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Amongst the lectures of the second Caliph, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) is a lecture in which he stated, “O mankind! If anyone amongst you finds any deviation in me, then he should correct it.”
A Bedouin in the mosque stood up and said, “I swear by Allah, if we saw any deviation in you, we would correct it with our swords.”
At this moment ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “All praise is for Allah, the One who made in this nation people who would correct the deviance of ‘Umar with their swords.”
The narrator states, “May Allah have mercy on you O ‘Umar. Indeed you gave due consideration to the reply of this Bedouin even though he is just one of your citizens, a single individual from your nation. You considered him a blessing and praised Allah for it.”
An advice coinciding with this humble action is the Prophet’s (Allah bless him and grant him peace) statement to one of his companions, Abu Dharr al-Ghifary (may Allah be pleased with him) in which he states, “My friend (referring to the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) appointed me with distinguishing characteristics; He advised me that I not fear the blame of a critic in proportion to Allah; and he advised to speak the truth though it may be bitter.”
Taken from Nafhat al-‘Arab by Shaykh al-Adab Mawlana Muhammad I’zaz ‘Ali
