I then moved on to what may be considered representatives of “classic” commentaries. I chose al-Qurtuby and al-Baydawy. I also included one of the leading shi’a commentators, al-Tabarsi.

What I called “classic” then (and still do now) is a tradition of Quranic commentary that was established in broad features by Imam al-Tabary (3rd century hijri). Until a few years ago, his was the earliest authenticated tafseer in published form. There is a published and translated commentary attributed to ibn Abbas radiallahu ‘anhu, but the authenticity of that attribution is dubious. More recently, I am told that other earlier tafaseer have found their way into publication but I am not familiar with those. Historically, scholars of tafseer after Tabary were heavily influenced by his style. The broad features of these commentaries were:

1. Commentary proceeded passage-wise. In other words, the commentator would break down the text into short passages, list the verses in each passage, then proceed to comment on the meaning of the passage and the issues it presented. Addressing themes running through the chapter was rarely done. Even addressing the context of a given passage or the transition from one passage to another was not consistently done.
2. The subjects dealt with in a commentary were clearly identified. They included interpretation of vocabulary, the identification of subjects/objects mentioned without identification in the text (e.g. in our passage a reference to “a prophet of theirs” would elicit discussion as to who that prophet was), the rendering of the overall meaning of the passage, specifying the occasion of revelation if known, discussing linguistic features in the text, and addressing legal rulings derived from the text. Within that range a commentator may emphasize one area over the others (e.g. ibn Atiyya was a commentator more interested in linguistic discussions) but a commentary wasn’t “really” a commentary unless it (a) touched on the majority of these questions; and (b) limited itself to these questions.
3. The sources of commentary were (a) other passages in the Quran itself; (b) prophetic tradition; (c) statements attributed to the companions; (d) Arabic poetry, which helped interpret vocabulary and provided a reference for standards of eloquence; and (e) expert opinion. Controversy arose early on what constituted expert opinion and the limits to which such opinion was to be restricted, but it was clearly impossible to provide a satisfactory interpretation of the text without referencing some expertise on language, history, theology, law, or some other disciplines.
4. Finally, these “classic” commentaries focused almost exclusively on the direct interpretation of text. Legitimate questions had to do with the immediate meaning, implication, or context of the text. Straying farther afield in the form of reflections on metaphor, spiritual inspiration, social import, or scientific or philosophical implications, was either not considered or not encouraged.

While the genre of tafseer continued to invite scholarly effort, and while each commentator tried to produce something that gave some individual contribution, the normative influence of Tabary was so strong as to determine for nearly ten centuries not only the subject matter but the tone and structure of the bulk of commentaries. And it did so across sectarian divisions! So a mu’tazilite mufassir like al-Zamakhshari arrives at theological conclusions directly opposed to those of his sunni peers, but he is (a) asking the same questions; (b) relying on the same sources; and (c) laying out the answer in the same order, organization of text, and tone of commentary!

As for what the classics actually said about the story of Talut, this piece is getting long enough that I think I need to defer that question till next time

Sheikh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghudda, rahimahullah, has been described by those that met him as someone that manifested humility, warmth, noble character, great manner, straightforwardness when he talks, depth of understanding, and precision in scholarly issues.

He was born in Rajab 1336 A.H. (1917 C.E.) in Aleppo, Syria. His father and grandfather used to trade in woven material, and his father was keen to attend the presence of scholars and keep up with their classes and lectures. He attended a private Islamic elementary school, then a high school for religious education (al-Khusrawiyya). After his high school graduation he went to Egypt to study at al-Azhar where he attained the `aalimiyya degree in 1948. He also specialized in Education in the Faculty of Arabic Language at al-Azhar and obtained a degree from that faculty in 1950 before returning to Syria.

Sh. Abdul Fattah came to be known among the greatest caliber of the scholars of Syria and the most prominent of the leaders of the contemporary Islamic movement. He studied with many of the leading scholars of his time, most prominently Sh. Ahmad al-Zarqa of Aleppo and his son Sh. Mustafa al-Zarqa, rahimahum Allah jamee’an. His students include scholars and activists throughout Syria, the Arab World, and beyond. He taught in Aleppo, Damascus, and Riyad. He followed the Hanafi school and disliked for people to search out rukhas or opinions that were in the extreme minority. At the same time he disliked partisanship in following madhhab.

Books

Sh. Abu Ghudda authored or edited close to 100 books mostly in the sciences of hadeeth. Some of his most prominent texts:

• Risalat-ul-Mustarshideen by al-Harith al-Muhasiby: one of the earliest books of tasawwuf, this is a beautiful masterpiece addressing those seeking self-purification and guiding them to key practices and attitudes for the journey. Sh. Abu Ghudda’s commentary is extensive and I found it to be of immense value in highlighting key passages, adding reminders, and explaining concepts.
• Al-Ihkam fee tamyeez al-fatawa ‘an al-ahkam wa tasarrufat al-qady wa-l-imam by al-Qarafy: this is one of the most important books of all time dealing with specific issues in usool and in the proper understanding of sunnah. Sh. Abdul Fattah brought to it his vast scholarships in both fields.
• Safahat min sabr al-’ulamaa (Stories of the perseverance of scholars): this is a beautiful book he authored about the struggles and sacrifices of scholars and their dedication to the pursuit of knowledge.
• Qeemat al-zaman ‘inda-l-’ulamaa (The Value of Time for Scholars): another immensely enjoyable text that he authored that describes our scholars’ attitude towards time and recounts some of their habits and practices in investing their time as well as their thoughts and reflections on the subject.

He authored books on biographies of classical and contemporary scholars, on the study of sunna, on the practices of scholars through the ages, on some of the significant debates in Islamic theology and their impact and relevance, and on numerous other subjects. He edited books written by prominent scholars on various aspects of hadeeth methodology, fiqh, and usool. He was aware of the tremendous scholarly legacy of the scholars of the Indian subcontinent in the area of hadeeth sciences. He traveled to India to obtain some of the valuable manuscripts of her scholars and returned with a treasure trove of manuscripts for Imam Abdul Hayy al-Lucknowy, Imam Ahmad al-Uthmani al-Tahanawy, and Imam Muhammad Anwar al-Kashmiri. He was particularly keen to work on these manuscripts and get them into publication with scholarly notes.

