Hadhrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (Rahmatullahi Alayh) states:

“Haji Abdur Raheem used to work for my late brother. Once, my first wife complained about him. I immediately summoned him and asked him to stand at the entrance. Thereafter, in her presence I addressed him: ‘She has complained about you.’ I then said to her: ‘You have made a claim. Now prove it. To furnish evidence is your responsibility.’

However, she didn’t have any proof and began saying: ‘In such a short time you have made fazeehat of me (disgraced me).’ I replied: ‘I do not make fazeehat, rather I give naseehat (advice).’

This practice of complaining about others is evil. It creates enmity within the hearts of people. It then leads to one having doubts as to whether the next person has said something regarding him or not.

All our elders were extremely wise. However, from amongst them, two had reached perfection as far as being uninfluenced by the complaints of others. One was Haji (Imdaadullah) Sahib (Rahmatullahi Alayh) and the other was Hadhrat Moulana Qasim Nanotwi (Rahmatullahi Alayh). The latter would not even entertain any person who wished to complain about anyone. He would promptly stop such a person. Hadhrat Haji Sahib’s (Rahmatullahi Alayh) way was unique. He would listen to the entire complaint giving the impression that he was affected by the complaint. Once the complainant would finish he would then simply say: ‘All that you have said is incorrect since this person is not like that.’ The reason for such a statement was that even though the complaint may have been true but, due to the lack of shar’ee evidence, such a statement will be treated as a lie. This is the purport of the Aayah:

فَإِذْ لَمْ يَأْتُوا بِالشُّهَدَاءِ فَأُولَئِكَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ هُمُ الْكَاذِبُونَ

If they do not bring forth the witnesses then they are liars according to Allah.

The words عِنْدَ اللَّهِ in the Aayah refer to Deen and the laws of Shari’ah. After this explanation, no doubt remains regarding Haji Sahib considering such a person to be liar despite the possibility of his complaint being true.

Hakeem Muhammad Mustafa Sahib made a very wonderful deduction from this Aayah. He said: ‘Good opinions of others do not require any proof but, ill opinions require evidence.’ ” (Malfoozaat Hakeem-ul-Ummat, vol. 1, p. 173)