Tea Stories: E-tea-quette 🐿️☕🕊️👶🏽🫖🦋

Tea Stories: E-tea-quette 🐿️☕🕊️👶🏽🫖🦋

"In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The Private Apartments - the context is that the Muslims became the majority rulers in Makkah and these verses were to guide the community on the necessary etiquettes when addressing Prophet Muhammad pbuh and Allah SWT. They of course apply to us too. ☺️🩷

Some of the key lessons from Study Quran -

1. 'Advance not before God and His Messenger' - the advice here is to avoid coarse manners in the presence of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh. 🫣 (there's a book on Muslim manners worth finding and reading). 🩵

2. 'Do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor address him in the manner you address each other.' - the community were told to lower their voices and wait for an appropriate time to speak. It can also apply to the way we speak to eachother. Shouting above one another just puts us in a power struggle. ⛔

3. 'Truly those who call thee from behind the apartments, most of them understand not' - do not disturb people in their private quarters, wait for them to emerge. ☺️🫣

4. 'If an iniquitous person comes to you with tidings, then be discerning, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become remorseful over what you have done.' - that advice here is to withhold judgement and be polite to others, regardless. ❤️

5. 'Were he to obey you in many matters, you would suffer. If a leader with divine abilities has said something it's advisable to accept it. We can choose to follow or not follow the rules but we cannot change them. 💜

59:7 'Whatsoever the Messenger gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you forgo.'

6. 'If two parties among the believers fall to fighting, make peace between them. If one of them aggresses against the other, fight those who aggress until they return to God's command. And if they return, make peace between them with justice and act equitably. Truly God loves the just. 🫂👥

7. 'The believers are but brothers; so make peace between your brethren, and reverence God, that haply you may receive mercy.' 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

8. Don't let people deride eachother (we don't know they might be better). Don't boast about yourself as better than others. Don't defame yourselves (put yourself down) or insult one another with derogatory nick names. 😘

9. Shun conjecture because some conjecture is sin. A hadith warns 'Beware of conjecture, for it is indeed the most misleading form of speech'. 🤫🫢

10. Do not spy upon one another, nor backbite one another. Abi Talib is reported to have said,

" Do not be quick to expose another sin for, he may be forgiven for it and do not feel yourself safe, even from small sin since you may be punished for it. Every one of you who comes to know the thoughts of others, should not expose them, in view of what he knows about his own faults, and should remain busy in gratitude that he has been saved from that in which others have been indulging."

In another hadith, "Whosever covers the faults of a Muslim in this world. God will cover his fault in this world and the next. Truly God continues to help the servant, so long as the servant continues to help his brother." 🫡

11. 'We made you peoples and tribes that you may come to know one another. Surely the most noble of you before God are the most reverent of you.' - in all the diversity lies so much beauty and that's why we are different. How incredible would it be to see the world and all the people from this perspective. 🙋🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏾‍♂️🙋🏿‍♀️🙋‍♂️🙋🏿

12. 'The Bedouin say, "We believe." Say, "You believe not. Rather, say, 'We have submitted', for belief has not yet enter your hearts. Faith has ranks. It's not for us to do the ranking, it's just for us to know that it can waver so that we are continuously conscious of it. ❤️🩷

13. 'And who strive with their wealth and theirselves in the way of God; it is they who are truthful.' If we get the sense we are holding on to money we should give some away. 💰

14. "Do not count your submission as a favour to me. Nay, rather God confers a favour upon you, in that He has guided you to belief, if you are truthful.' We cannot take our faith for granted. I cannot stress this enough. 🌟💫✨⭐

Summary -

For community to work the first step is for us to work on our own self-esteem so we can control our judgements, our tongues and deal with our own indiscretions. That clears the space for us to be in a wider community with a cleaner heart and then we can share our gifts with others, appreciate diversity, make and spread peace; and strive to reflect on God's word and truly deepen our faith.

Without a doubt this is quite a journey for us mere mortals, it is not linear, it has it's peaks and troughs, it's not for the faint hearted. And what we also know is that you are a lion heart so you will submit and strive no doubt, whatever I am, I belong to my Lord. 💜🩵💚❤️🩷💙🤎🖤