Many of his personal qualities were remembered and recounted by contemporaries, peers and scholars:

• He had a sensitive soul and his tears would freely flow when summoned by the plight of man or the remembrance of God. People saw him weeping simply because one of his students was weeping in grief, and they saw him weeping as he stood in the Prophet’s mosque supplicating.
• He had dignity, integrity, and precision. He did not allow his knowledge or credibility to be the subject of trade or compromise.
• Dr. Muhammad Aly al-Hachmi speaks of his relationship with sh. Abdul Fattah as a brother, as a colleague, and as someone related through marriage. In all these spheres of interaction he was characterized by compassion, kindness, loyalty, chivalry, nobility, integrity, and forgiveness. “Hearts wept for him before the eyes.”
• Sh. Muhammad Abu Zuhra wrote to him after a trip they had together saying, “The happy days that I spent in your company showed me the sincerity of muttaqeen, the good humor of believers, and the patience of good friends.”
• Sh. Mustafa al-Zarqa called him, “My most beloved brother, who has in my heart a love greater than my heart, and in my self a reverence even though he is younger in age.”

He taught his students that, “A book does not divulge its secret until you have read the whole of it,” and that, “The privilege of the scholar is to alert the mind by the shade of the Law.”

He met Hasan al-Banna in the forties while he was studying in Egypt and called him the mujaddid (reviver or renewer) of the Islamic call in the fourteenth century. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood and was one of its leading scholars and symbols, as well as assuming the leadership of the group in Syria twice including the period 1986-1991.

Shaykh Abdul Fattah died in Riyad in 1997 and was buried in Madeena in accordance with his wishes. His website is http://www.aboghodda.com/ and has some material in English as well as in Arabic, and there is also a wikipedia page for him (in Arabic). His son, sh. Zahid Abu Ghudda is one of the well-known and respected scholars here in the GTA. He has a blog at http://zahidabdulfattah.blogspot.com/.

I feel that I have adequately backed up my claims that humor has always been important in Muslim communities and that it was welcomed and appreciated by authoritative figures from the prophet himself, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, downwards. By its very nature humor draws upon life experiences and therefore issues of relationships, sexuality, and gender stereotypes are common fodder for such humor. I have argued that such has pretty much always been the case. But I have also noted that (again very naturally) different individuals may have different tolerance for certain types of humor, and different individuals will react differently to different jokes. Almost by definition humor is idiosyncratic.

Despite these arguments I feel that in humor, as in every other sphere of life, the Islamic ethos imposes certain guidelines for behavior. Different scholars have spoken and written on the subject and the most commonly cited guideline is that one should not lie. Reference is made to the hadeeth of the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, that condemns one who tells a lie to get people to laugh. Having said that, it is clear from the stories that we have seen in the other three posts in this series that the intent here isn’t to be very literal, or to apply to all of us the same standards that applied to the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him. The prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, never spoke a word that wasn’t exactly and actually true. Even when he, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, would joke, it would be by playing on double meanings of words and so on, but such double meanings would all be true. This is not so in the case of, for example, the companion who told a group of people that his friend was really his slave and sold him to them as a practical joke. Clearly, a “lie” was used here. Nonetheless, the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, found the incident funny and saw no harm. This leads me to conclude that the prohibition against lying is the prohibition against making up complete stories and passing them on as the truth – something that people do as a matter of course nowadays. With some people, there is no hesitation to make up entirely false stories about public figures, or friends or colleagues, in order to get a laugh at a gathering or in conversation. Such stories then may be believed and passed around as the truth without further correction from the person that started the slander. Such behavior would definitely come under the prohibition of using lies to elicit laughter. Other situations may also come under that prohibition and we all have to use common sense to distinguish the situations where we would in fact be propagating a lie.

The second prohibition that the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, is against striking fear into others to elicit laughter. Some of the companions pulled a prank on one of them by hiding a rope that he owned (apparently something he was in dire need of and would have been at a loss to replace it). When he came back from his errand and could not find his rope he was in a panic and started searching high and low for it. At some point they gave it back to him and all had a good laugh. Nonetheless, when the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, heard the story he disapproved and instructed people that they were prohibited from putting fear into each others’ hearts for any purpose, including humor. Once again, this prohibition needs to be understood according to a common sense standard. I have previously mentioned the story of the companion that wanted to get the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, to laugh and did so by untying the belt that held his saddle to the camel so that the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, almost fell off the camel. This was not considered reprehensible, rather it got a good laugh. So there is a line between the acceptable and the unacceptable in this arena and we should exercise care not to cross the line. Figuring out the line is a matter of common sense and genuinely caring how others feel and how they are impacted by what we say or do.

The final area of discussion is the area of propriety or lack thereof. I think it is rather obvious that our values militate against vulgarity in general. This extends both to crass vocabulary and to the kind of teenage humor that has become so commonplace nowadays (I would say in every culture). Having said that, as with most areas of day to day living it is hard to draw a line in the sand that separates the acceptable from the unacceptable. Rather it becomes a matter of culture in the sense of our collective sense of beauty, our collective sense of humor, and our collective shuddering at the saying or doing of certain things. And this makes some things acceptable depending on time, place, context, who’s saying them and to whom, why they’re being said, and how frequently they’re being said. This may be a hard pill to swallow for those of us that would like to have a governing equation for everything in life . Nonetheless, I believe a fair reading of history would leave us with the clear conclusion that this has always been the case and that it is both artificial and quite unreasonable to expect it, or to try to force it, to be otherwise.

I will cite two more examples to illustrate my point above and to wrap up this entire discussion. Both come from the authentic sunna.

The first example is of a woman that came to the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, to discuss her situation in marriage. The language of the hadeeth implies that she was sitting in the presence of the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, with other companions present, and some other companions standing outside by the door (perhaps some were waiting for their turn, and perhaps some were just in the masjid but were close enough to the doorway). The woman explained that she had been married to her first husband, who had divorced her three separate times. She had now married her second husband and, she says, “What he has is like the crease of a dress!” A man standing by the door was incensed that the woman would be so forward in the presence of the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him. He called on to some of the folks sitting inside to tell the woman to watch her language! However, none of them spoke, which is appropriate given that the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, was right there and could speak for himself very well thank you! He himself, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, merely smiled and told the woman that it sounded like she wanted to go back to her first husband. When the woman confirmed that, the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, clarified the legal ruling in the matter and said, “Not until you taste of his (meaning the 2nd husband) sweetness and he tastes of yours.” I.e. there has to be full marital relations between this woman and her second husband. Then if there is a divorce she would be able to return to her first husband if she so wishes.

