Keeping
the
Balance
A transcript of a talk delivered by
`Aalimah Nadia Sadiq
Transcribed by Farheen Wani
T
he word character
which is khulq
in arabic means
‘a natural quality
to do something’. Imam
Ghazzali v says that good
character means that you don’t
force yourself to do something,
it naturally comes out of
you. That is called character.
Without thinking, you don’t
have to think to do that thing.
That is your ikhlaq (character).
So if that natural occurrence
out of you is of good, like
forgiveness, of smiling, of
NISBAH 40
spending for people, of inviting
people, of respecting our
neighbors, of forgiving people,
then that means that you are a
person of good character.
If you naturally have ill feelings
and grudges in the heart towards
people, this ia an indication of
evil character. This is the way of
knowing. For example, a person
might not spend a lot in charity
but that does not mean that his
character is of stinginess. He can
still be of a generous character,
but he is just not spending
because he does not have money
or maybe he does not have the
opportunity. Imam Ghazzali v
writes that to give something is
not a good character, rather to
have trait in you that whenever
you do things it naturally comes
out of you, that is the trait of
good character.
Our scholars give an example
of the outward beauty with the
inward beauty. They say that if
a person has pretty eyes but the
rest of the features are not very
pretty, you don’t call that person