Who are the Best of People? - Shaykh Mustafa Abu Rayyan

Who are the Best of People?

My brothers and sisters, I start by praising Allah Almighty and sending blessings and salutations upon our beloved messenger Muhammad ﷺ.

My brothers and sisters, the type of questions that we ask and the type of things that we want to learn more about — it tells a lot about what we deem as important. And if you look at the companions of the Prophet ﷺ and our role models, the type of questions they would ask the Prophet shows you the kind of mindset they had. Rarely would they ask the Prophet things related to this world. They were always wondering: how can we better ourselves? What can we do better? How can we become better believers? How can we get nearer to Allah? How can we be people that thrive in this world but, more importantly, thrive in the next world?

You will find quite often the companion asking the Prophet: what is the best type of action that I can do? What is the best type of worship that I can do? And the Prophet ﷺ would tell them. And what's interesting is the Prophet would sometimes give different answers tailored to the person asking. So you find that one time the Prophet said that the best type of action is faith in Allah. Another time the Prophet said the best type of action is to pray on time. Another time the Prophet ﷺ is saying something else. And one time a man came to the Prophet and said, "Give me advice," and the Prophet said to him: "Never get angry."

The different types of advice the Prophet would give would be tailored to the person asking. And this shows you that there is great wisdom in how the Prophet dealt with his companions. But when we read those types of narrations, we should benefit from all of them, and we should try and act upon all of these great acts of worship that the Prophet is telling us are the best.

Sometimes they would ask him: who is the best type of person? And today, insha'Allah, I'm going to share with you a hadith where this very question was posed to the Prophet ﷺ. Who is the best type of person? Why do the companions want to know? Because they want to see what characteristics this person has, embody them, so that they can insha'Allah be the best people. And we know that the companions of the Prophet were the best people, and it is our job to try and be more like them to the best of our abilities.

The Hadith: Who is the Best Person?

There is a hadith narrated by Ibn Majah which is authentic, and it was mentioned in other books as well such as Shu'ab al-Iman of al-Bayhaqi and others, where the companions came to the Prophet and said to him:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4216; also cited in Shu'ab al-Iman of al-Bayhaqi)

"Who is the best person?" The Prophet ﷺ gave two characteristics — two things — that whoever possesses them is the best type of person. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Kull makhmumal-qalb" — the one whose heart is makhmum — and we will explain what that word means. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: "Saduq al-lisan" — the one who is often truthful in his speech.

What Does Makhmum al-Qalb Mean?

The companions said: "Ya Rasulallah, saduq al-lisan — we know what truthful in speech means. We get that. But what does it mean for someone's heart to be makhmum?"

The word makhmum was something that the companions did not immediately understand, and that teaches you that the Prophet's speech — prophetic speech — was sometimes on a higher level than the Arabic language that the people knew, so much so that they would sometimes require clarification. You find some statements in the Quran and in the hadith where the scholars would say that the first person to use a word in a particular context was the Prophet himself.

So the Prophet ﷺ explained what he meant. The word makhmum — the Arabs used to say when you do kham of the bayt, it is when you sweep it, sweeping the floor of the house. So how do you sweep your heart? It is referring to the cleansing of your heart. The Prophet ﷺ is saying: the two characteristics you have to embody if you want to be the best type of person are — number one, have a clean, pure heart; and number two, be truthful in your speech often. That is why he used the word saduq — it refers to someone who is always, all the time, truthful — not sometimes, not even now and then, but only speaks the truth.

So the companions asked, what does this mean? And he said: it is the one whose heart is taqi — taqi means one who fears Allah. You fear Allah, so you don't sin, you don't transgress on others, you do your obligations, you stay away from sin, you remember Allah, you are conscious of your Creator. And naqi — the one whose heart is pure, it is clean. You don't hold grudges. You're not someone who is hateful or has hatred towards others, even if they wrong you. This is the person who has a pure heart.

The Prophet ﷺ then said: it is the heart that doesn't have ghil in it — spite; the heart that has no ithm in it — sin; the heart that has no hasad in it — envy. So if you want to be the best type of person, you need to work on these things: don't be envious of others, don't have hatred towards anyone, and don't be someone who is sinful.

Why Did the Prophet Attribute Sin to the Heart?

What's interesting is that the Prophet attributed sin to the heart, although we do sin with our bodies — when we look towards something we're not supposed to, when we harm others, when we backbite and bully. The Prophet is attributing all of that to the heart. Why? Because the Prophet said in another narration:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 52; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1599)

"Indeed, in the body there is a piece of flesh. If it is righteous, the whole body becomes righteous. If it is corrupt, the whole body becomes corrupt. Indeed, it is the heart."

It is our heart that dictates what we do. If you work on your heart — if you have a heart that fears Allah Almighty, a heart that is conscious, knows what you are supposed to be doing, knows your obligations and rights and what you need to stay away from — when you are remembering Allah, you tend to sin less.

