THE TRIPLE FILTER

During the Abbasid period, one of the scholars in Baghdad, the capital of Muslim Caliphate at that time, was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem.

One day an acquaintance met the great scholar and said,
"Do you know what I just heart about your friend ?"

Scholar : "Hold on a minute, before telling me anything, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

The Man : "Triple Filter Test?"

Scholar : "That's right, before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say.That's why I called it the triple filter test.
The First Filter is TRUTH.
Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

The Man : "No, actually I just heard about it and ..... "

Scholar : "All right, so you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter.
The filter is GOODNESS.
Is what you are about to tell me about my friend is something good?"

The Man : "No, on the contrary..... "

Scholar : "So, you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still the pass the test though, because there's one filter left;
The filter is USEFULNESS.
Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

The Man : "No, not really."

Scholar : "Well, if what you want to tell me is neither TRUE nor GOOD nor even USEFUL, why tell it to me at all?"

Surah 49 Al-Hujurat Ayah 12 :
Translation of meaning;
O you who believed ! Avoid much suspicions, indeed some suspisions are sins. And spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh on his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is the One Who accepts repentance, Most Merciful.

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Footnote :
"We are not perfect"
"We are only human"
What a lame excuse,

That we always use...

Gossips are fun,

Impossible to have none,
Guilty... I for one,

Admitted... this I have done.

Though I always try, to give it pass,

To speak and hear, what I know is useless,
I know it's sinful, I know it's bad,

Time and again, I fall in the trap.

God forgive me, and you too my friends,

If I speak about you, behind the fence,

Will try avoid, I know I can...

With all the reminders and lessons I've gained.
To hurt you, has never been my intention,
I want Heaven, as my final destination.
But Alas, till then...

This Damn Devil kept on with his whispers,
Sounds so innocent blowing in my ears,
The same lame excuse, he tells me to use..
"Don't think about it, no need to muse..."

"You are not perfect"
"You are only human"