Appropriate behaviour

Worship and good character are not separate paths — the Prophet ﷺ was sent to perfect noble character.

• Truthfulness, trustworthiness, keeping promises and fulfilling contracts are religious duties, not preferences.
• A cheerful face, gentle speech and restraint in anger are acts of worship.
• Judge your practice by how you treat people when you are tired, wronged or unobserved.

• Give and return the greeting of salam, and answer people kindly.
• Begin with Bismillah, eat with the right hand, and avoid waste of food, water and money.
• Avoid backbiting, mockery, suspicion, lying and spreading unverified news — including online.
• Keep your word in work and study; punctuality and honest effort are part of amanah.
• Respect public spaces, queues, noise and cleanliness — removing harm from a path is charity.

• Kindness to parents ranks immediately after worship of Allah ﷻ, even when they are difficult.
• Maintain ties with relatives, and be the one who reconnects when others cut off.
• The rights of a neighbour are emphasised repeatedly — safety, help in need, and never harm.
• Guard the dignity of children and elders; do not humiliate anyone in front of others.

• Lower the gaze, keep speech businesslike, and avoid flirtation or private seclusion (khalwa) with a non-mahram.
• Ordinary necessary interaction — study, work, medicine, neighbours — is allowed with courtesy and restraint.
• Online conduct follows the same rules; private late-night messaging often drifts where in-person conduct would not.

• A mahram is a relative one may never marry, so the rules of covering and seclusion are relaxed with them.
• By blood: parents and grandparents, children and grandchildren, siblings, uncles and aunts, nieces and nephews.
• By marriage: parents-in-law, a spouse's children from another marriage, and children's spouses.
• By breastfeeding (rada'ah): milk relations create mahram status under specific conditions.
• Cousins are not mahram — they may marry — and neither are a spouse's siblings.

• Allah ﷻ does not forbid kindness and justice towards those who do not fight you or drive you from your homes.
• Be a good neighbour, colleague and citizen: honest dealings, fulfilled contracts, and respect for the law of the land.
• Accept invitations, give condolences, help in hardship and share food within what is lawful for you.
• Never mock another's beliefs; disagreement is expressed with knowledge and courtesy.
• Your conduct is the strongest da'wah — people judge Islam by the Muslim they actually know.

• Rights owed to people are not erased by repentance alone — return what is owed and apologise where you can.
• Ask forgiveness quickly and privately; do not publicise your own or others' sins.
• Progress is gradual; consistency in small good habits outweighs occasional intensity.