Etiquettes of Pathways/Roads in Islam - Qari Zakaullah Saleem

Etiquettes of Pathways and Roads in Islam

We praise Him, we ask for His help, and we ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evils of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He misguides, none can guide him.

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who have believed, fear your Lord, Who created you from a single soul, and created from it a wife, and spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah in Whom you ask for help and mercy. Verily, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who have believed, fear Allah and say a firm word. He will correct your deeds and forgive your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, he has won a great triumph.

The Importance of Akhlāq and Manners

The Prophet ﷺ has set the highest standards of akhlāq and manners. The Prophet ﷺ also said: the most beloved amongst you to me and the closest to me in a place on the Day of Judgment will be those who are best and those who are perfect in their akhlāq and their conduct. The most perfect amongst the believers are those who are perfect in their akhlāq.

We all know these ahadith of Rasulullah ﷺ. But when it comes to manifesting and demonstrating those akhlāq and the adab and the manners that our Nabi ﷺ has taught us, most of us we fail. Although the Prophet ﷺ has given us the fine details of the akhlāq and manners. He ﷺ has taught us how to walk. He has taught us how to sit down. He has even taught us how to lie down. He ﷺ has even taught us how to relieve ourselves — how to use the toilets. The Prophet ﷺ has guided us on every single step in our life. Now it is our responsibility to abide by those instructions and the guidelines that the Prophet ﷺ has set for us.

The Hadith on the Rights of the Pathway

In today's khutbah, I would like to share with you a hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ that teaches us the akhlāq and the manners of the roads and the pathways. The Prophet ﷺ has said in a hadith that is reported by Imam Al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim on the authority of Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2465; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2121)

The Prophet ﷺ says: avoid sitting in the pathways. A clear instruction of the Prophet ﷺ — do not sit in the pathways. Why? Because it causes obstruction. It blocks the way and it causes harm to those who are traversing the path. Avoid sitting in the pathways. And the hadith also means: avoid causing any kind of obstruction, any kind of blockage in the pathway, on the roads.

How many of us abide by this hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ? Even within our masjid, when we come to the Friday prayer, how many times we need to make the announcement: please do not block the pathway. During the month of Ramadan, almost every single night, we make the announcement: please park your cars appropriately and do not block the pathways. How many of you today, amongst those sitting to attend the khutbah and to gain the reward of attending the khutbah in the masjid, have parked on the pavements and blocked the pathways?

Also, sometimes we find in our car park someone who is late and he joins the imam late in the salah, and then he forgets that he has to remove his car because he has blocked everyone within the car park. Avoid blocking the pathways. This is the instruction of the Prophet ﷺ.

When we walk on the streets — what we find here and particularly in this area — rubbish everywhere. People bring their bin bags and they place them on the pavement. Is this what you learn from the teaching of Rasulullah ﷺ? Is this what Islam teaches you? The hadith generally means: do not cause any obstruction in the ways, in the path, in the roads, in the streets.

When the Prophet ﷺ gave this instruction, the companions of Rasulullah ﷺ said: O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, we have no option other than holding our gatherings on the sides of the roads. This is the only place that we find. We sit and we meet one another, we discuss our worldly matters when we hold our gatherings on the sides of the roads. The Prophet ﷺ said: if you refuse, and if you say that you have to sit down, you have to sit by the road, then you must give the path and the way its due right. The companions asked: O Messenger of Allah, what is the right of the path? What is the right of the road, or the street, or the path?

And remember — before I mention all of them one by one — I would like all brothers and sisters to make a promise to Allah that you truly love the Prophet ﷺ and you will abide by these instructions of Rasulullah ﷺ. And whenever you walk on any path, on the road, you give the road and the path its due right. This is our Shariah. This is part of our religion.

The Rights of the Pathway

First Right: Lower Your Gaze

So the Prophet ﷺ said the first one is: lower your gaze. Safeguard your eyesight. Do not look at something or someone that Allah has not allowed you to. Allah says in the Qur'an:

Tell the believers that they must lower their gaze and they must safeguard their chastity and their private parts. The Prophet ﷺ has explained this ayah of the Qur'an from Surah An-Nur in a very famous hadith that is reported by Imam Al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim on the authority of Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6243; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2657)

Allah has written a portion of zina and adultery on every single child of Adam, and every single child of Adam takes that portion that Allah has written for him or her of zina and adultery — and he has no way to escape.

And then he ﷺ explained: both eyes — their zina, the way they commit zina, is by looking at something or someone that Allah has not allowed. If you are walking on the path or you are sitting outside the restaurant, you have to lower your gaze. The zina and the adultery of the eyes is looking at something haram.

And the zina of the ears is listening to something that Allah has not allowed you. And then he ﷺ said the zina of the tongue is the speech — useless speech, bad words, bad statements, swearing, slandering, backbiting — all of these sins are related to the tongue and in reality they are all the zina of the tongue. And the zina of the hand is the grip — to hold something and touch something that Allah has not allowed you. And the zina of the foot is that you walk with these feet towards something that Allah has not allowed you.

And then he ﷺ said: when all these limbs commit zina — when your eyes commit zina, when your ears commit zina, when your tongue commits zina, when your hands commit zina, when your feet commit zina — then as a result of this, your heart starts yearning and desiring, with lustful desires. And then whatever the heart yearns and desires, the private parts either approve it or they disapprove it.

So this is how these limbs, if you do not safeguard them, lead to bigger problems and major sin. So the Prophet ﷺ instructed and said the first and foremost right of the path and the way is that you lower your gaze.

