How Muslims Should Treat Each Other

It is very easy to say how Muslims should treat each other. Muslims should treat each other as brothers and sisters. Every Muslim has a right to be taken care of, protected and respected by the other Muslims.

Allah Ta'ala is merciful and compassionate. Allah Ta'ala is loving and kind. He wants us to be like Him. And so we should be loving and kind, merciful and compassionate to each other. Being a Muslim makes you a brother and sister of all other Muslims every where. The believers are but a single brotherhood. We should behave as brothers and sisters to all the other Muslims in the world.

And above all, Allah Ta'ala loves the Muslims. Allah Ta'ala especially loves the followers of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). And so we who are Muslims should never forget that Allah loves the Muslims, and we must do all we can to take care of the Muslims.

Firstly, Muslims should get to know each other. This is very important today in this society we live in. We live in vast cities, where we are surrounded by strangers. But the Muslims must not be strangers to us. The Muslims are our brothers. So we should make every effort to meet Muslims, and become real friends.

Above all we must not shun each other. It is forbidden to Muslims to avoid another Muslim or turn away from him or her. Loneliness is a terrible thing. No Muslim should be lonely. There should be none of this boycotting anyone, or turning the cold shoulder to them.

Modern society is full of lonely and isolated individuals, lonely little atoms. No Muslim should be an atom. Every Muslim should be part of the Muslim brotherhood.
Secondly, we must do nothing to destroy the brotherhood of the Muslims. The Muslim Ummah, which is the Muslim community, is especially holy and sacred. It is a holy act to keep this community together, and nothing must be allowed to destroy this community.

We should love each other, not hate each other. We should not envy each other. We should be sincere to each other, and come together. There should be no falseness or separation.

Thirdly, quarrels are bound to happen. Relatives and friends fall out. When this happens, brotherhood and community disappear.
And so, when Muslims quarrel, this must not be allowed to destroy brotherhood and community. When Muslims quarrel, they must be ready to forgive and forget, and become friends again.

If two quarrel, they should leave three days for the anger to cool, and then go and apologise. And if someone apologises, you must accept the apology.
This is especially the case with relatives. Relations who quarrel must not keep away from each other. And if a relative is nasty, you must be friendly with them.
Fourthly, the only reason to keep away from anyone is the service of Allah Ta'ala. You must never keep away from anyone for a Worldly reason.

In the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) there was a military expedition to a place called Tabuk. Some men refused to go. Because they did this, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) refused to meet them.

A Muslim should never take seriously a quarrel over money. The only serious difference between Muslims must be the service of Allah Ta'ala.

But of course, if the people apologise and improve their behaviour, you must forgive them. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forgave the men who had refused to go to Tabuk after fifty days.

You only stay away from people to make them better people.

Fifthly, there is a great blessing for anyone who helps to keep the Muslim community together. And so a Muslim should help to settle quarrels that arise between Muslims.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that to put right a dispute between people was better than fasting, charity and namaz.

The reason for this is simple. Islam is a religion of spiritual peace. The aim of Islam is to do Zikr, to be conscious of Allah, to think of Allah. Quarrelling takes away that peace of mind. And so quarrelling ruins Islam.

And the aim of Islam is an Islamic life. Such a life can only be led in a community, in a friendly group of people. And so quarrelling also ruins the Islamic life.
To end a quarrel restores the religion and restores the religious life. To encourage people to quarrel ruins the religion, and the life.

Sixthly, everything that causes quarrelling and spoils brotherhood between Muslims is forbidden.It is forbidden to laugh at people and make fun of them. Many people laugh at the sick, or the poor or the unfortunate, or the downtrodden.
Islam says that those who laugh at others will themselves be laughed at, but on the Day of Judgement

It is also forbidden to say evil things about people, to tell lies about them. The Muslims are one body, and if you say evil things about a Muslim, you are really saying evil things about yourself. The whole Community suffers if any Muslim has a bad name. So we should never do anything which helps to give any Muslim a bad name. Muslims are one family, and obviously every member of a family suffers if one family member has a bad name. Many people call others by nasty nicknames, and foul names. Muslims should never do this. No Muslim should call another Muslim by nasty and foul nicknames.

Seventhly, we should treat each other as brothers and sisters.
We should trust each other. We should not be suspicious of each other. We should always assume people are good, and only change our opinions of them when we really know they have done bad deeds. We should not be imagining the worst, and looking for faults.

We should think the best of anyone, and think so just because he or she is a Muslim.
We should also not attempt to discover if our brother Muslims are committing sins. We should not spy on Muslims. Every Muslim should have complete privacy and we should completely respect their privacy.

No-one is perfect. Everyone commits sins. If people sin, it is no matter to us as long as they don’t do it openly. And if we know people have faults, we should give them advice to make them better.

We shouldn't be nosey. We shouldn't peep into people's houses. We should not listen in to other people's conversation. Those who do listen like that will have molten lead poured into their ears on the Day of Judgement.You should also not be running telling tales. You should not be a sneak.

Eighthly, you should not backbite. To slander someone is to say something bad about someone which is false. For example you say that someone has been stealing, and they have never stolen.

To backbite is to say something bad about someone which is perfectly true, but which the person would not like to hear you say. A Muslim should not do this. He or she should not backbite.When people are not present, you should say only nice things about them, and avoid saying unpleasant things.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that to backbite was to eat the flesh of the absent person.Backbiting is only done out of dislike for the person talked about. Those who backbite attack everyone they meet. If you hear them criticising someone, they'll be attacking you as soon as you are out of the room.
And so you should not tolerate backbiting.

Someone who listens and does not protest when backbiting happens is as guilty as the one who speaks. And you should not be ready to believe what is said, if it's bad. And you should not pass backbiting on. If you meet someone who has been attacked behind his back, you don't tell him what has been said, and you even say nice things were said about him. The person who repeats backbiting is just as bad as the backbiter.

You should defend the person who is attacked. You should avoid conversation which contains backbiting or slander.

Source: http://www.theislamictimes.co.uk/