Chapter 84: Exaltation of Modesty

681. ibn `umar (may allah be pleased with them) reported: messenger of allah (pbuh) passed by a man of the ansar who was admonishing his brother regarding shyness. messenger of allah (pbuh) said, "leave him alone, for modesty is a part of iman.''
[al-bukhari and muslim].

commentary:  the ansari, who was being lectured by his brother, was indeed an embodiment of modesty and unpretentiousness. such a man is never sharp in worldly affairs because modesty restrains him from following wrong ways. for this reason, modesty has been called a part of the faith. this is an inborn quality, that is, some people are unassertive by birth. yet, if they are gradually guided and directed towards virtues, their unassumingness further increases. and in islam it is counted a virtue.

682. `imran bin husain (may allah be pleased with them) reported: messenger of allah (pbuh) said, "shyness does not bring anything except good.''
[al-bukhari and muslim].

in a narration of muslim: messenger of allah (pbuh) said, "all of shyness is good.''

commentary:  this hadith enlightens us on the excellence of modesty, which serves the good purpose of preventing man from the disobedience of allah and from immoral and evil pursuits. evidently, it has a salutary impact on society. besides, it keeps man free from sins, and, consequently, he will stand blameless with allah. from this standpoint, modesty is certainly a thorough good.

683. abu hurairah (may allah be pleased with him) reported: messenger of allah (pbuh) said, "iman has sixty odd or seventy odd branches. the uppermost of all these is the testimony of faith: `la ilaha illallah' (there is no true god except allah) while the least of them is the removal of harmful object from the road. and shyness is a branch of iman.''
[al-bukhari and muslim].

commentary:  this hadith has already occurred in a previous chapter, see commentary on hadith no. 125. here it has been repeated with reference to the degrees of faith. modesty, too, is a part of faith, rather one of its most important ingredients, because it plays an effective role in the training and sublimation of human psyche.

684. abu sa`id al-khudri (may allah be pleased with him) reported: messenger of allah (pbuh) was even shier than a virgin behind her veil. when he saw something which he disliked, we could perceive it on his face.
[al-bukhari and muslim].

commentary:  though this hadith particularly refers to the character of  messenger of allah (pbuh), it also reveals the fact that modesty is a peculiar quality of woman. an unmarried woman, above all else, is considered to be the embodiment of bashfulness. islamic countries have witnessed many curses of western civilization and the worst is the one which has robbed away the modesty of woman because it is the last protective shield of islamic civilization which the enemy is consistently sweeping off. may allah grant muslims the insight to avert this wickedness!