Gentleness in Dealings

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘There are three things for the absence of which none of one’s deeds is complete: restraint from the worldly things to keep him from disobeying Allah, moral behavior with which one can gently deal with people and forbearance with which one can repel the ignorance of ignorant people.’”

“I heard abu Ja’far (a.s.) say, ‘Jibril (the Archangel) once came to the Holy Prophet and said, “O Muhammad, your Lord sends you greetings of peace and says to you, ‘Be gentle and kind to My creatures.’””

“In the Torah it is of the words of Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, to Moses ibn ‘Imran, ‘O Moses, keep My secret as secret in your secrecy. Demonstrate gentleness from Me in your public life toward your enemy and My enemy among My creatures. Do not express My secret (condemnation of the enemy) for Me before them and in public that, consequently, your enemy and My enemy join to abuse Me.’”

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘My Lord (Allah) has commanded me to be gentle to people just as He has commanded me to fulfill my obligations.’”

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘Dealing kindly with people is half of belief and leniency to them is half of livelihood.’ The Imam then said, ‘Meet the virtuous people privately. Meet the criminals in public and do not be attracted to them; they will do injustice to you. There will come a time when, from the religious people, only those will be safe who are thought of as fools. They exercise patience so much so that they will be called silly.’”

“I heard Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) say, ‘Certain people lacked gentle dealings with others, they were expelled from the tribe of Quraysh. I swear by Allah, there was nothing wrong with their birth. On the other hand, certain people who were not from the tribe of Quraysh dealt with people gently and they were joined in the family of superior status.’ The Imam then said, ‘One who holds his hand back from people he only holds back one hand but they (people) hold back from him many hands.’”