"Guiding Verses and Triple Filter Test'

In My “Salam Pengenalan”, I wrote about reading a lot of blogs which has landed me on some political blogs that somehow got me into thinking that bloggers can, through their choice, make our earth a better place to live.

Note: Non-Muslim readers, although are much-welcomed to continue reading, might find the content of this entry is too "Islamic".

However, the eagerness to be seen as strong supporter of political person/ persons/groups or to be in sync with friends can make one forgets oneself. General guidelines such as not to hurt, judge, be-little, implicate and worse still to disgrace others through our writing are not put into good practice.

What makes me rather sad when reading some of those political blogs are that the content of some of these blogs which are written by my Muslims brothers/sisters are found to be on contrary to the following "Guiding verses" in Surah 4 AnNisaa of the Al-Quran.

106. And seek the Forgiveness of Allâh, certainly, Allâh is Ever Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.

107. And argue not on behalf of those who deceive themselves. Verily, Allâh does not like anyone who is a betrayer of his trust, and indulges in crime.

108. They may hide (their crimes) from men, but they cannot hide (them) from Allâh, for He is with them (by His Knowledge), when they plot by night in words that He does not approve, And Allâh ever encompasses what they do.

109. Lo! You are those who have argued for them in the life of this world, but who will argue for them on the Day of Resurrection against Allâh, or who will then be their defender?

110. And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allâh's Forgiveness, he will find Allâh Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.

111. And whoever earns sin, he earns it only against himself. And Allâh is Ever All Knowing, All Wise.

112. And whoever earns a fault or a sin and then throws it on to someone innocent, he has indeed burdened himself with falsehood and a manifest sin.


Within a few days of finding these "Guiding Verses" of AlQuran, I have received an interesting article (from a good friend from INCEIF, The Global University in Islamic Finance) called “Triple Filter Test” -the article is in PPS but to simplify it I have re-write it as follows:-

During the golden 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 heard about your friend?

The scholar said “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 said “Triple Filter Test?”

The scholar said “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.”
The scholar continued “That's why I call 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 said “No, actually I just heard about it and ...”

The scholar said “All right, so you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”

The man said “No, on the contrary...”

The scholar said “So, you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left:”
The scholar continued “The filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?”.

The man said “No, not really”.

The scholar said “Well, if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”


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

This Triple Filter Test can be a useful guideline in our daily life. It can also serve as a general guideline for us to blog or not to blog or even to evaluate blogs that we may want to follow.

Now that I have written down what I believe to be good guidelines on to blog or not to blog.. hopefully some of those who have followed this blog (not that many he, he) may understand why I have not been making any entry for so long.