Hadeeth 20: Modesty is from Iman

عن أبي مسعود عقبة بن عمرو الأنصاري البدري رضى الله عنه قال: قال رسول الله صلي الله علية وسلم : ( إن مما أدرك الناس من كلام النبوة الأولى: إذا لم تستح فاصنع ما شئت ).
رواه البخاري [ رقم: 3483 ]

On the authority of Abu Mas’ood ‘Uqbah bin ‘Amr al-Ansaaree al-Badree (radiAllahu anhu) who said : The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“ Verily, from what was learnt by the people from the speech of the Earliest Prophecy is: If you feel no shame, then do as you wish. It was related by al-Bukhari

Explanation of Hadeeth Number 20

The meaning of his ﷺ statement “From the speech of the Earliest Prophecy” is that modesty has always been considered praiseworthy, commendable and ordered with, and has never been abrogated in the teachings and Laws of the earlier Prophets.

And his ﷺ statement “then do as you wish” has two angles to it:

The first of them is that it is not an order to do as we please, but rather it is a warning or threat that if we do so then we shall have to face the consequences. And this is similar to the statement of Allah ta’aalaa with reference to the Disbelievers : “Do what you will” [Fussilat, 40]. And this is a threat to them as it has been made clear to them what will come about as a result of their disbelief. And this is also similar to the statement of the Prophet ﷺ “Whoever sells alcohol then let him also make permissible the eating of swine” – and, clearly, there is not in this permission to eat the flesh of pigs !

The second is that if a person does not have any modesty or shame, then let him come forward and openly perform every single shameful act without any reservation. And similar to this is his ﷺ statement : “Modesty is from Iman (faith)”. Its meaning is that modesty prevents a person from committing shameful and evil deeds, but rather encourages him towards piety and good actions; just as a person’s Iman (faith) prevents him from committing such acts, and instead encourages him upon obedience [of the Lord]. Thus, modesty attains the station and position of Iman, through its being equivalent to Iman in this.

And Allah knows best.

Summary:

• That people are generally alright until they corrupt themselves
• That when one has remained pure one can trust one’s conscience

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