. J ࢁ e u (cont.)

And the one who is asked about something he does not know should not be so shy that it keeps him from saying, 'I don't know."'3 Al-Bukhari recorded in mualaq form that Mujaahid stated, "The one who is shy and the one who is arrogant do not attain knowledge." Aisha once stated the virtues of the women of the Ansaar, "Shyness does not keep them from getting an understanding of the religion." (Recorded by al-Bukhari.) A clear example of this nature concerning women can be seen in the following hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari, \I ill1 01 Ji1 J, J , IS ØLii : iழ"- ? ࡫I I A Ji1 J J , J,1 -'I(" )( ࡶG.,. • , r'.) - r-J , . i...>"' , r'.) • r--- i Í ,,,. ,,,. ,,,. 'J ,,,. ' J .... ,,,. ,,,. ,,,. ,,. J ' ,,,. ,,,. a 2 Aili ঺ ޣ\ Jli ࡵ: l࡬࡭I l_l µ í ࡮1:,:JI ࡯ ࡰ ;;;JI ࡱ F. ,,,. ,,,. 'J ,,,. 1 Recorded by al-Tirmidhi, ibn Maajah and Ahmad. According to al-Albaani, it is sahih. See al­ Albaani, Silsilat, vol. I , hadith #168, pp. 1 1 1-1 15. 2 Quoted in al-Muqaddam, p. 43. 3 Quoted in al-Muqaddam, p. 40. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi ;r1 ऩjf ;D1 Jޢ:; 4 ØÙJ УJ ޠ ;:.r:. ޡf > iati :w1 पf:; 1फब r.LJ শষI -: ࡾ 0• ࡽ ' ࢐ ঳ ঴ ॥ • ' f J, Ù ) সহ- -- - ·! ঵ Umm Sulaim came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and said, "O Messenger of Allah, Allah does not shy away from the truth. Does a woman have to make ghusl if she has a wet dream?" The Prophet (peace be upon him) stated, "Yes, if she sees liquid." Umm Salamah then covered her face [out of shyness] and said, "O Messenger of Allah, do women have wet dreams?" He said, "Yes, may your hands be covered in dust, how else does her child resemble her?" Other Points Related to This Hadith • As stated earlier, al-Nawawi says that all of Islam revolves around this hadith. This statement can be understood in the following way: An act is either obligatory, recommended, permissible, disapproved or forbidden. One should be ashamed not to perform the obligatory and recommended deeds. One should also be ashamed to perform the disapproved or forbidden deeds. As for the permissible deeds, one may be shy to perform them or not. Hence, this concept of hayaa' encompasses all of the acts of the religion. Therefore, all of the religion revolves around this hadith.1 • Al-Baitaar points out that this hadith demonstrates the beautiful and pithy speech of the Prophet (peace be upon him). First, as a kind of introduction, he stated that this was something that had passed on from the previous prophets. This alerted the people's attention to what he was going to say. After he got the people's attention, he made a very, short pithy statement that was easy for all to grasp and memorize. 2 • Given the great importance of the concept of hayaa' in the religion of Islam, it is of great importance that this character be taught to Muslim children as they are growing up. From the time that they are young, both boys and girls should be taught to be modest and shy in front of others. 3 It seems, in this author's view, and Allah knows best, that being exposed to the different forms of modem media would be very detrimental to the development of hayaa' in a person. Today's media, for example, television, exposes and displays acts that one would never do in public thirty, fifty or one hundred years ago. If a person becomes more and more accustomed to seeing such acts in front of him, his sense of shyness and modesty becomes weakened. He no longer becomes shocked when he sees, for example, sexual indecencies or partial nudity. He begins to accept it 1 lbn Hajr, Fath (Maktaba al-Baaz), vol. 10, p. 641 . 2 Al-Baitaar, pp. 127-128. 3 Al-Bugha and Mistu, p. 143. Hadith #20: "Jf you feel no shame, then . . . " and may even consider it normal behavior. Therefore, to protect one's hayaa', it would be best to remain away from such possibly detrimental influences. • There is a direct relationship between hayaa' and ihsaan. In the case of ihsaan, a person worships Allah either as if he is seeing Allah or, at least, recognizing that Allah is seeing him. If a person has this feeling, he will be ashamed to have Allah see him perform acts of disobedience. In other words, such a person would then have hayaa' toward Allah. • If a person notices that he does not naturally have hayaa', he must work on himself to develop this characteristic as it is one of the most important characteristics of a believer. 1 • Hayaa' is a sign that a person's soul is healthy.