~ The Triple Filter ~
During the golden Abbasid period, one of the scholars
in Baghdad, the 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 is true?”
“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 are about
to tell me about my friend 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 want to
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: It
may 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, (to be used of one) after
he has believed: And those who do not desist are
(indeed) doing wrong.”
[Surah al-Hujurat 49.012 ]