What Are the Principles of Proper Conduct According to the Prophetic Sunna?
Answered by Shaykh Anas al-Musa
Question
What are the principles of proper conduct according to the methodology of the Prophetic Sunna?
Answer
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all worlds. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger sent as a mercy to the worlds, our Master and Prophet, Muhammad, and his Family and Companions.
Foundational Virtues
Scholars have varied in their articulation of the essential virtues and foundational morals. Some have stated that these core virtues are wisdom, courage, and generosity. Others have suggested they are wisdom, courage, chastity, and justice. Among the scholars, some replace wisdom with patience, while others substitute it with temperance, chastity, and trustworthiness.
Hafiz Ibn Hajar defined the primary virtues as courage, generosity, and wisdom, while Ibn Hazm al-Zahiri considered the four foundational virtues to be justice, understanding, valor, and generosity, from which all other virtues derive.
Examples of Virtues from the Prophetic Sunna
Below are some examples from the Prophetic Sunna that highlight these virtues:
Generosity and Courage
Anas (Allah be pleased with him) said:
“The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was the best of people, the bravest of people, and the most generous of people. The people of Medina were alarmed one night, and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) went ahead of them on a horse,” and he said, “We found him to be an ocean (of generosity).” [Bukhari]
Non-Miserliness and Honesty
Jubayr Ibn Mut‘im narrated that as he was journeying with the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) while returning from Hunayn, people surrounded the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) asking for things until they forced him towards a tree with thorns, which caught his cloak. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) stopped and said,
“Give me my cloak. If I had as many camels as the thorns on this tree, I would distribute them among you, and you would not find me miserly, dishonest, or cowardly.” [Ibid.]
Truthfulness
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) also said regarding truthfulness:
“Be truthful, for truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. A person continues to tell the truth and strive to be truthful until they are recorded with Allah as a truthful person. Beware of lying, for lying leads to wickedness, and wickedness leads to the Fire. A person continues to lie and strive to lie until they are recorded with Allah as a liar.” [Ibid.]
Trustworthiness
Regarding trustworthiness, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:
“The signs of a hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he lies; when he promises, he breaks it; and when he is entrusted, he betrays.” [Ibid.]
Forbearance and Tolerance
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) also praised forbearance, a key virtue:
“May Allah show mercy to a person who is tolerant when they sell, tolerant when they buy, and tolerant when they demand repayment.” [Ibid.]
Chastity and Courage
Chastity encourages a person to avoid immorality in words and actions, embodying modesty and refraining from bad conduct, such as vulgarity and greed. Courage, on the other hand, instills self-respect, inclining a person towards noble traits and generosity, which in itself is an expression of courage through sacrifice.
Self-Control and Justice in Character
Furthermore, courage encourages self-control in moments of anger, as the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:
“The strong person is not the one who throws others down in wrestling; rather, the strong person is the one who controls themselves in moments of anger.” [Ibid.]
Justice guides a person to moderation in character, allowing them to balance excess and deficiency, avoiding stinginess and wastefulness, pride and subservience, and cowardice and recklessness.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as the wise of Islam have said:
A person has three powers—intellectual, whose perfection is wisdom; appetitive, whose perfection is generosity; and irascible, whose perfection is courage. [Ansari, Minhat al-Bari]
And Allah knows best.
May Allah bless the Prophet Muhammad and give him peace, and his Family and Companions.
[Shaykh] Anas al-Musa
Shaykh Anas al-Musa, born in Hama, Syria, in 1974, is an erudite scholar of notable repute. He graduated from the Engineering Institute in Damascus, where he specialized in General Construction, and Al-Azhar University, Faculty of Usul al-Din, where he specialized in Hadith.
He studied under prominent scholars in Damascus, including Shaykh Abdul Rahman al-Shaghouri and Shaykh Adib al-Kallas, among others. Shaykh Anas has memorized the Quran and is proficient in the ten Mutawatir recitations, having studied under Shaykh Bakri al-Tarabishi and Shaykh Mowfaq ‘Ayun. He also graduated from the Iraqi Hadith School.
He has taught numerous Islamic subjects at Shari‘a institutes in Syria and Turkey. Shaykh Anas has served as an Imam and preacher for over 15 years and is a teacher of the Quran in its various readings and narrations.
Currently, he works as a teacher at SeekersGuidance and is responsible for academic guidance there. He has completed his Master’s degree in Hadith and is now pursuing his Ph.D. in the same field. Shaykh Anas al-Musa is married and resides in Istanbul.
