DAILY ISLAMIC REMINDER. Yawm As-sabt, 24th day of Muharram 1447AH, Saturday, 19th July 2025. 

 EXTERNAL and INTERNAL HONESTY IN ISLAM. BismilLah.

By external honesty, I mean honesty, which is judged by other people. By internal honesty, I mean honesty which is judged by the person himself alone. 

The reward of external honesty comes from ALLAH, from people, and from the psychological satisfaction the honest person feels. When you are honest, you are liked by ALLAH Azzawajal and the people with whom you deal. Your honesty gives you the social approval you need and there comes the social value of honesty. 

Further, when everybody is honest, a great deal of human problems disappear including lying, cheating, bluffing, stealing, forgery, and many other social diseases. In other words, honesty is something you give and something you take: others enjoy your honesty and you enjoy their honesty. 

In the absence of honesty, many social diseases appear. If a person is dishonest, he is ready to tell lies, to bribe, to be bribed, to distort the truth, to cheat, to forge, to deceive others, and to break his promises. A dishonest person is a totality of diseases. He is ready to misbehave at any time. Each time he misbehaves, he causes a great disturbance or harm to one person or a group of persons or the whole nation, in some cases. 

Internal Honesty: Thus honesty is a factor in the psychological health of the honest person himself and the health of other persons with whom he deals. However, Islam emphasises internal honesty, i.e., honesty which is judged by the person himself and cannot be seen by other people. 

We ask Allah to aid us in our efforts to be honest for HIS sake. Aameen.