Chapter II: Etiquette of Marriage
taking loan, God entrusts him to His angles to keep him safe.
They pray for him till he clears his debt. Once a creditor came to the Prophet to demand payment of a debt due from him after the expiry of its time. He had then no means to clear it. The man used harsh words to the Prophet. The companions were about to attack him when he said : Leave him as a creditor has got a right to say. The Prophet said : Help your brother, be he oppressed or an oppressor. He was asked : How can we help an oppressor ? He said : To prohibit him from oppression is to help him.
(e) To accept return of a thing sold if the buyer thinks that he has suffered loss, as nobody except a repentant or suffering man intends to return a purchased thing. None should remain satisfied with causing loss to his brother Muslim. The Prophet said : If a man forgives the guilt of a repentant man, God will forgive his sins on the Resurrection Day.
(f) To sell things to the needy on credit and not to demand from them when they are in want and do not become solvent. The religious men of yore kept account books. In those books, -they wrote the names of unknown poor customers . They were forgive if they could not pay their dues.
Trade and commerce are the places for trial of religious persons. For this reason, it has been said that when the neighbours of a person praise him, when the companions of a man in journey praise him and when the fellow trademen in the market praise him, don't complain against his good character.
Once a witness went to depose before Hazrat Omar. He said to him : Bring one to me who knows you. When he brought a person to him, the man began to praise his character. Hazrat Omar asked him : Is he your closest neighbour ? He said : No. He asked him :
Were you his companion in a journey ? He said : No. He asked him : Did you carry on business with him ? He said : No. He said :
So, you don't know him. He then said to the man : Go, take one who knows you.
SECTION 5
NOT TO BE FORGETFUL OF RELIGION AND THE NEXT WORLD IN BUSINESS
Know, O dear readers, that nobody should forget his religion and the next world-his destination during the course of his trade
58 The Book of Wordly Usages Vol-II