← Back to Essays
This content has been automatically translated. View original in Arabic

Admonish them but do not drop them!

١٢ أكتوبر ٢٠١٩
Admonish them but do not drop them!

I met someone 16 years ago..and a friendship formed between us.. The days passed..and I went through difficult circumstances..I was detained...I got out of detention...He did not come to greet me, nor did he call me.. I called him, and he responded coldly.. So I said: (Perhaps he wants to cut off the relationship so as not to get into trouble. And yet, if something happens to him, I will not fall short with him).. The years passed..my daughter died..He did not console me, not even with a call! That hurt me..and two sides tugged at me: Sometimes I say: Honor yourself, Yiad, not to communicate with someone who does not want your friendship...who sells you as you sell him... And sometimes I say: Give him a chance..admonish him..if he ignores you, do not ask about him afterward.. - And why should I admonish him? The matter is clear: he does not ask about me nor does he want to communicate with me, and he did not preserve our friendship and affection.. - I return to say: Admonish him, even for his sake, and do not expect him to accept you afterward...admonish him to awaken in him the sense of nobility that you know exists in him... Months passed...then I wrote him the attached message in the picture... The response came the next day, surprisingly: (By God, you have a great honor in my heart, and God is my witness that in every trial I was afflicted with, I would pray for you in my prostration, a prayer for a brother in secret, and what kept me from you was my shortcoming...And I repeat my apology, and God is my witness that I love you for God and that you have an honor in my heart that only God knows)... Then he called afterward and swore to God that he loved me as he loves his brothers, but his circumstances were difficult...and we agreed to visit each other again...and I realized that I had to stand by him in his circumstances that I did not know about. I thanked God afterward that I admonished him with the message, and that my "self-respect" did not prevent me from sending it.. For our self-respect should not prevent us from giving one opportunity after another to those we love and whom we know to be good...acting upon the saying of God Almighty: (Humiliated upon the believers, honored upon the disbelievers). The Ansar admonished the Prophet (peace be upon him) for what he did with the spoils of Hunayn when he distributed them to those whose hearts were to be reconciled and to the poor emigrants, and did not give them anything, although they were the ones who stood by him until God granted them victory..They admonished but did not keep it in their hearts...because they loved him, and they did not want this love to be tainted nor to remain silent while they had a grudge in their hearts... And the Prophet admonished them when he learned what they said, and explained to them that he had reconciled them to their faith and made them love the worldly goods so that they might be saved. Then the gathering dispersed, and the Ansar were weeping with joy at the Prophet's expression of his love for them, his loyalty to them, and his prayer for them and their offspring, and with joy at the news that he was returning with them to the city, and would not remain in Mecca with his family as they had thought.. The admonition took place, the matters were clarified, and the love returned deeper and stronger than it was... Therefore, dear ones..if you can find an excuse for your loved ones so that nothing remains in the heart, then do so..if you cannot, then admonish them, but do not drop them from your calculations.