Assalamualaikum and hello you guys! For this post I thought of sharing some of my thoughts, since I haven't done it in a while. My last post on Thoughts were Friday Reminders, which I was supposed to publish every once a week on a Friday T-T Honestly, I should've never made that kind of statement while knowing how unpredictable my schedule is on a Friday. Anyways, back to this post. I recently heard a lecture by Mufti Menk, it was one of his Ramadan Episodes titled "Save Yourself". And aside from other issues that were highlighted, there was one that strike me the most. That was how we always tend answer questions that we don't know the answer to. I'm speaking for myself, it's true though, no matter what the question is, I'd always want to be the one with the answers. Although that kind of habit have decreased (Alhamdulillah) after I learned more about the Deen and learnt that in Islam, we're suppose to be blunt & honest when we don't know something. I wonder why is it so hard to say "I don't know", what is it in these 3 words that intimidate us? Is it the fact that we can't and won't admit that we don't have the knowledge to some things? Because that is probably just our Ego. My advice, drop it. Just drop it. It's better than giving others the wrong info or voicing out your "assumptions". Just simply say "I don't know" when you don't know. Believe me, once you start, it gets easier. You can always say "I'm not sure, but I'll check" too if you're up for some research. Even if you do know the answer, but have a slight doubt about it, it's always best to check whether it is correct or not before answering. Also this should work for both parties, on one hand we have a person saying I don't know and on another hand, the person should be just as understanding and move on. No need to interrogate that person even more when he/she have genuinely replied with no answers (keep in mind this example is on a lighter note, i.e. among family members, friends etc. Don't even ask me about detectives and police officers, because I don't know... heh). Also the other party should in no way belittle the person or make them feel as if they're idiots or something. No one should be treated as an idiot for being honest, ofc honesty should be paired up with wisdom. There's certain place and time to say certain things, you can't say something that might offend others and defend yourself with "Oh, I'm just being honest". That doesn't work. 

So the next time you genuinely don't know the answer to something, say "I don't know". No matter the reaction of the people, because really, you're not doing it for them, you're solely doing it for the sake of Allah swt. And if you have asked a question and the person is not sure of the answer, accept it as it is and move on, or you both can check together, then you both would know the answer, and so it's a win-win situation.

These were some of my thoughts regarding this issue, you should totally check out the lecture for yourself, it's available on YouTube and each episode is like less than an hour. (FYI, this issue was mentioned in Episode 23). Definitely something worth hearing and super duper beneficial for the last days of Ramadan xx