A Glimpse into the Life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad(sa)

Overlooking the Faults of Others

He never gave publicity to the faults and shortcomings of others and admonished people not to proclaim their own faults. He used to say: ‘If a person covers up the faults of another, God will cover up his faults on the Day of Judgement.’ And, ‘Every one of my followers can escape the consequences of his errors (i.e., by true repentance and reform) except those who go on proclaiming their wrongdoing’ and illustrated this by saying: ‘A man commits a sin at night and God covers it up; in the morning he meets his friends and boasts before them, “I did this last night, I did that last night,” and thus he himself lays bare that which God had covered up.’ (Bukhari and Muslim). Some people foolishly imagine that a confession of sin helps towards repentance; the truth is that it only fosters immodesty. Sin is an evil and he who slips into it and becomes a prey to shame and remorse has a chance of climbing back into the path of purity and righteousness through repentance. His case is like that of a person who has been seduced by evil but is pursued by righteousness and as soon as a chance offers, the evil is vanquished and the sinner is claimed back by righteousness. Those, however, who proclaim their sins and take pride in them lose all sense of good and evil and become incapable of repentance.¹

Endnotes

1.   Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad^ra, Life of Muhammad^sa, (Tilford, Surrey, UK: Islam International Publications Limited, 2013), 237-38.