Almost everyone of us know the first few verses of surat Abasa [Q 80]. May be we do not know the reason behind its revelation. Just in case you do not know, it was revealed concerning one of the companions of the Prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] [Ibn Umm Makhtum] who had gone to him to ask him concerning a matter. Meanwhile, the Prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] was attending to one of the noble men of Makkah with the aim of convincing him to accept Islam. He [Abdullah Ibn Umm-Makhtum [RA] was asking the Prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] about a thing and wanted an immediate answer from him.
The Prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] felt Ibn Umm-Makhtum [RA] was disturbing him and therefore frowned to keep him away at-least at that moment that he was still talking to the Makkan chief. Then Allaah revealed; "[The Prophet) frowned and turned away. Because there came to him the blind man[i.e. Abdullah bin Umm-Makhtum]. And how can you know that he might become pure [from sins}...?" [Q 80: 1-10] [Tafsiribn Kathir]
There are similar verses like this where Allaah corrected His friend [Prophet [peace and blessings be upon him]] when there was need for it. The Prophet [peace and blessings be upon him], we must bear in mind, is without any doubt the best of the creatures of Allaah; be it among men, jinns, angels or animals; yet the Prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] accepted his the point of correction and made amends concerning them.
What are we driving at, Brothers and Sisters? The point we are trying to make is that we as humans, are not created such that we do not make mistakes or sometimes deliberately commit sins. What is important is that as soon as those mistakes are pointed out to us we should quickly acknowledge them and make amends concerning them. The point of correction may come from our family members [older or younger], or even from our friends.
And guess what? They may even come from those that we think do not like us! What is important is that we should consider what they are correcting us about and put .it on the scale of Islam with all sincerity. If they are right, then we must make amends, if not we should continue with what we are doing and ask Allaah for help. With this, we will not only be making progress concerning our religious life, we will also be better persons concerning our worldly matters. We should not be like Mr. Know all or Mr. No Mistake! This will only lead you to one direction, perdition. May Allaah save us from that [Aamin] Remember, those who do not have any reason to correct or criticize you are not your friends even if they claim to be! And Allaah is the source of help!
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited