The Mirror of the Mu’min

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says,

“الْمُؤْمِنُ مِرْآةُ الْمُؤْمِنِ”

“Al-Mu’min mir’ātu l-Mu’min”

“The believer is the believer’s mirror.”

Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says, the mu’min is the mirror of his mu’min brother.

A believer is different and a Muslim is different. He cannot not be another Muslim’s mirror. But a believer knows the person in front of him, the believer, as himself. He wants for him what he wants for himself. He wants the same for him. He does not want less for him. Just as he wishes every good for himself, he wishes the same for his mu’min brother as well. He knows him as himself. He treats him as himself.

This is the believer with īmān. The true believers are those whom our Prophet ﷺ loves, those who follow the way of our Prophet ﷺ. They are those upon ṭarīqah and sharī’ah. Because the way is shown with sharī’ah and ṭarīqah. Those who follow them are believers.

And a believer: whatever good there is in the believer. No harm comes from a believer. Our Prophet ﷺ has ordered not to harm. The status of a believer is beautiful. A believer is a person who wants to benefit people and everyone. He wants people to enter the way, to enter paradise.

That is why, most mashāyikh show the shaykh who will come after him as his mirror. They show what he did. One of the most famous of the great awliyā’ is Mawlana Jalāluddīn Rūmī. He says that Shams Tabrīzī is his mirror. He looked at this mirror and took from his blessings. They had soḥbahs together. They taught knowledge and the truth. Shaykh Tabrīzī became a mirror only for Mawlana. He did not become a mirror for others. Because only Mawlana Jalāluddīn Rūmī can carry his state and station. He did not become a mirror to anyone else, and they did not understand him. Since he did not have duties that anyone could understand, he became a mirror only to Mawlana. Those truths passed from his heart to his heart. They passed back and forth. And they became the means for great guidance. Until now, millions of people have come to īmān and found the truth through their means. This is what we call a mirror.

As our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam said, he knows whomever the person in front of him is as himself. There are some proverbs on that. But of course most people are not like him. A non-believer is not like him. You treat him thinking he is like you. That person whose heart is not pure thinks how he will benefit from you, how he will get ahead of you. Sometimes a person gets disappointed. That is not important. What is important is to find a believer and to mirror each other and look at your shortcomings and what needs to be done and to do like him. It would be a beautiful thing, inshā’a Llāh. The order of our Prophet ﷺ will also be fulfilled. A person will also benefit from the blessed words he ﷺ said. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.

Al-Fatiha.

• Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 

24 March 2025/ 24 Ramadhan 1446

Lefke, Cyprus

English starts from [05:32]: