The Best Amongst Us are the Good Actors

It was in the classroom when an issue was raised that a particular student (the only one, as claimed by his colleagues) is loved by all teachers in the school. Oh yes, the student is loved by all his teachers of different subjects and from both genders. He is even highly respected by all his classmates and many of his schoolmates.

I knew the reason. But out of curiosity and for the purpose of extending the conversation I asked, “what makes him loved more?” “Why is he loved so much by all?” I added, “what makes him unique among all the students?”

He's a Good Actor.

Various answers were poured in by the class (the class of the above-mentioned student). Some said, “He has good conduct”. “He is good in studies”, said by someone. Some referred to his politeness, and I heard someone said: “He is good at acting!” “Did I hear someone saying “he is good at acting?” I said. And the answer was: “Yes.” I said, “This is exactly the answer I'm looking for!”, “Good Actors” “Good at acting” and in fact, “All of us are actors in every aspect of our lives.” The class was surprised when I said: It's good to be a good actor, honestly. But I explained…

We are all actors… Yes, we are all good actors… Sometimes, we tend to be even better actors than professional actors. We tend to be different people from whom we are at home, once we are in the street. We refrain from being seen in the same mode we wake up in, nor been in seen in our sleeping gowns. We speak differently in front of our parents from the way we speak in front of our siblings, friends, teachers, and strangers.

But We Are All Good Actors

We are good actors because we tend to be very generous when a beggar asks us in public, but we are very penny-pinching when our relatives need our help. We tell others only what will please them when we want them to be pleased, whereby we only deliver to them the most annoying words when we are not happy with them, or when we think we are not in need of them.

Our approach to our heads is totally on the contrary with our approach to our subordinates and colleagues. No one dares to voice out his thoughts; our words are carefully processed before they are made heard. And they extremely measured when they are uttered.

We all act differently in different situations just to adapt to the various situations and hence, to please those we are dealing with in the various situations.

The Right Time to Be a Good Actor

Now, what makes this particular student unique is that he tends to ‘act’ by showing good behaviour while other students overlook that. He tends to study hard to excellence, while other students are stuck (busy) with FB, blogging, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and etc. This student shows obedience to rules and regulations of the school system though he might not like some of the rules, nor believe in them, while some of his class/schoolmates will opt to break ing school rules and regulations. So they may draw attention or perhaps demonstrate their existence or ability to lead or influence others.

What Happens When We Choose to Not Be  Good Actors

On the other hand, those of us who choose to not be good actors may prefer to appear or behave the way they want to; bypassing all religious restrictions, social and cultural morals, values and principles; and ignoring laws and regulations of individual systems (countries, organizations, institutions, schools and etc…).

When this happens, we may see some “Muslims” drinking ‘fire water’, smoking, engaging in unlawful affairs, neglecting their religious obligations and responsibility towards Allah, Rasulullah, the society and the individuals. When this happens, we may see some people in the street care not about social values, morals, and principles, such as being considerate by giving priority to the elderly, the pregnant, and the sick people in crowded places, such as in trains, buses, hospitals, shopping places, at the pedestrian crossings and etc… We also see some (unfortunately many) adults who fail to lead the young by example.

When this happens, we see people only obey rules and regulations when they are in very restricted zones. CCTVs must be installed in every corner of a country for them to behave or show some level of maturity; for example, citizens of some ‘developed countries’ are loyal, obedient and compliant to rules and regulations only when they are in their respective countries. The moment they cross the territories of their countries, they become citizens of ‘the 7th world!’.
When this happens, a student sees no problem to break his/her school rules every other day, as long as he or she still schools at that school.

The Scariest Part is…

That is why our beloved Prophet Muhammad ṣallā Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam says in a ḥadīth reported by Imām al-Bukhārī from the narration of Abū Mas'ūd raḍiya Allāhu ‘anhu:

إِنَّ مِمَّا أَدْرَكَ النَّاسُ مِنْ كَلاَمِ النُّبُوَّةِ الأُولَى إِذَا لَمْ تَسْتَحِي فَاصْنَعْ مَا شِئْتَ

“One of the sayings of the early Prophets which the people have got is: If you don't feel ashamed do whatever you like.”

Imām al-Bukhārī and Muslim also report that Rasulullah ṣallā Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam says:

الإِيمَانُ بِضْعٌ وَسَبْعُونَ أَوْ بِضْعٌ وَسِتُّونَ شُعْبَةً فَأَفْضَلُهَا قَوْلُ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَأَدْنَاهَا إِمَاطَةُ الأَذَى عَنِ الطَّرِيقِ وَالْحَيَاءُ شُعْبَةٌ مِنَ الإِيمَانِ

“Faith (iman) has seventy-odd branches or sixty-odd divisions, the best of it is saying: “There is no god but Allah”, and the lowest of it is removing something harmful from the road, and modesty is a branch of faith.”

Conclusion

Now, we have come to a fact that people are divided into two main groups: Actors and Non-Actors. And the actors are actually divided into two subgroups: Actors to please other people; and actors to please Allah, subḥānahū wa ta'ālā.

We all know, that anything we do for the sake of people (to please them or to appear to them as ‘angels’), will never last longer; a day will come that we will prefer not to do that anymore. What we also know is that anything we do for the sake of Allah (to please Him, subḥānahū wa ta'ālā, with sincerity) will remain connected forever, inshā Allah. This is the secret behind this student being loved by all his teachers. This is what makes this particular student unique among all students in his school. And this is why the best amongst us are the good actors, but for the sake of Allah, subḥānahū wa ta'ālā.

Allah knows best.

Allahu Hafiz 🙂