The second story concerns a companion by the name of Abu Abdillah Khawwat ibn Jubayr (ra). He narrates that he was once in the travel caravan of the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him. They were encamped close to Makka and he came out into the camp one day and noticed a group of women sitting together. According to his story, he found the women attractive so he went back into his tent, picked out his best suit, wore it, and came out and sat with them! Just at that moment, the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, came out, saw Khawwat (ra), and asked him what he was doing sitting with these women? Given the circumstances, Khawwat (ra) was nervous, and the first thing that came to his mind was to make something up! So he told the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, that he has a camel that often runs off and he had asked the women if they would weave together a rope that he could use to tie down his camel. At that the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, said nothing, but went off to make his wudoo (that’s where he’d been headed) and when he came he, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, asked this companion, “So Abu Abdillah! What happened with your rebellious camel?” Realizing that the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, had seen through his fib, the man said nothing. When the caravan started on the journey back to Madeena, the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, would repeatedly fall back to come to Abu Abdillah (ra). And every time he did that, or any other time that he encountered him on the journey, he would ask, “Abu Abdillah! What happened with your rebellious camel?” When they returned to Madeena, this would not stop. Every time the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, met Khawwat ibn Jubayr (ra), he would ask him, “Abu Abdillah! What happened with your rebellious camel?” It got so much for this companion that he decided to avoid the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, and he stopped going to the masjid.

As he tells the story he says he missed the masjid. He was longing to be back in the masjid! So he waited one night late until he thought the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, would be in his rooms and he went into town and into the masjid. He stood there and began to pray. And the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, came out into the masjid, prayed two short rak’as, and sat right behind him. He decided to lengthen his prayers in the hope that the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, would give up and go. But the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him told him, “You can pray for as long as you wish. I will wait for you.” Hearing this, it was Khawwat (ra) that therefore gave up and concluded his prayers. The prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, immediately asked him, “Abu Abdillah! What happened with your rebellious camel?” Khawwat (ra) confessed, “By the One that sent you with the truth, my camel has never run off since I entered Islam.” The prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, said to him rahimakallah (God give you mercy) twice or three times, then he never spoke of it again.

The point in the two stories relevant to our discussion here is to note what things the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, let slide and what things he would not let slide. The legal ruling for the woman, and the necessity of telling the truth and living with integrity for the man, were far more important than the woman’s forwardness or the man’s spending some time in the company of these women to whom he was attracted. These latter items didn’t even merit a mention from the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him. This doesn’t mean they are acceptable norms for behavior – far from it. The prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, did not condone this behavior here, and has taught what constitutes proper adab in so many different ways elsewhere. But they just weren’t important enough to turn into a big deal in either case! I would hope that we as a community may develop tolerance for the variations in people’s styles, inclinations, expressiveness, and even weaknesses, and that we can distinguish between the trivial and the essential.

1. The significance, importance, and/or prominence of humor in Islamic intellectual history.
2. Racy humor in the general history of Muslim communities.
3. Appreciation of such humor by credible sources (scholars, pious individuals, respected people, etc.)

So now . . . [drum roll please] . . . part 3.

So first, the question of the significance, importance, and/or prominence of humor in Islamic intellectual history. We find that Muslims developed several genres of literature in which humor was a primary component, if not the only one.

To begin with, humor was incorporated in a type of literature that we may term a literature of irreverence (e.g. the poetry of Abu Nawwas, Thousand and One Nights, etc.) I am sure many of us are familiar with these at least in name. By themselves I don’t think they lend much credibility to the point being made here so I am not going to dedicate more space to them. However, there were several other categories. The following are the ones that I came across.

“Handbooks” of Language

Scholars developed the genre of ma3aajim-ul-lugha. These books, which I would term linguistic lexicons, were compendiums of word and phrase usage. (In English a lexicon is sorted alphabetically, these were not). A scholar would collect hadeeth, speeches, poetry, stories (in particular humorous stories where language is wielded effectively by a skillful artist) to illustrate vocabulary and its use. Examples include al-Bayan wat-Tabyeen by al-Jahidh, al-Kamil by al-Mubarrid, al-Amaaly by az-Zajjaaji, and others. Al-Kamil is one of the most famous of these collections. He begins by quoting a couple of the beautiful hadeeths of the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him (including the one about “the best of you” and “the worst of you” that I posted earlier). He then proceeds with various “chapters” such as A Chapter on Some of the Wisdom of the Sages. Some of the chapters are about a single item (e.g. the khutba of Aly ibn Aby Talib for such and such incident). Some are longer.

The following story that was included among the words of the sages is a sample of something that has some interesting insight, excels in the use of language, and still manages to come up with a bit of humor. A king wanted to test his advisor. He asked him, “What is the best thing that may be given to a person as rizq (sustenance)?” The man responded, “An intellect by which to live.” The king then asked, “And if he cannot have that?” He said, “Character that beautifies him.” “If not that?” “Wealth to cover him (his needs and his weaknesses).” “If not that?” “A bolt of lightening that to burn him and relieve the people and the land of his presence.”

Al-Amaali was another book in this category. The author narrates the story told by a man by the name of Sadaqa ibn Moosa who says, “A neighbor of ours had the name Himaar (Arabic for donkey). He married a woman from the people of Dara and she came to be important to him. She asked him to change his name and he agreed. He came to her and said, ‘I have taken the name Baghl (Ar. for mule).’ She said, ‘It is better than before, but you are still in the stable!’”

Encyclopedic Collections

A second genre that was popularized in the fourth and later centuries is al-mawsoo3aat (literally encyclopedias) where an author would compile a collection that encompasses numerous examples of poetry, prose, speeches, jokes, funny stories, etc., and would classify them according to some scheme (either by source, or by topic, or some other scheme). The intent often was to make the collection as comprehensive as possible, but since it was very difficult to define the theme of such a book, it was equally difficult to judge when an author had included “enough”. Nonetheless, the results were these impressive encyclopedia’s of quotations and stories. The most famous examples include al-Aghany by al-Asfahani, al-3iqd al-Fareed by ibn Abd Rabbuh, Nihaayat-ul-Arib by An-Nuwairy, and al-Mustadhraf by al-Abshihi.

Al-3iqd al-Fareed is a particularly interesting example since it is highly respected and widely quoted by contemporary scholars. He narrates the following story:

A man came to Shurayh (a famous judge) and they had the following dialog.

