to a solid knowledge, a good knowledge means to understand the difference between telling the truth and lie between the true faith and superstitions, between beauty and the coldness, etc. if this knowledge becomes strong, it becomes wisdom, and wisdom is the cause of good attitudes.

with respect to self-control in moments of tension and anger, its beauty lies in being used according to the wisdom which dictates. the same applies to the desire; its beauty and its strength should be controlled by the wisdom, meaning by reason and islamic law.

with respect to the balance, it means an appropriate control of desires and the anger, under the supervision of wisdom and islamic law.

the reason is as a sincere adviser. justice and balance is power, and who makes dictates you what the reason is. the ira should be controlled.

who acquires and balances these features is a person of good character in general, and that depend on all the good qualities.

no one reached a perfect balance of these four qualities except the messenger of god (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him); after him, people vary in how close or distant they are from your character. each one that is close to its qualities is closer to god, to the point that is close to the messenger of god.

fourthly, this balance can be achieved in two ways:

1 from the blessings of god, as part of our inherent nature.

2 acquiring these qualities through the effort and training, i.e., pressing himself to perform the actions which dictate us the desired qualities.

the messenger of god (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) said: "knowledge is acquired by looking for it, and the patience is acquired by striving to be patient." "who strives to achieve the good will be given, and who strives to protect against the evils will be protected." narrated by al - khatib and others a report of abu al - darda'; classified as well by al - albani.

if a person wants to achieve the quality of generosity, the way to achieve it is striving to perform the actions that would make a generous person, who is giving of their wealth. then the person insists persists in that, working against their own inclinations, until it becomes second nature and becomes easier for him, and thus becomes generous.

in the same way, if a person wants to achieve the humility when the inclination of being arrogant, way of doing this is to persist in taking the attitudes and actions of a humble person for a long time, its efforts and pushing himself until that becomes one of its characteristics and a second nature, and it is easy.

all the praiseworthy qualities of character that are prescribed in islam can be acquired in this way. religious characteristics never miss the soul roots unless the person becomes accustomed to the good attitudes and purchase habits, if not also leaves all their bad habits and persists in doing good works as if amara them and enjoy making them and loathe bad acts as if you are dolieran.

this can be explained with examples:

who wants to become skilled in writing, so that this becomes one of its features and writing beautifully become second nature and something simple for him, has no other way to achieve this to take in their hands the same calamus using the prolific writers and persist in it for a long time, trying to imitate his way of doing this, and keep doing so until it becomes something laid down in his personality.

and then finally, beautiful writing will become second nature.

similarly, if a person wants to become a lawyer, he has no choice that do what lawyers do, that is to persist in the study of topics of jurisprudence until his heart develops a love for the craft.

and if a person wants to be generous and refrain from asking people, and becomes patient and humble, you must persist in performing those actions that performs this kind of people until it becomes second nature for him. you must not despair of reaching these qualities if fails on its first night of study, because it will not be able to achieve in a single night of study. perfecting the soul and ennoble it with good works will not come with the worship of a single day, and one shall be not deprived of all his faults in a single day. but giving up for a day can lead to giving up another day, and then slowly one can adapt to laziness.

fifthly, the way to treat the soul to rid it of its poor qualities and achieve to reach good qualities, it is the same as for treating the body when trying to release it from an illness and attract good health.

although the humors are usually balanced, the stomach can become sick because of the food, beverage or other circumstances. in the same way, each one is born with a natural balance, but their parents do a jew, christian or magician, i.e. training him and teaching him certain characteristics.

as well as the body was not created perfect in the first place, but that it is perfected by raising and food, in the same way the soul is also created imperfect but with the potential to be perfected, and can only be improved through education, discipline and vocation for knowledge. if the body is healthy, the role of the doctor is to show the way to keep in good health; if you are sick, then the work of the doctor is to restore health. the same applies to the soul; if it is pure and healthy, then one must strive to preserve it, strengthen it, and acquire good qualities; and if it is imperfect, then one must strive to improve it, and purify it.

the disease that causes an imbalance in the body only can be treated by its opposite, so if the disease is caused by the cold, should be treated with heat, and vice versa. in the same way, the bad qualities, which are diseases of the heart, are treated by applying is its opposite. therefore the remedy for the disease of ignorance is to seek knowledge, and the remedy for the disease of greed is to strive to be generous, and the remedy for the disease of arrogance is to strive to be humble, and the remedy for the disease of gluttony and eating too is auto to impose abstinence.

as well as it is essential to deal with the bitterness of the medicine and show patience to refrain from what one wants when treating physical illness, so also is essential to overcome the bitterness of the effort and be patient in dealing with diseases of the heart; rather this is more important, because one can get rid and get rid of diseases of the body when he dies, but diseases of the heart (god forbid it) can persist after the death and continue eternally.

these examples show you how to treat diseases of the heart, and demonstrate the integral method to treat them with its opposite, whatever the inclination to take. god has summarized them all in your sacred book, when he said (interpretation of the meaning):