Second Right: Remove Harm from the Path

The second one is very important: to withhold any harm. In other words, you must remove anything harmful from the path, from the road, from the pavement. This is the right of the path. This is the right of the way and the road and the street that your Prophet ﷺ has taught you.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 9; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 35)

The Iman and the belief has about 70 or 60 branches. The highest branch of the Iman and the faith and the belief is the statement of the Tawheed of Allah. And the lowest level of Iman — the lowest branch of faith and belief — is to remove harmful objects from the path and the way.

Do we have this type of Iman? When we walk on the path, on the road, on the pavement? And before this — have we ever tried to avoid causing any harm on the path? Removing the harmful object from the path and the way is the first and foremost sign of your Iman, as the Prophet ﷺ has told us.

Secondly, removing anything harmful from the path and the way can allow you to enter Paradise. The Prophet ﷺ said: never ever belittle any good deed, including removing the harmful object from the path and the way. He ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1914)

Once a man was walking on the path, on the road, when he saw a small branch of a tree leaning on the road and he said: I am going to remove it because it is causing harm to the Muslims. It is causing harm to those who walk on this path. So he removed it. The Prophet ﷺ said: so Allah appreciated his action and his deed and Allah forgave him and allowed him to enter Paradise. Allah allowed him to enter Paradise because of this very little good deed.

Remove the harmful object from the path. But unfortunately, many of us — instead of removing the harmful objects — we cause the harm. We cause the obstruction in the path. We cause the blockage. And then, when it comes to the situation of the Muslim Ummah, we are all ready to discuss: look at the situation of them, what is the Muslim Ummah going through? Start from this little manner and akhlāq that your Prophet ﷺ has taught. How can you establish Islam and the religion of Allah on the land, in any country, if you are unable to implement Islam and the religion of Allah on your own body? If you fail in this, then what type of Islam do you want?

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, Wallahi, these instructions are very important for us — and especially living in this society amongst the non-Muslims. It has become well known within this country particularly that any area where you see the dirt on the road and street, all of a sudden you will realize that this is the area in which the Muslims reside. And if you want to see cleanliness on the roads, then you must go out of the Muslim areas and go to non-Muslim areas. Is this how you preach the religion of Allah?

Allah says in the Qur'an:

Those who harm the believing men and believing women, those who cause them any harm — they bear a burden of slander and they bear the burden of a clear sin. This is the ayah of the Qur'an.

The Prophet ﷺ says in a hadith that is reported by Imam al-Tabarani:

(Al-Tabarani, Al-Mu'jam Al-Awsat)

Whoever harms the believers, whoever causes any harm or any obstruction in the way and the path of the believers — he deserves their curse. He deserves their curse. And if the believers start cursing you, Allah will curse as well. So these things apparently seem very short and small, but in reality they are big and they indicate the type of akhlāq and the conduct you have in your life.

Third Right: Replying to the Salām

And then the third one — he ﷺ said: replying back to the salām. If you are sitting on the side of the road outside the restaurant or anywhere, and someone passes by and they give salām, you have to reply back. You have to answer back. Allah tells us in the Qur'an:

Whenever you are greeted with any greeting, then you must greet in a better way, or at least reply in the same way. If you cannot reply in a better way, then at least in the same way.

Giving salām and responding back to the salām is one of the rights of the believers. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2162)

There are six rights of a believer on another believer, of a Muslim on another Muslim — and one of them he ﷺ said: whenever you meet your Muslim brother or sister, you say salām to them. And the scholars have said: saying salām and initiating salām first is highly recommended — it is one of the rights. But if someone gives you salām, then it becomes wājib on you to respond back. You must say وَعَلَيْكُمُ السَّلَامُ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ.

Abdullah ibn Salam, who was a Jewish scholar of Madinah — when the Prophet ﷺ first entered into the city of Madinah, Abdullah ibn Salam came and said: I am going to meet this person, this man, this individual known as Muhammad ﷺ, and I am going to judge the signs that Allah has mentioned for him in our book, in the Tawrah. So he went and he met with the Prophet ﷺ, and he said: the very first statement that I heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was he ﷺ was instructing his companions, the people around him:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2485; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3251)

O people, spread salām, feed the poor and needy, build and develop and strengthen your links and your relations with your kinship, and pray at night when people are asleep — if you do all of these acts and these deeds, you will enter Paradise in peace.

We enter into the masjid and we never say salām. We leave the masjid and we do not say salām. We pass by one another and we do not say salām — although the Prophet ﷺ has instructed and encouraged us to spread salām.

So this is the third right of the way and the path — that whenever you pass by a Muslim you must say salām, and if someone says salām to you, you must respond back.

Looking Ahead: The Remaining Rights

These are the three rights — and there are two more that the Prophet ﷺ has mentioned: enjoining the good and forbidding the bad. And inshallah, if Allah gives me tawfīq and ability, I will mention in detail this right of the path and the way in the following khutbah.

Summary and Conclusion

Let me go through this hadith once again. The Prophet ﷺ said: avoid sitting in the pathways, avoid blocking the pathways — this is a clear instruction of your Nabi ﷺ. And when he ﷺ instructed his companions, they said: O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, we have to hold our gatherings on the sides of the roads and we have no option other than doing this. The Prophet ﷺ said: if you do so, then give the path, give the way, give the road, give the street its due right. And then he ﷺ mentioned the rights of the path and the way:

The first and the foremost — that you lower your gaze. The second — that you refrain from causing any harm in the way and the path. The third — responding back to salām. And as he said, two more — inshallah we will discuss in the next khutbah.

May Allah give us tawfīq and ability to learn these akhlāq and these manners from the teachings of Rasulullah ﷺ, so that we become amongst those about whom the Prophet ﷺ said: the most perfect amongst the believers are those who are perfect and best in their conduct, in their akhlāq.

We ask Allah to allow us and to enable us to act upon the teachings of Rasulullah ﷺ.