Visitor – “I came from Syria.”
Shurayh – “A distant place and a long trip for a visit.”
“I got married here.”
“May you have happiness and good progeny.”
“We had a boy.”
“May he grow up with courage and pleasure to you.”
“And I wanted to take my family and move (back to Syria).”
“A man is most deserving of the company of his family.”
“But I had accepted a condition to our marriage that she stays in her homeland.”
“Conditions rule.”
“So I came seeking your ruling.”
“And I have given it.”
“Who did you rule against?”
“Against the son of your mother.”
“According to whose testimony?”
“The testimony of the nephew of your aunt!”

People seem to have found the last statement by Shurayh particularly funny because in the last little while as I scanned through several of these books I have seen it quoted in half a dozen places, most of them without the rest of the story! Another story from al-3iqd al-Fareed concerns a man who came to Umar ibn Qays and asked him what he should do if upon leaving the masjid he discovers that a pebble from the masjid grounds had somehow gotten carried in the folds of his clothes or in his shoes or on his forehead. He said “throw it away!” The man said, “People say that such a pebble would wail until it is returned to its place in the masjid.” He told him, “Let it wail until it rips its throat.” The man responded, “Subhaanallah! It has a throat?” He told him, “How else could it wail?”

Al-Asma3y (famous scholar of Arabic grammar) wanted to describe the extreme lack of reliability of a man that was engaged in scholarship but was too prone to error. He said, “When he heard a lesson, he would understand something different from what he heard, then write down something different from what he understood, then read from the book something different from what is written in it!”

Another man also accusing another of error in transmitting knowledge said, “By the time he was done copying a book it was no longer in Arabic!”

In short, there were humorous anecdotes, parables, or quotes in almost every chapter of this book.

Books of nawaadir

Nawaadir literally means “rare things” but in this context was meant to refer to more-or-less funny stories were the humor is again primarily in someone’s cleverness in the use of language and where they are able to use cute turns of phrase to win a confrontation, or to win the admiration of others, or to endear themselves to an object of affection, etc. Examples of this genre include many of the books of Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi. They also include a sub-genre of books of “akhbaar”, i.e. books purporting to be collections of stories of specific categories of people. Two prominent authors in this latter genre are al-Jahidh with books about “Lepers, blind men, and those with limps” and “The Miserly”, and Imam ibn al-Jawzi with “akhbaar al-adhkiyaa” (stories of smart people), “akhbaar al-hamqa wal-mughaffaleen” (stories of idiots and easy marks), “akhbaar al-nisaa” (stories of women), “akhbaar al-dhiraaf wal-mutamaajineen” (stories of funny people and pleasure-seekers) etc.

Of these three authors, ibn al-Jawzy is the most interesting to quote because he was a well-known and well-respected jurist as well as being an effective orator and preacher. In his introduction to the stories of idiots he argues that it has been the long standing tradition of leading scholars to solicit jokes and humor, even if it gets a little bit explicit or pushes the envelope of propriety somewhat, in order to take a break from serious discourse and rejuvenate the soul and intellect for the task at hand.

He includes a story that is told that the Hoopoe bird came to prophet Suleiman, peace be upon him, and wanted to invite him for a meal. Suleiman (pbuh) asked, “I alone?” and the bird said, “No. You and your entire army. Meet me on such and such island at such and such time.” When Suleiman (pbuh) and the army gathered the bird flew up, caught a locust, strangled it, and threw it into the ocean. Then he said, “Go ahead and enjoy. If you don’t get any of the meat, you can enjoy the broth!” Suleiman (pbuh) and his soldier laughed at this a whole year.

Another story has two men coming to a woman from Quraysh during the time of Umar (ra) and entrusting her with a 100 dinars. “Don’t give the money to either of us alone,” they said. They emphasized that they had to both be present in order to claim the money. About a year later one of them comes back and says that his friend had died and would she give him the money. The woman of course refuses. He gets to talking to her family and her neighbors and keeps asking for the money until the pressure from so many intermediaries got too much for the woman so she gave him his money. She hears nothing about this until almost another year passes. Then the other guy shows up. He asks for his money and she tells him the story. He takes her to Umar (ra) for judgment. Before Umar (ra) rules the woman pleads for Aly (ra) as judge. Umar (ra) refers the case to Aly (ra). When Aly (ra) hears the story he realizes that the two men are pulling a con job on the woman. So he asks the guy, “Didn’t the two of you require that she should not give the money to either of you alone?” The man says yes. So Imam Aly then tells him that if he wants his money, he needs to bring the other guy along!

Another con involved one of the governors appointed by Umar (ra) over the eastern part of the Arabian peninsula. The people of the area were not happy with him and asked Umar (ra) to remove him, which he did. However, thinking that he may in future be reappointed to govern them they wanted to frame him for something so Umar (ra) would never employ him again. They gathered from amongst themselves 100,000 dinars and gave it to one of their tribal leaders. He took the money and went before Umar (ra). He said, “Al-Mughira (that’s the governor) had embezzled this money and left it with me to keep for him.” Umar (ra) summoned al-Mughira and told him of the accusation. Al-Mughira said, “He is lying. It was two hundred thousand.” Umar (ra) was shocked and asked as to what drove him to this dishonesty. He said, “My need and my children.” So then Umar (ra) turns to the man and questions him about the 200,000. The man in a panic over having to produce another 100,000 of course confessed.

Finally, a man spoke with Ash3ab and asked him, “You spent some time in the company of scholars and sat in their sessions. Would you please narrate to us some of the knowledge that you learnt?” Ash3ab says, “I heard 3ikrima say that he heard ibn Abbas say that he heard the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, say, ‘Two attributes cannot both be in a believer.’” They asked him, “What are the two attributes?” He said, “3ikrima forgot one, and I forgot the other.”

Maqaamaat

Maqaamaat. This is a genre that became popular also in the fifth or sixth century. The leading figures in this were al-Hareeri and al-Hamadhani. And the idea of the genre was to write in a style of musical prose with lots of rhyme, puns, humor, and demonstrations of linguistic prowess. The topics were usually “adventures of . . . ” type of thing with each author having a particular protagonist (a made up character) that travels around and encounters different situations and different people.

