Loyalty is
defined as "preserving and upholding covenants and promises, ensuring the
fulfillment of trusts and rights to their rightful owners, acknowledging their
good deeds, and maintaining affection and love." It also means
"sincerity, avoiding treachery or betrayal, generosity and giving, and
maintaining affection and keeping one's word."
Loyalty is
a moral value embodied in sincere dedication to a cause or thing.
Loyalty is
the foundation of truthfulness, the difference being that loyalty is
demonstrated through actions, while truthfulness is expressed through words.
Therefore, loyalty is broader than truthfulness; all loyalty is truthful, but not
all truthfulness is loyalty.
Loyalty
takes many forms: fulfilling a covenant, even at great personal cost;
fulfilling a contract; and fulfilling a promise. Loyalty is giving,
sacrificing, and being generous to the one to whom you are loyal; being patient
with them and not neglecting them; being protective and fearful of harm to
them; being considerate of their feelings and emotions; appreciating their
efforts and thanking them; keeping their secrets and preserving their privacy;
striving to make them happy; mentioning their virtues and overlooking their
mistakes.
Loyalty is
free from malice, abuse, injustice, ingratitude, and hurt. The most beautiful
form of loyalty is a husband's loyalty to his wife, a loyalty that encompasses
every detail of life, flowing with love, affection, mercy, appreciation, and
devotion.
God
commands His believing servants to fulfill their covenants in His saying,
"O
Children of Israel! Remember My favor which I bestowed upon you, and fulfill
(your obligations to) My covenant (with you) so that I fulfill (my obligations
to) your covenant (with me), and fear none but me." (Surat Al-Baqarah 2:40) And fulfilling the measure and
weight in His saying: “"And come not near to the orphan's property, except to improve it,
until he (or she) attains the age of full strength; and give full measure and
full weight with justice. We burden not any person, but that which he can bear.
And whenever you give your word (i.e., judge between men or give evidence,
etc.), say the truth even if a near relative is concerned, and fulfill the
Covenant of Allah. This He commands you, that you may remember.” (Surat Al-An'am: 152) And fulfilling the covenant is
in His saying: “It
is not Al-Birr (piety, righteousness, and each and every act of obedience to
Allah, etc.) that you turn your faces towards east and (or) west (in prayers);
but Al-Birr is (the quality of) the one who believes in Allah, the Last Day,
the Angels, the Book, the Prophets and gives his wealth, in spite of love for
it, to the kinsfolk, to the orphans, and to Al-Masakin (the poor), and to the
wayfarer, and to those who ask, and to set slaves free, performs As-Salat
(Iqamat-as-Salat), and gives the Zakat, and who fulfill their covenant when
they make it, and who are As-Sabirin (the patient ones, etc.) in extreme
poverty and ailment (disease) and at the time of fighting (during the battles).
Such are the people of the truth, and they are Al-Muttaqun (pious—see V. 2:2).” (Surat Al-Baqarah: 172) God's covenant is to believe
in Him and His messengers and to uphold His law, that is, His commands and
prohibitions. God's fulfillment of His covenant is to empower them on earth in
this world and grant them happiness in the Hereafter. God commands His servants
fulfill their contracts, saying, "O you who have believed, fulfill [all] contracts.
Lawful for you are the animals of grazing livestock except for that which is
recited to you [in this Qur'an]—hunting not being permitted while you are in
the state of ihram. Indeed, Allah ordains what He intends." (Surat Al-Maidah 5:1). Contracts encompass all
documented agreements between people, including marriage contracts, dowry
contracts, oaths, treaties, guarantees, and contracts of trust, such as wills,
deposits, agency agreements, loans, and leases. God praises Prophet Ishmael for
fulfilling his promises, saying, "And mention in the Book (the Quran) Isma'il (Ishmael).
Verily! He was true to what he promised, and he was a Messenger (and) a
Prophet" (Surat Maryam 19:54). A
promise is the fulfillment of all that one pledges. The Quran also praises
Prophet Abraham's faithfulness to his promises. For fulfilling all that God had
tested him with and commanded him regarding the laws, the fundamentals of
religion, and its branches, as stated in the words of God Almighty: “And of Ibrahim (Abraham) who
fulfilled (or conveyed) all that (what Allah ordered him to do or convey), 37. That no burdened person (with sins) shall bear the burden (sins) of
another. 38” (Surat An-Najm: 37-38). Likewise, the verses of
the Quran speak of fulfilling obligations as a means to attain the highest
degrees of closeness to God Almighty, as in the words of God Almighty: “Verily, those who give Bai'a
(pledge) to you (O Muhammad SAW), they are giving Bai'a (pledge) to Allah. The
Hand of Allah is over their hands. Then whosoever breaks his pledge, breaks
only to his own harm, and whosoever fulfills what he has covenanted with Allah,
He will bestow on him a great reward.”
