\u201c\u2026 Fulfill your (part of the) covenant, I shall fulfill My (part of the) covenant\u2026\u201d<\/b> (Baqarah, 2; 40)<\/p>\n
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Allah the Almighty says in the Holy Qur\u2019an: \u201cO you who believe! Fulfill the obligations\u2026\u201d<\/b> (al-Maidah 5; 1). Therefore, believers must observe their promises. First of all, faith is a type of promise or an agreement. It means that a believer makes promises to Allah the Almighty. In addition, personal and social promises are also made. No matter what kind of promise we have made, we need to keep our promises; because it is the essence of our religion, rule of our faith, and order of Allah the Almighty.<\/p>\n
Adherence to our promises occupies a very important place in the foundation and continuance of the social order; because, improvement of personal and social life depends on mutual relationships, and these relationships are based upon various agreements and promises. Without agreements social and economic growth cannot continue. The significant amount of complaints and setbacks in affairs are the result of breaking promises. It is a vested right to expect the fulfillment of agreements. In other words, those who do not keep their promises violate others rights and do not fulfill their obligations at the same time. Allah the Almighty invites His servants to be careful in this regard saying:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026and fulfill the promise; surely (every) promise shall be questioned about.\u201d<\/b> (al-Isra 17; 34) As internalizing this good moral is to the advantage of a servant, not fulfilling its requirements is to his\/her disadvantage. While distrust, anger, and enmity will prevail around those who are not observant of their promises; tranquility and peace will emerge in places where obligations are fulfilled. As a result, people will become more attached to each other with love and respect. Allah the Almighty states that He will bestow great blessings upon such observant people in the following verse:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026So whosoever breaks his oath breaks it only to his soul\u2019s hurt; while whosoever keeps his covenant with Allah, on him will He bestow immense reward.\u201d<\/b> (al-Fath 48; 10)<\/p>\n
It is narrated by Abu Huraira:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Prophet said that \u201cAllah says, \u2018I will be against three persons on the Day of Resurrection\u2019\u201d<\/i> and then He counts the first one which is who makes a covenant in His Name, but he proves to be treacherous. (Bukhari, Buyu\u2019 106) In another tradition, the Prophet (pbuh) expresses that if a believer breaks his\/her promises, he\/she will have an attribute of hypocrisy until he\/she gives it up. (Bukhari, Iman, 24)<\/p>\n
Allah\u2019s Messenger (pbuh) describes the tragic end of such people on the Day of Judgment in his following saying:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026On the Day of Judgment there will be a flag for every person guilty of the breach of faith. It will be raised in proportion to the extent of his guilt \u2026\u201d<\/i> (Muslim, Jihad, 15) In other words, a distrustful person will be exposed on the Day of Judgment in front of other people and will distinguished by raising a flag. This will make him\/her more disgraced and ashamed.<\/p>\n
Abdullah b. Abbas said that \u201cthere is no people who betray a pledge, but that Allah gives their enemies power over them.\u201d (Muwatta<\/i>, Jihad, 4) Thus, he pointed out that those who do not keep their promises will be liked by neither Allah the Almighty nor His servants and will face many troubles.<\/p>\n
In many places of the Qur\u2019an, our Lord expresses that He is observant of His promises and His promise will never change in His presence. After Allah\u2019s Messenger (pbuh) had performed the funeral prayer of one of his companions, he made the following invocation and proclaimed that Allah the Almighty is faithful to His promises:<\/p>\n
\u201cO Allah! Son of so and so is in Your protection, so guard him from the trial in the grave and the punishment in Hell. You are faithful to Your promise and worthy of praise. O Allah! Forgive him and show him mercy. You are the forgiving and the merciful one.\u201d<\/i> (Abu Dawud, Janaiz, 54-56) The statement of \u201cbeing faithful to the promises\u201d<\/i> in this prayer emphasizes that Allah the Almighty will fulfill His promises, reward the performer of good deeds, and always be with the truth and truthful. Since our Lord Almighty likes to see this attribute in His servants, He says:<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 and fulfill your (part of the) covenant, I shall fulfill My (part of the) covenant \u2026\u201d<\/b> (Baqarah, 2; 40) and commands them to fulfill their obligations. Allah\u2019s Messenger (pbuh), the most perfect servant of Allah the Almighty and the most observant of His commands, often touched the covenant of the servants with their Lords and asked for Allah\u2019s forgiveness:<\/p>\n
\u0648\u064e\u0623\u064e\u0646\u064e\u0627 \u0639\u064e\u0628\u0652\u062f\u064f\u0643\u064e \u0648\u064e\u0623\u064e\u0646\u064e\u0627 \u0639\u064e\u0644\u064e\u064a \u0639\u064e\u0647\u0652\u062f\u0650\u0643\u064e \u0648\u064e\u0648\u064e\u0639\u0652\u062f\u0650\u0643\u064e \u0645\u064e\u0627\u0627\u0633\u0652\u062a\u064e\u0637\u064e\u0639\u0652\u062a\u064f<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026I am Your slave and I am abiding to Your covenant and promise as best as I can\u2026\u201d<\/i> (Bukhari, Daawat, 16) Our blessed Prophet (pbuh) always observed his covenant with Allah, his Lord, and never broke his promises. As a person who knew all aspects of the Prophet\u2019s life, Ibn Abbas (r.a.) said about the Messenger of Allah (pbuh): \u201cwhen the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) gave a promise, he would certainly fulfill it.\u201d (Bukhari, Shahadat, 28)<\/p>\n
