distinctive characteristics of the religious system which he established.

Character-building

One of the earliest works to which the Holy Prophet applied himself, as can be seen from the earliest revelations, was the building up of character. Long before any reforms were introduced about social relations or state policy, emphasis was being placed in the revelations on the moral uplift of man, and very correctly too, because even good laws could benefit humanity only when they were worked out by men standing on a high moral plane.

The Holy Prophet was recognized by friends and foes as the most truthful of men. On repeated occasions, his bitterest enemies had to acknowledge his eminent truthfulness, on account of which he was called al-Amīn (the Faithful one). Himself so eminently truthful, he laid stress on truth as the basis of a high character: “Surely truth leads to virtue, and virtue leads to paradise, and a man continues to speak the truth until he becomes thoroughly truthful; and surely falsehood leads to vice and vice leads to the fire, and a man continues to tell lies until he is written down a great liar with Allāh” (Bu. 78:69). The Holy Qur’ān mentions truthfulness as one of the most prominent qualities of true Muslims: “… And the truthful men and the truthful women … Allāh has prepared for them forgiveness and a mighty reward” (33:35). Speaking of the great transformation which the Holy Prophet had brought about, the Holy Qur’ān bears testimony to the truthfulness of the Muslims by stating that they do not bear witness to what is false (25:72). The Holy Qur’ān also lays down the basis of a society in which everyone is required to enjoin truth upon those with whom he comes into contact (103:2, 3), and states repeatedly that it is with truth that falsehood can be challenged and vanquished. It exhorts again and again that truth is to be adhered to at all costs, even if it goes against one’s own interest or interest of one’s friends and relatives: “O you who believe, be maintainers of justice, bearers of witness for Allāh, even though it be against your own selves or (your) parents or near relatives … Follow not (your) low desires lest you deviate. And if you distort or turn away from (truth), surely Allāh is aware of what you do” (4:135). The principle of truth was not to be