Husn ud-Dhan – A Good Opinion of Others

Everyone will agree that having a good opinion about people is a very noble thing. Having a good opinion of Allah, His religion and His creation will indeed bring peace to oneself and others around them. Having a good opinion or thinking positively about others in Arabic is Husn ad-Dhan (حٌسن الظّن). Our Prophet ﷺ has encouraged the practice of having a good opinion of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said three days before his death, “Let none of you die unless he has good expectations from Allah” (Muslim) 
The opposite of having good opinions is to have bad opinions of others. Having negative assumptions is so bad that Allah made it a sin. Allah says,
 يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱجْتَنِبُوا۟ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ ٱلظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ ٱلظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ 
“O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin …. [49:12] 

During the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, there was an incident in which Allah Himself told people off for not practicing Husn ad-Dhan. The incident involved Aisha, the Prophet’s wife. To summarise the whole story, some people saw Aisha with another man and they automatically assumed something very bad had happened and they started to spread the rumour as well. Allah revealed verses rebuking the people. Allah said, 
لَّوْلَآ إِذْ سَمِعْتُمُوهُ ظَنَّ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَٰتُ بِأَنفُسِهِمْ خَيْرًا وَقَالُوا۟ هَٰذَآ إِفْكٌ مُّبِينٌ 
“Why, when you heard it, did not the believing men and believing women think good of one another and say, "This is an obvious falsehood?” [24:12] 
So, Allah is telling people to think well of others, especially if things appear otherwise.  

So, the question I would like to ask myself and you brothers is how should we go about living our lives? Shall we practice Husn ad-Dhan and have good opinions of people? Or shall we assume bad things every time? People who are ugly on the inside will only see ugliness around them. When negative people see good people, they will automatically have negative assumptions. That guy doesn’t have the latest shoes and so he must be poor. This person on social media does not do random pictures and videos and so he must be depressed. He does not swear every few sentences and so he does not have a lot of fun. He looks after his parents and so he must have a seriously boring life. These are assumptions that come from a corrupt heart and from a mind that is suffering from negative assumptions. People with such thoughts and speech need to practice Husn ad-Dhan in order to improve the quality of their life. And to be honest, no one is perfect, and we all need to work on this. We need to start maybe thinking well of Allah first, thinking positively about our religion. This will require you to study who Allah is and study our religion. After that we need to start thinking positively about our parents, who have sacrificed so much for us. And we all need to have a good opinion about other people.  
 
Even if someone has faults, we should still think good of them. Our Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever conceals the faults of a Muslim, Allah will conceal his faults in this world and in the Hereafter. Allah helps the servant as long as he helps his brother” [Muslim]. From this hadith, we learn that we must not spread the faults of others, rather, we should cover their faults as they might have made a mistake and repented from it. By covering their faults, we are helping them, and so Allah will help us cover our own faults and shortcomings.  

We said it before, no-one is perfect. Due to social media and other forms of distractions, we might constantly find ourselves in situations in which we are thinking negatively and so we need to find solutions. 

There are many steps one can take to develop this noble characteristic of having good assumptions about others. Firstly, we should make dua and ask Allah to give us the ability to think well of them. Know that with anything in life you should always ask for Allah’s help. Secondly, listen to some Islamic and academic talks on how to think positively, how to be a positive person, the evils of bad assumptions, jealousy, hatred, envy and others. By researching further, you and I will be equipped with the necessary skills needed to practice Husn ad-Dhan.  

Thirdly, use social media wisely; if your social media is making you think negatively about yourself, your family and good people then it would be wise for you to add good people and unfriend the bad ones. There are plenty of people who give positive and emotional messages. Add those who remind you about Allah, about the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and about the beauty of this religion.  

Fourthly, if you find yourself writing negative messages about others on social media then you should delete them and start writing good things about people. The good you do will wipe the bad. Allah says: 
إِنَّ ٱلْحَسَنَـٰتِ يُذْهِبْنَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ 
 “…Surely good deeds wipe out evil deeds…” [11:114] 
Trust me brothers, when you do good instead of bad, your self-esteem will improve and you will achieve the happiness people are looking for in life. Practising Husn ad-Dhan will improve your physical and mental wellbeing and it will help others improve theirs as well. Most importantly, you will be following the guidelines of Allah and Allah rewards the good doers with Paradise.   

So, in conclusion, we need to practice Husn ad-Dhan, have good opinions of others, in order to have a peaceful life. There are various ways to improve our practice of Husn ad-Dhan and so we need to do further research.  

May Allah give us the ability to practice Husnul-Dhan and have a positive outlook to life. Ameen.