So if you see someone coming to the prayer often, doing a lot of dhikr and remembering Allah, giving a lot of charity, kind in his speech, not harming others, soft spoken, gentle, just, taking care of the poor and the needy, first to give charity, involved in a lot of good — then remember, that is testament to a good heart. And if you see the opposite — someone engaged in sin, in things that are haram, in stealing and theft — then know that that person's heart is sick, and they need to heal their heart. And the Prophet is teaching us this.

Working on the Heart

What is beautiful about this as well is that the Prophet said it is a heart that has been swept — implying that at one point it was dirty. Meaning: you are not always going to be at the highest state of belief and iman where you are a saint who doesn't make any mistakes. No — you will fall into sin, you will make errors. So sweeping it implies that you need to work on it.

This is why all of our hearts — they are not crystal clear. There is fog on them, there is dirt on them. We sin, and every time we sin there is a black spot that appears on the heart — one that we can clean with repentance.

And if you are wondering: why is it that I struggle with worship? Why is it that I struggle with many of the things I am supposed to do? Why do I have so much envy? Why do I get angry easily? All of this can be traced back to your heart.

Two Relationships: With Your Creator and With the People

The best person is the one who has a pure heart, and the pure heart requires that two things are correct: one is your relationship with your Creator, and the other is your relationship with the people. And in this one hadith, when the Prophet gave the description of the pure, clean heart, both were addressed.

When the Prophet said it is the heart that has taqwa in it — meaning you fear Allah, you are conscious of your Creator, you don't transgress the limits Allah has set; Allah tells you this is haram and you stay away from it; Allah obligates you to pray and you do it — this is your relationship with your Creator. And then: clean from sin, from hatred, from envy. These are your relationships with the people.

Ghil and hasad — hatred and envy — are considered among the illnesses of our hearts. My brothers and sisters, if you have someone who harmed you, if you have someone who did something to you, if you have someone who spoke to you in a way you didn't like — let it go. Don't hold grudges. Don't hate others.

Examples of Pure Hearts: The Prophet and Yusuf

Our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ — we know the type of abuse that was done to him and his companions. On the day of Uhud, they hurt our messenger. He was bleeding on the ground, and he was still making du'a for those who were harming him, saying: "Oh Allah, guide them, for they do not know better." Our Prophet's heart was pure.

And if you look in the Quran, you see the story of Yusuf. When his own brothers — his own brothers whom he trusted as a young child — left him to die, lied about him, and he was taken to a different country, going through all of these trials, ending up in prison. But at the end, when they came to him — and they were still not recognizing him — and then when they found out it was him, his own brothers who had betrayed him, who had hurt him, who had done all of that to him — what did he say?

"Today there is no blame on you." He forgave them, right there on the spot. This is a pure heart — the ability to forgive, the ability to let go, to not hold any grudges.

The Man of Paradise: A Companion's Story

One time a man walked into the mosque, and before he entered, the Prophet ﷺ said to his companion — in the narration of Abdullah ibn Amr — the Prophet said: "If you want to see a man from the people of Jannah, whoever walks in is from those people — he is from Ahlul Jannah, he is from the people of paradise."

Then a man walked in who had just made wudu — the water was dripping from him — and he was holding his shoes in his left hand, walking in. The companions gave a vivid description because they remembered this moment so clearly, because the Prophet had said: this person is from Jannah.

Abdullah ibn Amr found this peculiar. What is so special about him? And the Prophet said this not once but a few times. So he said: "I decided I wanted to find out what is different about him — why is he from paradise?" So he said to him that he could stay with him, mentioning a reason why he needed to stay over, and this man allowed him.

He said: "I stayed with him for three nights, and I was watching what he does. Does he pray more than us? Does he recite more than us? What does he do for the Prophet to say he is from the people of Jannah?" And he said: "I noticed that he doesn't wake up at night for prayer — if he wakes up, he turns, makes dhikr, and goes back to sleep. He wakes up for Fajr." So he said: "I realized — to the point where I started finding his worship not that significant. He is not doing that much more — in fact, maybe less."

Until he asked him. And the man said:

"I never went to bed holding a grudge against anyone. I let it go."

And then Abdullah ibn Amr said: "This is why. This is why the Prophet said you are from the people of Jannah."

The Advice to Anas ibn Malik

There is a narration where the Prophet said to Anas ibn Malik: "O my son," and the Prophet said to him:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2678)

"If you can ensure that when you go to bed and when you wake up, you go to sleep not holding any anger, hatred, or enmity towards someone else — then do so. And when you wake up, the same thing." And the Prophet said: "If you do this, then you have followed my Sunnah, you have followed my way. And if you have followed my way, that means you have loved me. And if you love me, you will be with me in Jannah."

Truthfulness in Speech

This is an encouragement to remember: our hearts, in relation to Allah, must fear Allah, be conscious of Allah, and not transgress the limits. As it relates to the people — we forgive, we let go, we don't hold any grudges, and we show good character towards them.

The other statement the Prophet made was: the one who is truthful often in his speech. My brothers and sisters, get into the habit of telling the truth. Do not lie.

I say this and I ask Allah for forgiveness for you and the Muslims from every sin. He is the Most Forgiving and Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. And when you remember Allah — as the Prophet said — this gives life to your heart. Forgive others and do not hold any grudges.