Al-Hariri’s maqamaat had the protagonist Abu Zayd al-Saruji and the narrator al-Harith ibn Hammam. So every essay begins with “Narrated al-Harith ibn Hammam . . .” and then he will go through a story that happened involving him coming across Abu Zayd in some situation or locality and how Abu Zayd demonstrated his unparalleled linguistic ability and was thus able to prove himself, or to win an argument, or to obtain some money, etc. Maqamaat are very difficult to translate in that the pleasure from reading them comes as much from the sound of the words and their flow as from any aspect of the content. For example, one of the essays is named after Meragha, a city in modern day Azerbaijan. (Each of the essays is named after some location). In this particular story Abu Zayd is challenged to write a letter from a scribe of the governor to his employer outlining his state of financial need and requesting assistance. However, there is a condition: the words of the letter must strictly alternate between words whose letters each have dots (e.g. ت or ظ) and words whose letters have no dots (e.g. س or م). He succeeds in meeting the challenge composing a long letter that begins with praise of generosity, compassion, and nobility, and putting down the opposite characteristics, then proceeds to praise of the person of the governor, then to outlining the condition of need of the petitioner, then finally asking for assistance.

The maqaamaat are very difficult to translate because of their emphasis on linguistic genius and the subtlety of the humor, which focuses primarily on the clever use of language and secondarily on the character of Abu Zayd and his constant preference for travel and independence even though it frequently puts him in the position of needing aid. I know of one published translation but was unable to find a citation for this article. However, I found this website which includes translations as well as brief commentary.

I also came to learn (see this Arabic article on wikipedia) that this book became the first known illustrated book in Arabic literature when the artist Yahya al-Wasiti (7th century A.H.) decided to draw two plates accompanying each essay.

This picture for example (taken from the same wikipedia article linked above) accompanied the Euphrates essay, an essay that should be very interesting to modern readers as it involves Abu Zayd trying to settle the dispute between engineering and the humanities . Literally, the argument was between “the two kinds of scribes”: scribes whose function is to compose linguistic pieces, and scribes whose function is to calculate and record numbers. He begins by favoring the former over the latter putting down the mathematicians’ profession as merely “more useful” (His words, “the profession of composition is nobler, and the profession of computation is more useful”). He then proceeds at length to justify the superiority of composition to computation. However, at the end of his ruling he recognizes that he has displeased some of those present. So he then engages in the same exercise in reverse (thus avenging us numerical folk). He starts this second round by saying, “However, the profession of computation revolves around seeking accuracy, whereas the profession of composition revolves around combining things together (i.e. not necessarily with accuracy).” The word that I have translated so clumsily as “combining things together” is talfeeq which could also mean “faking” or “bringing together things that don’t belong together”.

Other Books

There were also books meant for pedagogy in Arabic literary style (e.g. the book of ibn al-Muqaffa3). While these books were meant to discuss and analyze style, they invariably included examples of good literature and again there was constantly an attraction to find humorous citations to illustrate the point.

And finally, there were a few books that don’t fit into any of the particular genres above but dealt directly or indirectly with humor. An example of something that is indirectly humorous is one by a scholar that decided to write a book lamenting how times had gone bad and people’s friendships were no longer what they used to be. He titled his book “The excellence of dogs over many of those that wear clothes” (fadl-ul-kilaab 3ala katheer mimman labisa-th-thiyaab). The humor here is primarily in the title and carries over into the author’s introduction and the overall tone of the book.

But there were also books written directly and specifically to talk about humor, including the need for humor. There is a book by an early scholar by the name of ibn al-Marzuban (d. 309 A.H.) titled كتاب ذم الثقلاء – I am not really sure how to translate this, but thuqalaa (sing. thaqeel) are the people whose company is kinda painful: they are annoying, or lacking in good humor or good etiquette and people don’t like their company. So the book is about citing things from the Quran, the sunnah, the sayings of the companions and scholars to show that the company of such people is to be avoided and that in fact it is a bad thing (even religiously kinda) to be in such a category! For example he narrates that Abu Huraira (ra) when he would feel this way about someone he would pray, “O Allah, forgive him and relieve us of him.” A man came to Bashar (a well-known poet who was blind) and said to him, “Whenever someone’s eyesight is taken he is given something to compensate. What were you compensated with?” He answered, “That I will not have to see you and be depressed to death by the sight!” Al-Hajjaj was brought a man of al-Khawaarij and he declared, “By Allah I hate you!” The man replied, “May God enter into paradise the one of us that hates the other more!” Another story with Bashar is that someone came to sit with him and Bashar considered him thaqeel (annoying, etc.) so Bashar let loose with a loud fart. The man thought to himself that it was accidental and said nothing. So Bashar let another one loose and the man still thought the best of it. When he did it a third time the man expressed shock and asked, “Abu Muadh, what is this?” Bashar said, “Huh. Did you hear or did you see?” The man said, “I heard.” Bashar told him, “Do not believe until you see!”

The final example is a book called al-maraa7 fil-mizaa7 (Comfort in Humor) which aims to specifically be a book about humor, discussing first the importance and adab of humor then including stories of humor from the time of the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, then his companions and later times. He narrates for example the story that Abdullah ibn Wahb narrated:

al-Layth told me about Abdullah ibn Hudhafa, a companion of the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, who liked to joke around. During one of the travels of the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, he undid the belt around his camel so that when the messenger of Allah, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, rode it he almost fell. I asked al-Layth, “He did this to get him to laugh?” He answered, “Yes.”

Another companion noticed that the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, was upset over something. So he thought of a way to get the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him to laugh. He asked, “O Messenger of Allah. When the dajjal (anti-Christ) comes people will be experiencing a great drought and he will have mountains of good food. Do you think that if I am still living that I should go to him and eat of his food as much as I want, then when I am completely full I declare my belief in God and reject him? Or should I just disdain his food?” The prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him laughed – and in general his laughter was to smile – and he said, “God, may He be exalted, will give you sufficiency on that day as He gives the believers.”

A remarkable story is told by Aisha (ra) and tells us much about the subject of humor in their societies. (A word used in the story below is al-muD7ika – المضحكة – meaning a woman that on a regular basis, or as a profession, or as a known role, gets people to laugh; I have translated it as comedienne). Aisha (ra) speaks of a Makkan woman who, even before Islam, used to go visit the women of Quraysh and get them to laugh (tells them funny stories, etc.) She says that after hijra and when things became relatively stable the woman came to Madeena and, Aisha (ra) narrates, “She visited me. I said, ‘So and so, what brings you here?’ She said, ‘To come to you (meaning the Makkan women that had migrated).’ I said, ‘So who are you staying with?’ She said, ‘So and so, a woman that used to get the women of Madeena to laugh.’ At that time the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, entered and he recognized the woman. He asked, ‘So and so?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He asked, ‘Who is she staying with?’ I said, ‘So and so the comedienne.’ He said, ‘al-hamdulillah, souls are like drafted soldiers: the ones that are recognize one another (i.e. they are of similar character) will get along, and the ones that reject one another (i.e. they are of dissimilar character) will separate and not get along.’” — Not only does this story indicate that the role of comedienne was recognized and appreciated, but we have the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, recognizing that and citing it as a cause for like-spirited people to get along and strike friendships!

