Hadith No. 29 – Sahih al-Bukhari

Salam,

Bismillah.

Ignorance is a state of being uninformed (lack of knowledge).

Jahiliyyah (Arabic: جاهلية) is an Islamic concept of “ignorance of divine guidance” or “the state of ignorance of the guidance from God” or “Days of Ignorance” referring to the condition Arabs found themselves in pre-Islamic Arabia, i.e. prior to the revelation of the Qur’an to Muhammad. By extension it means the state of anyone not following Islam and the Qur’an.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Volume 1, Book 2, Number 29:

Narrated Al-Ma’rur:

At Ar-Rabadha I met Abu Dhar who was wearing a cloak, and his slave, too, was wearing a similar one. I asked about the reason for it. He replied, “I abused a person by calling his mother with bad names.” The Prophet said to me, ‘O Abu Dhar! Did you abuse him by calling his mother with bad names? You still have some characteristics of ignorance. Your slaves are your brothers and Allah has put them under your command. So whoever has a brother under his command should feed him of what he eats and dress him of what he wears. Do not ask them (slaves) to do things beyond their capacity (power) and if you do so, then help them.’

Did you know how Abu Dhar had abused his slave? By calling him ‘son of a black woman’. For an average person today, this might not even sound abusive. We use much worse language, don’t we?

Even our language represents our Deen. The kinds of words we use, and our way of talking. Everything counts.

Two definitions are given on the top. Ignorance, generally, is lack of knowledge. But when we talk about the term ‘Jahiliyyah’, it refers to ignorance from Islam.

So, abusive language can only be expected from a person who lacks knowledge of Islam. We have enough, Alhamdulillah. Enough to know that we’re Muslims. We should show it as well. =)

Wassalam.