Truthfulness v Lies
A person is in business, but he lies to his customers and cheats them. He justifies himself by saying: ‘It is impossible to do business without a bit of cheating. If one were to tell the truth, my business would not prosper.’ On the other hand, you will find somebody else who is firm.
His attitude is: ‘Whether I succeed or fail in business is irrelevant. The basis of my existence is ʿibādat and this business venture is also ʿibādat. It is compulsory for me to speak the truth and not tell lies.’ Therefore, he sticks to the truth. When serving a customer he explains: “This item is very old. It won’t last long, so don’t buy it. If you are thinking of using it for a few days only, then that is fine. Take it! However, my advice is to buy one of those – this one is faulty, but that one is in perfect order. The faulty one costs so much, the good one costs so much.” He speaks the truth and points out the defects in the items he sells. The customer may feel unhappy at such forthrightness and may leave the shop to go buy somewhere else.
This shopkeeper has apparently lost out because of his honesty. At the end of the day, he has hardly any sales. The other shopkeepers, on the contrary, are very busy and appear very successful. However, the customers are not fools and are busy assessing their purchases. “What’s this? The other shopkeeper told me it would last a lifetime, but here it’s broken already. He was obviously lying to me. But I see my friend has had no problems with his goods. And he buys from that new shop where the owner points out all the faults in his goods.
He is not foolish, just truthful. He is not concerned merely with making a sale. He is no cheat like the others.” After a while, the first shopkeeper’s business picks up very well and the other shopkeepers find their business slows down. (Majālis Masīḥul ʿUmmah: For Friends – Vol. 1, page 229)
