Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 237his wife Safiyya ra came to see him in the mosque. Whenthe time came for her to return home it had becomedark and the Prophet sa decided to escort her to herhouse. On the way he passed by two men and, wishingto avoid any speculation on their part as to hiscompanion, he stopped them and lifting the veil from theface of his wife said: "See, this is Safiyya ra my wife." Theyprotested saying: "O Messenger of Allah sa ! why did youimagine that we should fall into any misconceptionregarding you?" The Prophet sa replied "Satan (i.e., evilthoughts) often courses through a man's blood. I wasafraid lest your faith be affected" (Bukhari, AbwabulI ‘tikaf ).OVERLOOKING FAULTS OF OTHERSHe never gave publicity to the faults andshortcomings of others and admonished people not toproclaim their own faults. He used to say: "If a personcovers up the faults of another, God will cover up hisfaults on the Day of Judgement." And, "Every one of myfollowers can escape the consequences of his errors (i.e.,by true repentance and reform) except those who go onproclaiming their wrongdoing" and illustrated this bysaying: ,"A man commits a sin at night and God coversit up; in the morning he meets his friends and boastsbefore them:. 'I did this last night, I did that last night,'and thus he himself lays bare that which God hadcovered up" (Bukhari and Muslim).Some people foolishly imagine that a confession ofsin helps towards repentance; the truth is that it onlyfosters immodesty. Sin is an evil and he who slips into itand becomes a prey to shame and remorse has a chanceof climbing back into the path of purity andrighteousness through repentance. His case is like thatof a person who has been seduced by evil but is pursuedby righteousness and as soon as a chance offers, the evilis vanquished and the sinner is claimed back by