"instead, who feared the appearance before his lord and preserved his soul to follow their passions, indeed paradise will be his abode" (an-naazi'at 79: 40-41).

what matters to strive to accomplish this, finally, is the firm decision. if a person takes a firm decision to abandon their desires, then you must show patience and persist, because if the person it is customary to leave what he has because he has decided that will lead it to corruption. "if this happens and does not comply with what had been resolved to achieve, then should auto imposed a penance to cause why, because if he is not frightens itself with a punishment, his evil action exceed and it will be dragged by their auto-indulgencia and desires, and the fruits of their efforts will be damaged".

summarized and adapted from ihia ' ulum ed-din by al - ghazali (3/62-98).

and allaah knows best.


how can i acquire good characteristics?

praise be to allaah.

firstly: 

a good attitude is the characteristic of the best of the messengers and is the best action of the righteous. it is – no doubt – half of religion, the fruit of the efforts of the pious and the practice of the devoted worshipper. bad characteristics are lethal poison and lead to shameful consequences. 

the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) said: “i have only been sent to perfect good characteristics.” narrated by al-bukhaari in al-adab al-mufrad (273) and classed as saheeh by al-albaani in al-silsilah al-saheehah (45). 

it was narrated that abu hurayrah (may allaah be pleased with him) said: the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) was asked about that which will admit most people to paradise. he said: “fear of allaah and a good attitude.” 

narrated by al-tirmidhi (2004); he said it is saheeh ghareeb. it was classed as saheeh by al-albaani in saheeh al-tirmidhi. 

hence islam paid a great deal of attention to laying down guidelines for treating diseases of the heart (i.e., spiritual diseases) and ways of acquiring good characteristics, which is regarded as one of the most important duties, because no heart will be free of sicknesses. if the heart is neglected, sicknesses will accumulate. no soul is free of inclinatons which, if they are given free rein, will lead it to doom in this world and in the hereafter. 

this kind of medicine requires profound knowledge of reasons and causes, then it needs hard work to remedy it and set things straight, in order to reach a successful outcome. allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“indeed he succeeds who purifies his ownself”

[al-shams 91:9] 

the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) used to pray for a good attitude, saying, “o allaah, you have made my outward form beautiful so make my attitude good too.” narrated by ibn hibbaan in his saheeh (3/239) and classed as saheeh by al-albaani in irwa’ al-ghaleel (75). 

secondly: 

if a person knows what his shortcomings are he can do something to remedy them, but many people are unaware of their faults and shortcomings. a person may see the speck in his brother’s eye and not see the log in his own. the person who wants to know what his own faults are may do four things: 

1.     he may sit before a shaykh who has insight into people’s faults and knowledge of the subtlety of some problems and learn from him knowledge, good attitudes and manners.

2.     he may ask a sincere friend who has insight and is religiously committed to keep watch over him and take note of his actions, so that he can draw attention to whatever he dislikes of his attitude, actions, and inward and outward faults. this is what the best and greatest imams of islam used to do. ‘umar (may allaah be pleased with him) used to say: “may allaah have mercy on a man who shows me my shortcomings.”

3.     he can learn about his faults and shortcomings from the lips of his enemies, because the eye of one who is resentful will always notice bad things about you. a man may benefit more from an enemy who wants to cause trouble and mentions his faults than from a friend who wants to flatter him by praising him and concealing his faults.

4.     he can mix with people. everything that he sees as blameworthy among people, he should guard against in his own self, because the believer is the mirror of his fellow believer, and in the faults of others he can see his own faults. it was said to ‘eesa (peace be upon him): “who taught you?” he said: “no one taught me; i saw the ignorance of the ignorant as something bad and i avoided it.” 

thirdly: 

attitude reflects how a person thinks and the way he is inside. just as, in general, a person’s outward form cannot be beautiful if only the eyes are beautiful and not the nose, mouth and cheek, and everything must be beautiful in order for the entire outward form to be beautiful, so too there are four requirements of inward beauty which must all be met in order for one’s attitude to be good or beautiful. if all four requirements are met and balanced then a good attitude is acquired, the characteristics of which are: strong knowledge, control of anger, control of desire, and a proper balance between these three aspects. 

with regard to strong knowledge, good and sound knowledge means understanding in such a way that one can see the difference between telling the truth and telling lies in speech, between truth and falsehood in beliefs, between beauty and ugliness in actions. if this strength becomes sound, there will result from it wisdom, and wisdom is the head of a good attitude. 

with regard to strength of anger, its beauty is that it is used in accordance with what is dictated by wisdom. the same applies to desire; its beauty and strength should be controlled by wisdom, meaning under the control of reason and sharee’ah. 

with regard to balance, it means proper control of desires and anger, under the control of wisdom and sharee’ah. 

reason is like a sincere adviser. justice and balance is power, and it is like one who does what is dictated by reason. anger is to be subjected to control. 

 the one who acquires and balances these characteristics is a man of good character in general, and from it stem all good qualities. 

