Find Seventy Excuses for Your Brother

Always, in agreements that we have with each other, and things that we say in our daily conversations, this thing happens again and again. I would say something today; you would come to me after a month, and you would say: you promised me so-and-so. I tell you: no, I didn't. You accuse me of lying. I am not lying; I forgot. I did not lie. We forget, and that happens.

And give excuses for your brothers. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: find seventy excuses for your brother^*. No — we don't find any excuses. You're lying! I'm sure that I told you so; you are a liar — and you brand him as a liar for the rest of his life. Ādam — and this is something big, this is something really big. I mean, you promised forty years of your life; this is a big thing. Ādam forgot. It's human nature. You could forget major things. And on small details, if somebody forgets, it's a big problem and a big deal.

You know, let's use these stories to learn some akhlāq also, because we are in great need of akhlāq. We don't know al-ghayb. You don't know why the other person — maybe there was a miscommunication, maybe they didn't understand you, they forgot, they made a mistake, they misinterpreted it. You can find easily, if you want, seventy excuses or more. If you want to.