1330 – Abu al-Dardaʾ (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “Nothing is heavier on the Balance than good character.” Narrated by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi, and al-Tirmidhi judged it authentic. (1)

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• Degree of authenticity
The hadith is hasan (reliable).
Al-ʿIraqi said: “Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi transmitted it from Abu al-Dardaʾ. Al-Tirmidhi declared it gharib, while another of its chains he graded hasan sahih (sound and reliable).”
The report has many supporting narrations which al-ʿIraqi gathered in his documentation of the hadiths cited in al-Ghazali’s Iḥyaʾ ʿUlum al-Din, and al-Suyuti also classified it as hasan in al-Jamiʿ al-Saghir.

• Points derived from the hadith
1 – Good character is the inward form of a human being. In reality a person is a composite of body and soul: the body is perceived by eyesight, the soul by insight, and each possesses a form or appearance—either beautiful or ugly.
Character—with the khaʾ and lam pronounced with ḍamma—is a firmly rooted disposition of the soul from which actions proceed easily and effortlessly, without the need for thought or deliberation.
If the actions produced are praiseworthy, the disposition is called good character; if they are blameworthy, it is called bad character. Character, therefore, is not identical with the action itself, for a man may be innately generous and give without hoping for any return.
2 – Good character consists of those beautiful deeds and pleasing behaviors that issue