and passes it on. The Prophet ﷺ said, “It is enough of a lie for a person to relate everything he hears.”

Others are hasty in passing judgment: they hear something about someone, feel sure that he actually said or did it, and at once pronounce him mistaken, astray, or the like. That is wrong; deliberation in one’s affairs is pure goodness.

The author then cites the three hadiths transmitted by ʿĀʾishah—may Allah be pleased with her—on gentleness: that gentleness is beloved to Allah, that whenever it is found in something it adorns it, and whenever it is removed from something it disgraces it. The lesson is an exhortation to be gentle in all of one’s dealings: gentle with one’s family, with one’s brothers, with one’s friends, and with people in general, for Allah is Gentle and loves gentleness.

When a person treats others gently he tastes delight and feels his heart expand; but if he treats them with harshness and violence he soon regrets it and says, “If only I had not done that,” though it is then too late. Whereas if he deals with them through gentleness, mildness, and deliberation, his breast is opened and he has nothing to regret.

May Allah grant everyone what brings goodness, rectitude, noble character, and fine manners.

5/636 – Abū Hurayrah—may Allah be pleased with him—reported that a Bedouin urinated in the mosque. The people stood to rebuke him, but the Prophet ﷺ said, “Leave him, and pour over his urine a bucketful (sajl) or a pail (dhanūb) of water. You have been sent as facilitators, not as those who cause hardship.” Reported by al-Bukhārī.