Ghurar Al-Hikam Wa Durar Al-Kalim, Exalted Aphorisms And Pearls Of Speech

Honour And The Honourable

Honor and the honorable-الشّرف وذو الشرف

1. Honor is attained by earnest endeavors not by worn-out bones [of one’s ancestors].[^1]

1ـ اَلشَّـرَفُ بِالْهِمَمِ العالِيَةِ لا بِالرِّمَمِ البالِيَةِ.

2. The greatest honour is humility.

2ـ أعْظَمُ الشَّـرَفِ التَّواضُعُ.

3. The best honour is good etiquette.

3ـ أفْضَلُ الشَّـرَفِ الأدَبُ.

4. The most honourable of honours is knowledge.

4ـ أشْـرَفُ الشَّـرَفِ العِلمُ.

5. The best honour is doing good to others.

5ـ أفْضَلُ الشَّـرَفِ بَذْلُ الإحْسانِ.

6. The best honour is desisting from harming others and doing good to others.

6ـ أفْضَلُ الشَّـرَفِ كَفُّ الأذى، وبَذْلُ الإحْسانِ.

7. Honour is a virtue.

7ـ اَلشَّـرَفُ مَزِيَّةٌ.

8. Honour is doing good to one’s kinsfolk.

8ـ الشَّـرَفُ اِصْطِناعُ الْعَشيرَةِ.

9. Indeed honour is only attained by intellect and etiquette, not because of wealth and lineage.

9ـ إنَّما الشَّـرَفُ بِالعَقْلِ والأدَبِ، لابِالْمالِ والْحَسَبِ.

10. The ladder of honour is humility and generosity.

10ـ سُلَّمُ الشَّـرَفِ التَّواضُعُ، والسَّخاءُ.

11. The honour of a believer is his faith and his prestige is by his obedience [to Allah].

11ـ شَرَفُ الْمُؤْمِنِ إيمانُهُ، وعِزُّهُ بِطاعَتِهِ.

12. The honour of a man is his integrity and his beauty is his magnanimity.

12ـ شَرَفُ الرَّجُلِ نَزاهَتُهُ، وجَمالُهُ مُرُوَّتُهُ.

13. One who knows the significance of his honour safeguards it from the lowliness of his base desires and falsity of his aspirations.

13ـ مَنْ عَرَفَ شَرَفَ مَعْناهُ صانَهُ عَنْ دَناءَةِ شَهْوَتِهِ وزُورِ

14. Holding on to comprehensive merit (or merits) is from the perfection of honour.

14ـ مِنْ كَمالِ الشَّـرَفِ اَلأخْذُ بِجَوامِعِ الفَضْلِ(الفَضائِلِ).

15. Honour is not perfected except through generosity and humility.

15ـ لايَكْمُلُ الشَّـرَفُ إلاّ بِالسَّخاءِ والتَّواضُعِ.

16. The honourable person is the one whose attributes are honourable.

16ـ الشَّريفُ مَنْ شَرُفَتْ خِلالُهُ.

17. The peripheries are the sitting places of the honourable.

17ـ ألأَطْرافُ مَجالِسُ الأشْرافِ.

18. The honourable person is not made reckless by the status he attains, even if it becomes as great as a mountain that is not shaken by strongest winds; and the lowly is made careless by the most inferior position, just as the grass that is moved by the passing breeze.

18ـ ذُوالشَّـرَفِ لا تُبْطِرُهُ مَنْزِلَةٌ نالَها، وإنْ عَظُمَتْ

19. The honourable one never oppresses [others].

19ـ ما جارَ شَريفٌ.

[^1]: One should not consider himself honourable just because of his lineage.