All praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, Companions, and followers:

There is no doubt that the person with good morals is one of the people who attain the highest status with Allah, the Almighty, and gain the highest reward. The Messenger of Allah () said, “The heaviest thing which will be put on the believer’s scale (on the Day of Resurrection) will be good morals.” (Narrated by At-Tirmidhi)

If this is the case, Allah’s servant should strive to acquire good morals and avoid bad morals. Even if it is well-established in people’s souls that changing the morals which a person is accustomed to is one of the most difficult matters, this is not unattainable or impossible. If a person makes use of the available means, strives, and exerts efforts, Allah, the Almighty, will grant him success in acquiring good morals.

These means include the following:

First: Sound Creed:

Creed is very important and crucial, as behavior is in most cases the outcome of a person’s thoughts, beliefs, and religion. Deviant behavior results in most cases from a defective belief. There is no doubt that there is a close connection between morals and belief, as the person with perfect belief is the one who has the best morals. Sound creed encourages a person to have good morals, such as honesty, generosity, tolerance, courage, etc., and keeps him away from bad morals, such as tyranny, lying, arrogance, ignorance, injustice, etc.

Second: Supplication:

Supplication is a great means of acquiring good morals; if made available for Allah’s servant, he will be showered with several types of good and blessings. Accordingly, the person who wishes to have good morals and avoid bad morals should resort to his Lord, raise his hands beseeching Him to grant him good morals, and repel bad morals from him. Therefore, the Prophet () used to beseech his Lord frequently to grant him good morals, saying, “O Allah, guide me to the best of morals, for none can guide to them other than You, and deliver me from the worst of morals, for none can deliver me from them other than You.” (Narrated by Muslim) One of the Prophet’s supplications is, “O Allah, I seek refuge in you from evil morals, passions, deeds, and diseases.” (Narrated by At-Tirmidhi)

Third: Striving Hard

Striving hard extremely helps in this regard, as good morals are a type of guidance that Allah’s servant can attain by striving hard. Allah, the Almighty, says: “And those who strive for Us—We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good.” (Quran 29: 69)

The one who strives to attain virtues and avoid vice will gain abundant good and be protected from great evil. Some morals are innate and instinctive and others are acquired by training and practice. Striving does not mean that a person strives once, twice, or more, but he strives hard until he dies because striving hard is an act of worship. Allah, the Almighty, says: “And worship your Lord until there comes to you the certainty [i.e., death].” (Quran 15: 99)

Fourth: Calling Oneself to Account:

This can be carried out when a person criticizes himself if he does an act that entails reprehensible morals and urges himself not to return to them. He also should adopt the principle of rewarding himself if he behaves well and punishing himself if he slackens and becomes negligent. If he behaves well, he should comfort himself, give himself rest, and let himself go for some time within the scope of permissible matters. If he does something wrong and acts negligently, he should deprive himself of some of what he wants. However, he should not exaggerate in calling himself to account because this leads to depression and heavyheartedness.

Ibn Al-Muqaffa‘ said, “You should commit yourself to that which makes you deserve goodness; if you do so, you will receive good just as a stream is sought for a low place in the ground.”

Fifth: Cautiousness of Losing Hope of Reforming Oneself:

Some people who are afflicted with bad morals think that these morals will remain permanently, will not be repelled, and will be an irremovable stain. Other people may lose hope of reforming themselves and stop attempting forever if they try to get rid of their defects more than once and do not succeed. This behavior is not good for a Muslim and does not befit him at all; he should not be satisfied with inferiority and abandon training himself, claiming that it is impossible to change his character. He should strengthen his will, enhance his determination, seek to perfect himself, and strive hard to reform his defects. Many people have managed to change their condition, have sublime souls, and decrease their defects because they trained themselves, strove hard, exerted efforts, and overcame their inborn character.

Ibn Al-Muqaffa‘ said, “The rational person should list his defects related to religion, morals, and manners, gather them in his chest or a book, review them frequently, and charge himself with the responsibility of reforming them. He should try to reform one or two characteristics per day, week, or month. Whenever he reforms a characteristic, he erases it, and whenever he looks at anything he has erased, he rejoices."

Sixth: Showing Strong Determination:

Strong determination requires seriousness, pride, seeking high aspirations, striving for perfection, and rising above mean, inferior, and vile matters. Strong determination keeps blaming and reprimanding a person, deterring him from situations that involve humiliation, acquisition of vice, and deprivation of virtues until it elevates him from the lowest levels to the highest ranks of glory and righteousness.

Ibn Al-Qayyim () said, “The one who has strong determination and a humble soul will have all good characteristics; the one who has weak determination and an oppressive soul will have all bad morals.” He (may Allah be merciful to him) said, “Honorable souls accept only sublime and superior things that have the best outcome. Vile souls hover around despicable things and are attracted to them just as flies are attracted to filth, and sublime souls do not accept oppression, immoralities, theft, and betrayal because they are greater and loftier than these characteristics. Mean, despicable, and vile souls are the opposite.”

If a person is able to acquire virtues, commits himself to good morals, accepts only sublime characteristics, seeks to acquire all possible virtues, and strives to improve his behavior soon and maintain his good reputation in the future, he will shortly attain perfection. In addition, he will eventually fulfill his goal of perfection, achieve human happiness and true leadership, be praised forever, and gain a good reputation eternally.

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For more information, read the book entitled “Al-Asbab Al-Mufidah fi Iktisab Al-Akhlaq Al-Hamidah”