Hawzah News Agency-The Qur’an is the principle source of every Muslim’s faith and practice, but its basic theme is the relationship between God and His creatures and provides guidelines for a just society, proper human conduct and equitable economic principles. For next 100 days we are presenting some short articles on ethical issues that have been written based on the verses of Qur’an.

 There was a couple that moved into a new neighborhood. Early one morning while they were eating, the lady looked out the window and saw the neighbor hanging her wash out on the line to dry. She noticed that the wash was so dirty and so dingy. She said to her husband, “That neighbor does not know how to wash. Her clothes are not clean. I wonder if she even uses detergent.” Day after day, she made these same comments. “I cannot believe she lets her family wear those dirty, dingy clothes.”

 Several weeks later, she looked out that window, and the clothes were just as bright, clean, and beautiful as could be. She was so surprised. She called her husband and said, “Honey, look. The lady finally learned how to wash. I wonder what happened.” The husband smiled and said, “Honey, I got up early this morning and cleaned our window.” The problem was not that the neighbor had dirty laundry. The problem was the window she was looking through was not clean. She was seeing everything through a tainted filter.

 If you only see the scratch in the floor and never the amazing house; if you never see what your spouse does right and only what they do wrong, then my encouragement to you is to clean your window. The problem is not with your spouse. It is an internal issue. Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him and his progeny) said: “Blessed is he who, according to his fault he keeps looking to his brothers faults”.  Moreover, Imam Baqer (peace be upon him) said: “It is enough for the ignorance of a person to pay attention to the fault of people while he is unaware of the same fault on himself”. 

You have to make a switch. Decide today to start appreciating people's strengths and learn to downplay their weaknesses. If you do, your life will be filled with more peace, unity and love, and you will see God bless your life in greater ways.

Noble Words

 Author: Abolfazl Sabouri