On the Merit of One Who Mixes with People

فی فضل من یخالط الناس

فِيْ فَضْلِ مَنْ يُخَالِطُ النَّاسَ — On the Merit of Keeping Up Relations with People

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: لَتُبْلَوُنَّ فِيْٓ أَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنْفُسِكُمْ وَلَتَسْمَعُنَّ مِنَ الَّذِيْنَ أَشْرَكُوْٓا أَذًى كَثِيْرًا

(Āl ʿImrān 3:186) [Note: the printed verse omits the middle words "مِنَ الَّذِيْنَ أُوْتُوا الْكِتٰبَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَمِنَ", which the word list below nevertheless explains; the Arabic is given here as printed.]

Vocabulary: la-tublawunna — you will surely be put to trial, you will be tested; there will be a trial of you; fī amwālikum wa-anfusikum — in your wealth and in your lives, i.e. your wealth will suffer loss, you will die or be killed. See that you do not lose

courage in this trial. wa-la-tasmaʿunna — and you will certainly hear, and you will have to hear; and this will reach the hearing of your ears, it will be heard by you; mina'lladhīna — from those people; ūtu'l-kitāb — who were given the Book, i.e. the Jews and the Christians; min qablikum — before you; wa-mina'lladhīna ashrakū — and from those people who committed shirk, from the polytheists, from those who are not People of the Book; adhan kathīrā — very hurtful words, i.e. the People of the Book and the polytheists will say many hard things to you.

Translation: Allah Most High says: Your trial will surely take place in life and wealth. You will have to hear very hurtful things from the People of the Book (the Jews and the Christians) and from the polytheists.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَلَا تَهِنُوْا فِي ابْتِغَآءِ الْقَوْمِ إِنْ تَكُوْنُوْا تَأْلَمُوْنَ فَإِنَّهُمْ يَأْلَمُوْنَ كَمَا تَأْلَمُوْنَ وَتَرْجُوْنَ مِنَ اللّٰهِ مَا لَا يَرْجُوْنَ وَكَانَ اللّٰهُ عَلِيْمًا حَكِيْمًا

(al-Nisāʾ 4:104)

Vocabulary: wa-lā tahinū — and do not slacken, do not lose courage, do not be weak; fi'btighāʾi'l-qawm — in fighting the people, in tracking them, in searching for them, in pursuing them; in takūnū taʾlamūn — if you are in pain, in grief and sorrow; fa-innahum yaʾlamūna kamā taʾlamūn — then they too are in pain just as you are in pain; wa-tarjūna mina'llāh — and you have hope from God; mā lā yarjūn — what they do not hope for: you have hope of a great reward and they do not; and the hope and expectation that you have — where do they have it?; wa-kāna'llāhu ʿalīman ḥakīmā — and Allah is possessed of great knowledge and wisdom: He is greatly Knowing, greatly Wise.

Translation: Allah Most High says: And do not slacken in searching for the (enemy) people (in pursuing them). If you suffer pain, they too suffer pain just as you do. And you have great hopes attached to Allah which they do not have; and Allah is Knowing, Wise.

إِنَّ الْمُسْلِمَ الَّذِيْ يُخَالِطُ النَّاسَ وَيَصْبِرُ عَلٰى أَذَاهُمْ أَفْضَلُ مِنَ الَّذِيْ لَا يُخَالِطُ وَلَا يَصْبِرُ عَلٰى أَذَاهُمْ.

(Kanz al-ʿUmmāl.)

Vocabulary: yukhāliṭu'l-nās — mixes with people, keeps up relations; yaṣbiru ʿalā adhāhum — is patient when they cause him trouble.

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him): Indeed the Muslim who keeps up relations with people and is patient with the hurt they cause is far better than that (Muslim) who keeps no contact with them and is not patient with the hurt they cause.

مَثَلُ الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ فِيْ تَوَادِّهِمْ وَتَرَاحُمِهِمْ وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ مَثَلُ الْجَسَدِ إِذَا اشْتَكٰى مِنْهُ عُضْوٌ تَدَاعٰى لَهُ سَائِرُ الْجَسَدِ بِالسَّهَرِ وَالْحُمّٰى.

(Aḥmad and Muslim from al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr; Kanz al-ʿUmmāl.)

Vocabulary: tawāddihim wa-tarāḥumihim wa-taʿāṭufihim — loving one another, having mercy on one another, and being kind to one another.

Translation: Ḥaḍrat Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The example of the believers in loving one another, being merciful to one another and being kind to one another is like that of a single body: when any one limb of it falls ill, all the limbs of the body draw one another towards sleeplessness and fever. (Kanz al-ʿUmmāl)