Manners in Speech

Criticise constructively. Avoid unjust accusation Abdullah, son of Umar ibn Khattab, completely disassociated himself from the civil wars, which followed upon the assassination of Ali. When his contemporaries accused him of not participating in the jihad he explained his stance by asking, “How can it be permissible for one Muslim to spill the blood of another?” He also maintained that he did not consider this war a jihad, but murder and bloodshed among Muslims. His antagonists, dissatisfied with this explanation, continued to level accusations at Abdullah ibn Umar, saying that his real motive was to let the companions of the Prophet kill each other off, so that when only he remained, finally, people will swear their allegiance to him as Commander of the Faithful. All these accusations were made in spite of the fact that Abdullah ibn Umar’s sincerity, piety and acumen were well established. (ABU NUAYM)