Two Expressions on Good and Bad Character
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah be with you, Honorable Shaykh. What is your opinion on these two expressions: "I would rather be in the company of a sinner with good character than a worshipper with bad character," and "Good character is a good deed that no sin can harm, while bad character is an evil deed that no abundance of good deeds can benefit"?
The Shaykh:
That is the talk of an ignorant person, correct. It is a broken mushaf. What do you mean by this? That good character affects you? Yes, it affects you. And the worshipper, his company is good for you; you follow his example. As for his having bad character, that is his own affair. But to be affected by his actions and in comparison with him, yes. And the second expression...
The questioner:
It says: "Good character is a good deed that no sin can harm, while bad character is an evil deed that no preservation of good deeds can benefit."
The Shaykh:
It means that good character, even if one is a disbeliever, prevents disbelief and shirk (associating partners with Allah). What is this talk? It does not prevent that. It means that if one is a disbeliever, or an associate of partners with Allah, or an atheist, as long as he has good character, he is forgiven. Who says this? And bad character is not benefited by obedience. It means that if one has bad character, but is a believer, a monotheist, prays, and fasts, do these acts of obedience benefit him? This is false talk. Yes, good character is required and bad character is condemned, but it does not reach this extent.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
May Allah be with you, Honorable Shaykh. What is your opinion on these two expressions: "I would rather be in the company of a sinner with good character than a worshipper with bad character," and "Good character is a good deed that no sin can harm, while bad character is an evil deed that no abundance of good deeds can benefit"?
The Shaykh:
That is the talk of an ignorant person, correct. It is a broken mushaf. What do you mean by this? That good character affects you? Yes, it affects you. And the worshipper, his company is good for you; you follow his example. As for his having bad character, that is his own affair. But to be affected by his actions and in comparison with him, yes. And the second expression...
The questioner:
It says: "Good character is a good deed that no sin can harm, while bad character is an evil deed that no preservation of good deeds can benefit."
The Shaykh:
It means that good character, even if one is a disbeliever, prevents disbelief and shirk (associating partners with Allah). What is this talk? It does not prevent that. It means that if one is a disbeliever, or an associate of partners with Allah, or an atheist, as long as he has good character, he is forgiven. Who says this? And bad character is not benefited by obedience. It means that if one has bad character, but is a believer, a monotheist, prays, and fasts, do these acts of obedience benefit him? This is false talk. Yes, good character is required and bad character is condemned, but it does not reach this extent.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Source
شرح الكافية الشافية في الانتصار للفرقة الناجية [ القصيدة النونية ] [ صالح الفوزان ]، بداية من قوله : وكذلك الشحام والعلاف والنجار أهل الجهل بالقرآن — islamhouse.com (27:56)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.