Honesty-a
Stepping Stone of Character Building
Honesty. As we mention this word, we will remember many cases that happen in Indonesia—corruption. Honesty is very
expensive, it may be scary,
it may be just for good person. In
this
article, I
will discuss “Honesty” and its
relationship with character building.
Honesty is a word to describe attitude. It is the harmony of information and facts.
In Islam,
honest is shiddiq. Shiddiq comes
from the word shidq which means truth or honest. Therefore, shiddiq means truth, born out statement with deed, and believe (Munawwir, 1984:823).
Honesty
must be taught
to people
since they are children. Family is the main education for
children.
The child must be
given model from parents to practice moral values, for example, being fair, honest, patient, and brave. More
importantly, the interaction with family, friends, and neighbors must be kept.
Education
from pre school until unversity gives
contribution for building character. Education is the most responsible process
for building
powerful character to citizen. If the citizen has powerful character such as honest, positive, and
hard to defeat, they
can build civilized and
fair culture. In contrast, the citizen that has weaker charactera can hit and damage a nation’s
foundation.
Honesty
can be applied
from little thing, remember 3M principle first M, Mulai dari diri sendiri,
second M, Mulai dari yang kecil-kecil, the last M, Mulai dari sekarang, or 3S,
Start from ourselves, Start from little thing, and Start
now. Honesty
originates
from habit, and it
can build characters. We can practice on 3S in our life. As university
student, we can practice
it
in examination time, do the examination by yourself and never being dishonest. From the
little thing, characters can
be formed. If we can be honest from the little thing, we can be honest for the big thing, too.
Honesty originates from one’s own, because someone
has the
“internal control”, which
can manage self to do goodness. Someone has the opportunity to be dishonest as it can be caused by environment, condition or
from morality. In hadith of
Shahih Muslim, it is stated
that
عن عبد الله
بن مسعود رضي الله عنه قال : قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : عَلَيْكُمْ
بِالصِّدْقِ فَإِنَّ الصِّدْقَ يَهْدِي إِلىَ البِرِّ وَإِنَّ البرَّ يَهْدِيْ
إِلىَ الجَنَّةِ وَمَا يَزَالُ الرَّجُلُ يَصْدُقُ وَيَتَحَرَّى الصِّدْقَ حَتىَّ
يُكْتَبَ عِنْدَ اللهِ صِدِيْقاً وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَالكَذِبَ فَإِنَّ الكَذِبَ
يَهِدِى إِلىَ الفُجُوْرِ وَإِنَّ الفُجُوْرَ يَهْدِي إِلىَ النَّارِ وَمَا
يَزَالُ الرَّجُلُ يَكْذِبُ وَيتَحَرَّى الكَذِبَ حَتَّى يُكْتَبَ عِنْدَ اللهِ
كذاباً رواه مسلم .
Abdullah bin Mas’ud berkata:
“Bersabda Rasulullah : Kalian harus jujur karena sesungguhnya jujur itu
menunjukan kepada kebaikan dan kebaikan itu menunjukkan kepada jannah.
Seseorang senantiasa jujur dan berusaha untuk jujur sehingga ditulis di sisi
Allah sebagai orang yang jujur. Dan jauhilah oleh kalian dusta karena
sesungguhnya dusta itu menunjukkan kepada keburukan dan keburukan itu
menunjukkan kepada neraka. Seseorang senantiasa berdusta dan berusaha untuk
berdusta sehingga ditulis disisi Allah sebagai seorang pendusta” (HR Muslim)
Shohih Muslim hadits no : 6586
There are several ways to be
honest and to keep believe from other people to
us:
1.
Don’t expect for profit if you help
or give anything to other people.
2.
Always keep
believe from other people, if someone do not believe you, assured her/him.
3.
Always talk appropriately
based on
facts.
4.
Always think
before doing
anything.
Honesty is better although it is sometimes outraged. Remember if
you tell a lie,
someone never gives
you the trust.
If you know A, you must say A, not B or C.