(Surat Al-Fath: 10)
Among the
perfections of loyalty in the Prophetic tradition is the loyalty of our master,
the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, to his enemies:
“It is established that he said to the two messengers of Musaylimah—when he
read Musaylimah’s letter: ‘What do you two say? They said, "We say as he
said." He said, “By God, were it not that messengers are not to be killed,
I would have struck your necks” (Narrator: Na’im bin Mas’ud al-Ashja’i; Source:
Al-Ahkam al-Shar’iyyah al-Sughra). It is authentically reported that the
Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to Abu Rafi’, whom the Quraysh
had sent to him and who wanted to stay with him and not return to them: “I do
not break the covenant (i.e., I do not violate the covenant nor corrupt it, and
in it is an indication that the blood and property of the disbeliever are
forbidden as long as he is in a covenant of security), nor do I detain the
messengers (i.e., the messengers, and he did not harm the messengers because
the purpose of the message gave him security, so his coming and returning is
within the covenant of security, so he became in the ruling of one who seeks
protection, and the security of the messengers is one of the public interests),
but return to your people, and if you have in your heart what you have in your
heart now, then return.” (Narrator: Abu Rafi’; Source: Sahih Abi Dawud); It is
established that he returned Abu Jandal to the Quraysh in accordance with the
treaty between him and them, which stipulated that he would return to them any
Muslim who came to him. This is based on what was narrated by al-Bara' ibn
'Azib, who said, "The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, made peace
with the polytheists on the day of Hudaybiyyah on three conditions: that
whoever came to him from among the polytheists would be returned to them, and whoever
came to them from among the Muslims would not be returned; and that he would
enter it the following year and stay there for three days, and he would not
enter it except with his weapons, such as his sword, bow, and the like."
(The word "julban" is pronounced with a dammah.) The letter
"jeem" and the letter "lam" are like a leather bag in which
the sword is placed submerged, and the rider puts his whip and his tools in it
and hangs it at the end of the saddle or in the middle of it. Then Abu Jandal came
hopping in his chains, so he returned him to them. Abu Abdullah said, “Mu’ammal
did not mention on the authority of Sufyan: Abu Jandal,” and he said, “except
with the bag of weapons.” (Narrator: Al-Bara’ bin Azib; Source: Sahih
Al-Bukhari). It is authentically reported from him, on the authority of
Hudhayfah, that he said, “Nothing prevented me from witnessing the Battle of
Badr except that I and my father, Husayl, had set out. He said, ‘The
disbelievers of Quraysh captured us and said, “You intend to join Muhammad.”’
We said, ‘We do not intend to join him; we only intend to go to Medina.’ So
they took from us a covenant and pledge by God that we would return to Medina
and would not fight with him. So we came to the Messenger of God, may God’s
prayers and peace be upon him, and informed him of the matter. He said, ‘Go
back.’ We will deny them.” By their covenant, and we seek God’s help against
them” (Narrated by: Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman; Source: Takhrij al-Musnad by
Shu’ayb). And from his ﷺ loyalty to his wives, there is what was narrated on the
authority of Lady Aisha, who said, “I was never jealous of any of the wives of
the Prophet ﷺ as I was of Khadijah, even though I never met her; and that was
only because of the frequent mention of the Messenger of God ﷺ, and he would
slaughter a sheep and then go around to Khadijah’s friends and give it as a
gift to them” (Narrated by: Aisha, Mother of the Believers; Source: Sunan
al-Tirmidhi). And among the Prophet’s faithfulness to covenants is his saying,
may God bless him and grant him peace: “The greatest covenant and pact between
two people is the covenant of marriage.” On the authority of Uqbah, on the
authority of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, he said, “The
most deserving of conditions to be fulfilled is that by which you have made
lawful the private parts.” (Narrator: Uqbah; Source: Sahih al-Bukhari).
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