-Bukhari
and Muslim
Commentary. Some authorities
are of the opinion that the expression, “seventy and odd”
occurring in this saying denotes only a multitude, The Arabs, often,
use the number of seventy when they want to emphasize the abundance
of a thing and the phase, “seventy and odd” has been used
here to lend a greater force to it. Others say that it stands for seventy-seven
and they have also tried to specify all the seventy-seven departments
of Faith. But these interpretations are purely speculative and open
to endless argument. What sounds more reasonable is that the Prophet
did not want to fix an exact number but only to indicate profusion and
to say that Faith was composed of many parts and modesty was one of
them. Had there been a definite figure in his mind he would not have
rest content with a vague and general statement but explained it fully
and enumerated all the seventy or seventy-seven branches.
By the “Branches of Faith” are meant the deeds and virtues
and internal and external states that should follow as a natural outcome
of the ingress of Faith. Just as a verdant tree bears forth leaves and
fruits, virtuous acts, good morals and noble states of thought and feeling
are the offshoots of Faith though their grades are different.
The testimony of the Oneness of God has been described in it as the
highest and the removal of a hindrance from the path as the lowest branch
of Faith. Now, whatever good or virtuous acts can be imagined between
the two grades constitute the departments or branches of Faith, whether
they appertain to the rights of God or to the rights of men and their
number will, naturally, run into hundreds.
Shame has, particularly, been mentioned as forming an important part
of Faith. There can be two reasons for it. Either someone had fallen
short of the Islamic standard of modesty at that time and the Prophet
wanted to correct him through the admonition, as the way is with sagacious
teachers and wise reformers, or seeing the crucial place the sense of
modesty occupied in the moral scheme of things, the Prophet might have
thought it appropriate to lay a special stress on it. Shame is the moral
characteristic which acts as a preventive to numerous sins and follies,
and, as such, there obtains a special affinity between it and Faith.
Modesty is not to be observed only in relation to human beings. The
Almighty Creator comes first. Generally, a person who does not entertain
respect for his elders and behaves reprehensibly towards or before them
is considered to be shameless and impudent, but not one is more unfortunate
and insolent than him who feels no shame before the Lord and knowing
that God sees and hears directly all that he does or speaks does all
sorts of dirty and deplorable things in His presence.
Accordingly, if the sense of modesty is alive and active in a person,
his life will not only be clean in the sight of fellow-men but he will
also commit very few acts of transgression against the claims of God.
It is stated in Tirmidhi that once the Prophet observed, while speaking
to the Companions: “Practice modesty towards the Lord as it ought
to be practised towards Him.” “God be praised,” replied
the Companions, “We practise modesty towards Him”. “No”,
the Prophet said, “It is not that. The proper way of observing
modesty towards Allah is that you took care of the head and all the
notions and ideas that are contained in it, and you took care of the
belly and all that is contained in it [i.e., protected the mind against
evil thoughts and the stomach against unlawful food], and remembered
what your state is going to be on death and in the grave after death.
Whoever did so, know that he fulfilled the duty of observing modesty
towards Allah as it ought to be.”