Ghurar Al-Hikam Wa Durar Al-Kalim, Exalted Aphorisms And Pearls Of Speech
Apologizing And Offering Excuses
Apologizing and offering excuses-الأعذار والاِعتذار
- Being needless of offering an excuse is more honourable than truthfulness [in your excuse].[^1]
1ـ اَلاِسْتِغْناءُ عَنِ العُذْرِ أعَزُّ مِنَ الصِّدْقِ.
- Apologizing necessitates pardoning.
2ـ اَلإعْذارُ يُوجِبُ الاِعْتِذارُ.
- Repeating the apology is a reminder of the sin.
3ـ إعادَةُ الاِعْتِذارِ تَذْكِيرٌ بِالذَّنْبِ.
- One who seeks pardon without having sinned has imposed the sin upon his soul.
4ـ مَنِ اعْتَذَرَ مِنْ غَيْرِ ذَنْب فَقَدْ أوْجَبَ عَلى نَفْسهِ
الذَّنْبَ.
- One who admits his wrongdoing deserves forgiveness.
5ـ مَنِ اعْتَرَفَ بِالجَريرَةِ اِسْتَحقَّ المَغْفِرَةَ.
- One who apologizes in a befitting manner deserves to be forgiven.
6ـ مَنْ أحْسَنَ الاِعْتِذارَ اِسْتَحَقَّ الاِغْتِفارَ.
- One who apologizes has sought pardon.
7ـ مَنِ اعْتَذَرَ فَقدِ اسْتَقالَ.
- He who seeks pardon has not sinned.
8ـ ما أذْنَبَ مَنِ اعْتَذَرَ.
- How good an intercessor seeking pardon is!
9ـ نِعْمَ الشَّفيعُ الاِعْتِذارُ.
- Do not offer an excuse to the one who would like to find you without an excuse.
10ـ لاتَعْتَذِرْ إلى مَنْ يُحِبُّ أنْ لايَجِدَلَكَ عُذْراً.
- There is no intercessor more successful than apology.
11ـ لاشافِعَ أنْجَحُ مِنَ الاِعْتِذارِ.
- Repeating the apology is a reminder of the [past] sins.
12ـ إعادَةُ الاِعْتِذارِ تَذْكِيرٌ بِالذُّنُوبِ.
- Seeking pardon (or taking lesson) is a sincere warner.[^2]
13ـ اَلاِعْتِذارُ(الاِعْتِبارُ) مُنْذِرٌ ناصِحٌ.
- When you do wrong, apologize.
14ـ إذا جَنَيْتَ فَاعْتَذِرْ.
- Sometimes the admission of guilt for having committed a sin dispenses with the need for seeking pardon.
15ـ رُبَّ جُرْم أغْنى عَنِ الاِعْتِذارِ عَنْهُ اَلاِقْرارُ بِهِ.
- Too much apology magnifies the sins.
16ـ كَثْرَةُ الاِعْتِذارِ تُعَظِّمُ الذُّنُوبَ.
- Keep away from that for which there is little denial, even if the excuses from you are many, for it is not such that everyone who speaks ill [of you] can be excused by you.
17ـ إيّاكَ وما قَلَّ إنْكارُهُ، وإنْ كَثُرَ مِنْكَ اِعْتِذارُهُ،
فَماكُلُّ قائِل نُكْراً يُمْكِنُكَ أنْ تُوسِعَهُ عُذْراً.
[^1]: Or: Not doing anything that would require apology is rarer than truthfulness.
[^2]: It is a warner in the sense that the shame it causes acts as a warning for one not to do anything that would force him to seek pardon again.