Allah\u2019s Messenger (pbuh) was always fair and upright in his relationships with his business partners, his customers, and other people as well. Besides, being faithful to his promises was a distinguishing characteristic of his even before his prophethood. When he made a promise to someone, he kept it no matter what the circumstances were.<\/p>\n
Abdullah b. Abul Hamsa\u2019 (r.a.) narrates, \u201cBefore the Holy Prophet (pbuh) declared his prophethood, I had bought something from him. I was a bit short on cash and so I asked the Prophet to wait whilst I went and got some money from home. The Prophet agreed to wait there but when I went home I completely forgot about it. After three days when I suddenly remembered, I rushed to see the Prophet who was standing and waiting for me at the same place where he had promised me. He did not show any displeasure at seeing me, just advised,<\/p>\n
\u201cO young man! You have put me in a difficult situation as I have been waiting here for you for three days.\u201d<\/i> (Abu Dawud, Adab, 82)<\/b><\/p>\n
Allah\u2019s Apostle\u2019s reason for waiting was not to get his money back but was because of his faithfulness to his promises. He became so sensitive about keeping his promises that even his enemies benefited from his mercy. It has been reported on the authority of Hudhaifa b. al-Yaman who said:<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing prevented me from being present at the Battle of Badr except this incident: I came out with my father Husail to participate in the Battle, but we were caught by the disbelievers of Quraish. They said:<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you intend to go to Muhammad?\u201d We said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not intend to go to him, but we have other reasons for going back to Medina.\u201d<\/p>\n
So they took from us a covenant in the name of Allah that we would turn back to Medina and would not fight on the side of Muhammad (pbuh). So, we came to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and related the incident to him. He said:<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth of you go; we will fulfill the covenant that you made with them and seek Allah\u2019s help against them.\u201d<\/i> (Muslim, Jihad, 98)<\/p>\n
Another incident which shows how breaking a promise does not befit a Muslim happened during the Hudaibiyah Treaty. One of the conditions of the treaty was to return all the refugees coming from Mecca to Medina. Just when they were signing the treaty, Abu Jandal (r.a.), son of Suhail b. Amr, the representative of Quraish, came to the Prophet (pbuh) dragging the chains attached to his feet. Because Abu Jandal (r.a.) had converted to Islam, he had been tortured by the Meccan polytheists. He found a way and escaped from them and took refuge in Muslims. Suhail told them that his son was the first person to be returned according to the treaty and hit Abu Jandal\u2019s face with the stick in his hand. Allah\u2019s Messenger (pbuh), who was sorrowfully watching what was going on, asked Suhail to leave Abu Jandal out off the deal. However the hard hearted polytheist did not accept the Prophet\u2019s request. Abu Jandal (r.a.) begged and asked for help from the believers while he was handed to the polytheists. The believers could not stand his situation and began to weep. Allah\u2019s Messenger (pbuh) appeased Abu Jandal saying:<\/p>\n
\u201cO Abu Jandal! Be patient a little more. Ask for your reward from Allah the Almighty. Without a doubt Allah the Most High will soon create a solution and ease for the weak believers like you and others. We have signed a peace agreement with these people and made a covenant with them in the name of Allah. They promised us in the name of Allah, too. We cannot break our promise, for breaking promises is not appropriate for us.\u201d<\/i> (Ibn Hanbal, IV, 325; Ibn Hisham, III, 376)[1]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n What happened to Abu Jandal (r.a.) soon happened to another sincere believer named Abu Basir (r.a.). Polytheist asked him to be returned, too. Abu Basir (r.a.) killed Hunays, one of his two guardians on his way back, and made the other one run away. He took Hunays\u2019 sword, clothes, and other belongings. He took them to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and said:<\/p>\n \u201cO Messenger of Allah! Take one fifth of these for yourself.\u201d The Prophet (pbuh) said:<\/p>\n \u201cIf I took one fifth of these, it would mean that I broke our agreement with them. However your actions and what you do with the possessions of that man is completely your own concern.\u201d <\/i>(Waqidi, II, 626-27)<\/p>\n The following incident which happened to a shepherd named Yasar during the Battle of Khaibar also deserves our attention. According to the reports, Yasar, who earned his livelihood by grazing the herds of a leading Jewish man, really wanted to meet the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and one morning when he went out of the castle to graze his herd, he met Allah Messenger (pbuh). After a short conversation with the Prophet, Yasar converted to Islam. Allah\u2019s Messenger (pbuh) changed his name to Aslam. Then Aslam asked the Prophet (pbuh) about what he needed to do with his herd. The Prophet (pbuh) replied:<\/p>\n