From the later generations we read of al-Shu3aby (a well-known scholar) when a man comes to him and asks him what to do with his beard for wudoo. Al-Shu3aby told him that what he is supposed to do is to comb through it with his fingers. He expressed the concern that this may not be enough to get it wet. Al-Shu3aby responded, “If you are concerned about this then soak it from the night before!”

A man came to Abu Haneefa and asked him, “If I take off my clothes and get into the river to perform ghusl should I face the qibla or some other direction?” Abu Haneefa replied, “It is better to turn your face in the direction of your clothes so they wouldn’t get stolen.”

Again a word of caution – I am in no ways trying to be scholarly here. The above classification is solely my own and simply based on books that I’ve seen or seen cited or heard discussed. I haven’t read every one of the books I mentioned above, I haven’t studied classifications of Arabic literature, and I am simply sharing the little to which I have been exposed.

O.K. So I’ve cited all these books as being either predominantly humorous or as including humor as a primary tool. I have also tried to include citations from many of them so that people would get an idea what I am talking about. The humor in these texts covers a wide range, but the majority of it involves the clever use of language. It varies widely in the kind of taste that it caters to, which is an important consideration in humor in general: not every joke will be funny to every person (also keep in mind that some stuff does get lost in translation ). What I have yet to comment on is the fact that the humor in these texts varies greatly in the degree of its “politeness” or “tameness”. Everything that I have so far quoted has been very tame.

The reality is these folks did not shy away from humor that came in various shades of irreverence. Several of the authors preface their books or these particular jokes by invoking the sayings of Ibn Abbas and other companions and scholars that taking a break with humor or poetry is advisable to rejuvenate one for the serious work ahead. Invariably, such humor or poetry would have to come from the currency of the times, and at times it may push the limits of propriety.

One story, particularly interesting because it is told in a number of sources, including al-3iqd al-fareed and al-maraa7 fi al-mizaa7 (both quoted above) involves Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr (grandson of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, ra, he was known as Ibn Aby Ateeq and that’s how I’ll refer to him in this story) and Abdullah ibn Umar (ra). (Editorial note: the story involves the use of a particular verb that I don’t want to try to figure out how to translate — I will render it as $*&# and the past tense will be $*&#’d and I hope you get the picture ). Ibn Aby Ateeq was married to a noble woman of Quraysh and she had composed a couple of lines of poetry insulting him (guess he had made her upset at some point ). The lines of poetry refer to him losing whatever intellectual capacity he may have once had, and to him wasting all his money on adulteresses and wine! Having composed the poetry she taught it to one of her servant girls who would sing it occasionally. On one such occasion, the girl sang the lines of poetry in his presence and he questioned her who had composed them. When she told him it was her mistress he understood that he was the person being so maligned! Apparently he nonetheless thought them admirable for he had the girl write them down for him. Walking out of his house shortly thereafter he ran into Ibn Umar and decided to have some fun. Showing him the poetry he asked Ibn Umar what he should do with the author should he ever catch him. Ibn Umar suggested that forgiveness and ignoring the insult would be the nobler course of action. Ibn Aby Ateeq instead said, “By God, if I were to ever catch the author I will $*&# him.” Ibn Umar was very upset both by the attitude and the vocabulary and was very stern in admonishing Ibn Aby Ateeq. They parted ways, days passed, and then they happened to meet again. Ibn Aby Ateeq then reminded Ibn Umar of the poetry and then told him, “You know, I finally met the one that wrote that poetry I showed you and I $*&#’d him.” Ibn Umar was so shocked and he grabbed hold of Ibn Aby Ateeq, shook him, and started telling him off, until Ibn Aby Ateeq leaned in and whispered to him that the person in question was his wife! According to the story Ibn Umar thought the whole episode quite funny!

Imam Ibn Abdel Barr narrates the story that two litigants came before a judge. The plaintiff said of the other, “This Adulterer son of the Adulteress owes me such and such.” The judge questioned the respondent, who denied the entire matter. The judge asked the plaintiff to produce either witnesses or evidence. He called two witnesses that both testified that “this Adulterer son of the Adulteress” owes the plaintiff such and such. So then the judge addressed the guy and told him, “You, Adulterer son of the Adulteress, pay back what you owe.” The man was quite indignant and complained saying, “I can understand this man and his witnesses falsely maligning my honor and the honor of my mother, but how do you the judge give yourself such liberty?” The judge was taken aback and said, “Son, when you never stopped any of them, I simply thought that was actually your name.”

Throughout the texts, we find quick quips either directly about, or indirectly involving marriage, sex, and desire. A commonly cited story has one person or another being quoted saying that his grandmother complained to his grandfather of how infrequent sexual relations had become for them. The man responds by claiming that Umar’s ruling on a similar matter was that it was sufficient for a man to have intercourse with his wife once a month to have discharged his husbandly duty. The granny’s response, “And everyone other than us is just ignorant of this ruling?”

Another quip involves Imam Aly and a man who brings someone before him for punishment. He tells Imam Aly that the man claimed to have had a wet dream involving his mother. Imam Aly’s judgment is to stand the man in the sun and apply the legal punishment of flogging to his shadow! (This particular story is told in numerous places, and undergoes considerable distortion so that it winds up with at least three different versions – the one I chose here is the tamest).

Yet another witty exchange involves Hisham ibn Abdel Malik (an Umayyad khalifa) who asked a man that used to frequent his court to find him a wife from his tribe (the tribe of Kalb), and the man obliges. He later teases the man that it seems that “width” (Ar. سعة) is characteristic of the women of Kalb. The man quips, “The women of Kalb were made for the men of Kalb.”

A final example in this category is with Imran ibn Hattan, a man reputed to be rather unattractive, who was married to a very beautiful woman. He returns home one day to find his wife having prettied-up for him and he just sits and stares at her for a while. She finally asks him, “What’s with you?” He says, “By God you’re beautiful.” She says, “Good news! You and I are of the people of paradise.” He says, “How is that?” She explains, “Because you were given someone like me and showed gratitude, and I was given someone like you and showed patience.”