no one achieved perfect balance of these four characteristics except the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him); people after him vary in how close or distant they are to him in character. everyone who is close to him in these characteristics is close to allaah, to the extent that he is close to the messenger of allaah. 

fourthly: 

this balance may be achieved in two ways: 

1 – by the blessing of allaah, as part of one's inherent nature 

2 – by acquiring these characteristics through effort and training, i.e., pushing oneself to do the actions dictated by the desired characteristic. 

the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) said: “knowledge is acquired by seeking it, and patience is acquiring by striving to be patient. the one who strives to attain good will be given it, and the one who strives to protect himself from evil will be protected. narrated by al-khateeb and others from the hadeeth of abu’l-darda’; classed as hasan by al-albaani. 

if a person wants to attain the characteristic of generosity, the way to attain that is by pushing himself to do the actions of one who is generous, which is giving away wealth. so he keeps pushing himself and persisting in that, striving against his own inclinations, until that becomes second nature and it becomes easy for him, thus he becomes generous. 

similarly, if a person wants to attain the characteristic of humility, when he is inclined to be arrogant, the way he does it is by persisting in doing the actions of the humble for a long time, striving and pushing himself until that becomes one of his characteristics, and it becomes second nature to him and easy for him. 

all praiseworthy characteristics that are prescribed in islam may be acquired in this way. religious characteristics will never become entrenched in the soul unless the soul gets accustomed to doing all good habits, unless it gives up all bad habits, and unless it persists in doing good deeds like one who loves good deeds and enjoys doing them, and hates bad deeds and is pained by them.  

this may be explained by means of examples: 

the one who wants to become proficient in writing, so that this becomes one of his characteristics and writing beautifully becomes second nature to him, has no other way but to hold in his hand that which the proficient writer holds, and persist for a long time, trying to imitate beautiful hand writing, and keep on doing so until it becomes well established in him, then finally beautiful writing will become second nature to him. 

similarly, if a person wants to become a faqeeh, he has no choice but to do what the fuqaha’ do, which is to keep studying issues of fiqh until his heart develops a love of the subject. 

and if a person wants to become generous and refrain from asking people, and become patient and humble, he has to keep on doing the actions of those people until they become second nature to him. he should not despair of attaining those characteristics if he fails to study for one night, for he will not be able to attain it with one night’s study. perfecting the soul and adorning it with good deeds will not be attained by worshipping for one day, and he will not be deprived of it if he sins for one day. but slacking off for one day may lead to another day, then slowly one becomes accustomed to laziness. 

fifthly: 

the likeness of the soul and the way to treat it to rid it of bad characteristics and make it attain good characteristics is that of the body, when treating it to rid it of disease and bring it good health. 

although the humours are usually in balance, the stomach may become sick due to food, drink or circumstances. similarly, everyone is born with a balanced nature, but his parents make him a jew, christian or magian, i.e., by training and teaching one acquires bad characteristics.  

just as the body is not created perfect in the first place, rather it is made perfect by rearing and food, similarly the soul is also created imperfect but with the potential to become perfect, and it can only be perfected by means of education, discipline and nourishment with knowledge. if the body is sound, the doctor’s role is to show one the way to maintain good health; if it is sick, then the doctor’s job is to restore health. the same applies to the soul; if it is pure and sound then one should strive to preserve it and bring it more strength and acquire more good characteristics; if it is imperfect then one should strive to perfect it and purify it. 

sickness that causes imbalance in the body can only be treated by its opposite, so if it is caused by cold it is treated with heat and vice versa. similarly, bad characteristics, which are diseases of the heart, are treated by applying the opposite.  so the remedy for the disease of ignorance is seeking knowledge, and the remedy for the disease of miserliness is pushing oneself to be generous, and the remedy for the disease of arrogance is pushing oneself to be humble, and the remedy for the sickness of eating too much is imposing self restraint. 

just as it is essential to put up with the bitterness of the remedy and show patience in refraining from what one desires when treating physical sickness, so too it is essential to put up with the bitterness of striving and being patient when treating diseases of the heart; rather it is more important, because one gets rid of physical sickness when one dies, but the sicknesses of the heart – allaah forbid – may persist after death and continue forever and ever. 

these examples show you the way to treat diseases of the heart, and demonstrate that the holistic way is to treat them with the opposite of whatever one is inclined towards and likes. allah has summed up all of that in his holy book, when he said (interpretation of the meaning):

“but as for him who feared standing before his lord, and restrained himself from impure evil desires and lusts.

41. verily, paradise will be his abode”

[al-naazi’aat 79:40-41] 

finally: 

what matters with regard to striving is fulfilling what one resolves to do. if a person resolves to give up a desire, then he must show patience and persist, because if he gets used to giving up what he resolved to do, that will lead to corruption. if it so happens that he falls short of what he resolved to do, then he must impose some punishment on himself because of that, because if he does not scare himself with that punishment, his evil inclinations will overwhelm him and he will be attracted to indulging in desires, and all his efforts will be spoiled. 


summarized and adapted from ihya’ ‘uloom al-deen by al-ghazaali (3/62-98).