“I warn you about keeping relations with people who look for faults in others...

“I warn you about keeping relations with people who look for faults in others, since surely there is not a single person who will be safe from such people.” [^4] Pointing Out One’s Defects with Sincerity is Not the Same as Fault Finding A point of interest which a great majority of people are uninformed about is that picking faults of others and insulting them in the presence of other people is one thing, whereas guiding them and pointing out the proper way to do things and showing them their errors is another thing.

Picking the faults of others is one of the negative ethical traits, whereas guiding people and informing them of their own shortcomings by advising and giving them good council is one of the religious and humanistic responsibilities. Therefore, it is incumbent upon every spiritually conscious person to save his fellow human beings from a terrible end and that dark day (when everyone will have to answer for their actions).

Informing people of the shortcomings in their own lives is so important and valuable that Imam Ja`far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq (peace be upon him) classified this as the greatest gift that a person can give to another and has said: رَحِمَ اللٌّهُ امْرَأً أَهْدى إِلَيَّ عُيُوبِـي “May Allah’s mercy be upon that person who offers a gift to me by pointing out my own mistakes and shortcomings.” [^5] In addition, Amir al-Mu’minin `Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) has said: لِيَكُنْ آثَرُ النٌّاسِ عِنْدَكَ مَنْ أَهْدى إِلَيْكَ عَيْـبَكَ “Let the best person in your estimation be that person who points out to you your faults and shortcomings and presents them to you as a gift.” [^6] Principally, the first step that a person can take to cure his physical and spiritual sicknesses and to remove the societal evils is that one becomes precisely aware of the sources of these diseases and their various types.

As long as this is not carried out, then whatever sort of cure or remedy that is applied will be of no benefit or use. The person who is scared of straight talk finds the truth being brought out into the open as being something bitter to accept. He finds it hard to acknowledge and accept any sort of open dialogue about the problems in the society.

Such a person wants the spiritual and societal shortcomings of a community to be swept under the rug and kept quiet and desires that people should not speak about such things.