In addition to such quips, we also find many stories and references concerned with love, particularly unrequited love. A woman by the name of al-Thurayya was famed for her beauty and her story is one of several famous pairs of lovers that were not destined to unite. One day, Umar ibn Aby Rabee’a (the man who had fallen madly in love with her) is in Madeena and he sings a few lines of poetry starting with the words, “Who would carry my message to al-Thurayya” and referring to her beauty and her hold on him. He concludes with the words, “They ask me whether I love her? I say the extent of my love is greater than the count of raindrops, pebbles, and grains of sand.” Hearing these lines Ibn Aby Ateeq determines that he just has to be the one to deliver that message. He rides from Madeena to Makka, finds the woman, and recites the poetry to her. When she tells him that he has indeed delivered his trust, he turns his ride around and returns to Madeena.

This woman (al-Thurayya is Arabic for Venus) used to spend the summers with her family in al-Taif. Every day, Umar ibn Aby Rabee’a would go out to the outskirts of Makka to await the farmers coming in from al-Taif with their produce hoping to hear anything about anything involving her. One day he asked the arriving farmers if anything worth mentioning had transpired in their city. They tell him that as they left the city they heard loud wailing and lamentations for some woman whose name they had forgotten but that is the name of one of the stars in the Heavens. He asks whether they mean Venus and they remember that to be the name. Completely at wit’s end he rides as fast as he can from Makka to al-Taif without stopping or allowing his steed any rest. For his journey he chooses a road known to be particularly rough and difficult to ride because it is shorter. As he approaches al-Taif, he finds his beloved out for a walk with her sisters. He tells her what happened, and she tells him that she was the one that had asked the farmers to make up the information just so she could find out how much she mattered to him! Needless to say, more poetry ensued

Also common in this vein were discussions of women, beauty, and the reaction of men to beauty. Imam Ibn Abdel Barr narrates that some sages say, “Perfect beauty in a woman is that four things about her should be very white, four things very dark, four things very red, four things rounded, four things wide, four things narrow, four things thin, four things large, four things small, and four things of pleasant smell.” (He then goes on to list all these fours ).

He also tells the story of Abdullah ibn Umar al-Umary, a known 3aabid (someone dedicated to worship) who passed by a woman during hajj and heard her using some inappropriate language (Ar. رفث). He admonished her and reminded her that this is not appropriate behavior for a pilgrim. In response, the woman dropped her face veil to reveal a face that he describes as outshining the Sun for its beauty. She then told him, “Look closely, Umary, for I am among those meant by the poet in his verses:

She pulled back the silken cover from her face,
and brought about her cheeks a thin cloth
She is one of those that did not go on hajj seeking reward,
but to fatally injure the not-so-cautious man of piety
She targets hearts with her eyes and her look,
and when she targets, her shots land where they will surely kill

The man responded to her, “As for me, I will pray to God that He does not punish this beautiful face with fire!” When Said ibn al-Musayyib (the famous scholar of Madeena) heard this story he commented, “Had it been a man from Iraq, he would simply have told her to get out of his face, but this shows the good humor of the worshipers from Hijaz.”

There are many more stories along these lines or similar ones. Given that the point is humor, and that humor is anything but universal, it is natural to have different people respond differently to some of these stories. Translation is an issue, but even if I had done a perfect job translating and rendering, we would not expect every person to find every example funny. That is in fact part of the point I’ve been trying to make all along. The other part of the point is the sheer proliferation of these many stories. Regardless of whether every single one is true, the fact of the matter is that they were cited by many authors as funny, witty, humorous, or just plain worth telling. I should also point out that while I tried to push myself to pick edgy stories I also have my own limits in terms of taste and there were (many) stories that were considerably more sexual and/or explicit in nature that I just couldn’t bring myself to use them

Our final question has to do with the credibility or stature of the authors quoted. For example, I could no more rely on Abu Hayyan and al-Jahidh than I could on Abu Nawwas. Considered by many scholars to be deviant in theology, personal practice, or both, I have chosen not to include their contributions. (In the case of Abu Hayyan, the contributions are rather extreme any way!)

But the fact is we have here the full range. Ibn Abdel Barr and Ibn al-Jawzy are well-known and prominent jurists. The author of al-maraa7 fi al-mizaa7 is Abu al-Barakat al-Ghazzi, a 10th century (A.H.) scholar who comes from a family of knowledge, was the sheikh of Qari’s in the Umayyad masjid, was a leading Shafi’i scholar of his time, a teacher of hadeeth, and a scholar of tasawwuf. His book includes the story I mentioned above involving Ibn Aby Ateeq and his wife’s poetry. In narrating the story he replaces the $*&# word with a euphemism but in both places where the word occurs notes that the euphemism is his and that Ibn Aby Ateeq was explicit in the language he used .

Ibn Abd Rabbuh (author of al-3iqd al-fareed), al-Zajjaji (author of al-amaaly), and the authors of the maqamaat books were not necessarily known as jurists or theologians (although in al-3iqd, Ibn Abd Rabbuh is identified as faqeeh). Nonetheless, their books became extremely widespread and well-respected. Both of them lived in the fourth century of hijra. Ibn Kathir praises of al-3iqd al-fareed, and it is said that the author made a living selling copies of his book for a 1000 dirham each.

When all of this is taken together, a consistent picture emerges that seems to be true from very early in the life of the Muslim community all the way through at least the 10th century Islamic. This is a picture in which humor thrived, and decent people narrated and enjoyed much of it, while silently tolerating some that they deemed tasteless or outside their own limits. Everyone, from the most scholarly, to the most carelessly playful, enjoyed some sort of humor and understood that sex, marriage, beauty, love, men, women, and relationships, were all subjects of day-to-day life that provided much in the way of humor, and even something in the way of wisdom. While many scholars admonished the community to “keep it clean” and held themselves to that standard, no one thought to shut the door completely, and their definition of “clean” was fluid and contextual.

There is more to say on the subject, but I think I am finally content to post this part and leave further discussion till later inshaa Allah. If you’ve managed to read all the way down here, please forgive me if I have offended you, and keep me in your du3aa.

I also strongly recommend you check out Omair’s latest entry and Hadeel’s reports about Egypt.

