capital of Muslim caliphate at that time, was reputed to hold
knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great
scholar and said,"Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"
"Hold on a minute," the scholar replied. "Before telling me anything
I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter
Test."
"Triple filter?"
"That's right," the scholar continued. "Before you talk to me about my
friend it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're
going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first
filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about
to tell me istrue?"
"No," the man said,"actually I just heard about it and..."
"All right," said the scholar. "So you don't really know if it's true
or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is
what you areabout to tell me about myfriend something good?""No, on
the contrary......"
"So," the scholar continued, "you want to tell me something bad about
him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test
though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is
what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded the scholar, "if what you wantto tell me is neither
true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"
"O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others: It may
be that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor let some women
laugh at others: Itmay be that the (latter are better than the
(former): Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each
other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting
wickedness, (tobe used of one) after he has believed: And those who do
not desist are (indeed) doing wrong." [Surah al-Hujurat 49.012]
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