Abdul asked about the hadeeth “that Allah says that I am to my servant as he /she thinks of me” and he says “does it mean that we should always think ‘merciful’ and that way we’ll be more prone to mercy?”. The short answer is that yes that is what it means and we should always strengthen our hope in God’s mercy. To shed a little more light on this I looked it up in ibn Hajar’s commentary on Bukhari and Imam al-Nawawy’s commentary on Muslim. They make a number of significant points:

1. Imam al-Nawawy is explicit in stating the simple meaning mentioned above, that the hadeeth motivates us to have hope in God’s pardon (الرجاء وتأميل العفو).
2. True hope is what is joined with action. So if you call upon God in the manner that He prescribed and while fulfilling the conditions that He has set then you should be in no doubt that He will respond. Similarly if you sincerely seek to come closer to Him you should be in doubt that He will guide you. “Hope” that is used as an “excuse” or justification of the abandonment of effort is pure delusion.
3. The opposite of hope is despair (not fear, true fear complements true hope). When one’s awareness of his/her own shortcomings, failings, sins, error, etc., is so acute and so destructive as to leave one in no doubt of being lost, then one is indeed lost – another hadeeth says that for such a person “God will consign him to what he expected of God.”
4. During a person’s life the emotions of love of God, hope of His mercy, and fear of His displeasure should all work together. Scholars differed in the matter of hope and fear as to which, if either, should be more prevalent in the servant’s mind. The debate arises from the simple fact that there is still room for action and so the question becomes how to spur oneself on to better action. At the time of death, however, scholars used this hadeeth as well as other texts and knowledge to emphasize that one should categorically be hopeful at the moment of death. This is because the time for action is ended and all that is left is God’s mercy.
5. There are two beautiful quotes included in the commentaries on this hadeeth. Imam al-Nawawy quotes al-Qady (I believe he means Abu Bakr ibn al-Araby) to say that the “thinking” or “expectation” referred to here is “forgiveness when he asks for forgiveness, acceptance when he repents, a positive answer when he supplicates, and sufficiency when he asks for sufficiency.” Ibn Hajar quotes Imam al-Qurtuby to say that the “thinking” or “expectation” is “to expect a positive answer when he supplicates, to expect acceptance when he repents, to expect forgiveness when he asks for forgiveness, and to expect reward when he worships God fulfilling the conditions of that worship, and to expect these because of his holding firm the truth of God’s promise.”

On a separate note, just before I took this latest hiatus I had posted “The Best and the Worst” — two sayings of the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, that describe for us the best and the worst. From your comments it seems to have resonated and for that we say al-hamdulillah. Nonetheless some of the reaction was unexpected, at least to me. We can sometimes be our own worst critics – and that in a destructive not constructive manner. Of course it is important to worry about oneself and to challenge oneself to identify and work against shortcomings. But two very important things need to be noted.

The first issue is quite general and not specific to this particular case. The prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If your doing good feels good to you, and doing bad feels bad to you, then you are a believer.” There is also a saying (not sure if it is a hadeeth) that Shaytan does not come into a ruined house. In short, if you are questioning yourself, challenging yourself, worrying about your faith and your goodness and your spirituality, then inshaa Allah that itself is the indication that you are traveling the right road. Inshaa Allah you’ll get there. Just keep the faith, and keep going.

The second issue is specific to this case. The prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, is filling us with hope and joy. He is telling us if we are simply kind, then God will be kind to us. Indeed it is important to fulfill our legal obligations, to study to deepen our faith, to struggle to excel in spirituality, to persevere in the obedience of God, to feel and manifest gratitude to God, and all the other ways of thinking about coming closer to God, an ambition that should have no end short of the meeting with God, and a desire that should not be sated until God by His grace enters us into paradise and favors us with the sight of Him. And in seeking this ambition and struggling on this path we should always be setting the bar higher and be critical and all the rest of it. But what these two sayings are telling us is that sometimes we need to step back from the struggle and put in perspective the central importance of human relations: the bottom line is that if God has graced us with the genuine desire to be good to others, then He is telling us that He will be good to us! And there is nothing in all the universe that is more merciful, or more beautiful, or more conducive of hope than the knowledge that simple human kindness may save us.

ألا أخبركم بأحبكم إلي وأقربكم مني مجالس يوم القيامة أحاسنكم أخلاقاً؟ الموطأون أكنافاً، الذين يألفون ويؤلفون. ألا أخبركم بأبغضكم إلي وأبعدكم مني مجالس يوم القيامة؟ الثرثارون المتفيهقون.

“Shall I tell you of those of you that are most beloved to me and will be seated closest to me on the Day of Judgment? Those that are the best of you in manner, whose company may be gained in comfort and without harm, those that find it easy to like and are easily liked. Shall I tell you of those of you that are most hated by me and will be seated farthest from me on the Day of Judgment? Those that speak to much, and that are overflowing (with ill will, ill talk, or ill deeds).”

It is also narrated that the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, said:

ألا أخبركم بشراركم؟ من أكل وحده، ومنع رفده، وضرب عبده. ألا أخبركم بشر بين ذلكم؟ من لا يقيل عثرة، ولا يقبل معذرة، ولا يغفر ذنبا.ً ألا أخبركم بشر من ذلكم من يبغض الناس ويبغضونه.

“Shall I tell you of the worst of you? He that eats alone, holds back his help and support, and beats his slave. Shall I tell you of worse than that? He that neither overlooks error, nor accepts an apology, nor forgives a sin. Shall I tell you of worse than that? He that hates people and people hate him.”

He’s also posted a video of his first stand-up gig in a comedy club in D.C. and it’s first rate. Check it out.

Secondly, Asma, Asmaa, and Noha are now on the blogroll. (Yes, it’s not a mistake Asma and Asmaa are two different people ). Check their blogs out – you will not be disappointed. Asma just started on hadithuna this past February but already has a consistent following maa shaa Allah. Her blog so far is about inspiration in a variety of modes and the comments from everyone enrich the discussion. Asmaa is part of a two member team with another sister who goes by the alias “The Fool”. They are both accomplished writers and have explored a variety of topics from the humorous to the somber and reflective. Noha is an artist in engineer’s clothing like so many members of our community. (this line needs a smiley but I couldn’t decide if it should be a laugh or a frown or a head scratcher!) Her blog is both a photo and “random thoughts blog”. Please check them out in the blogroll.

There are others to come in the near future inshaa Allah; I am just trying to stagger them a bit