Overlook the greatest fault of another, but do not partake of it yourself in the smallest degree.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
For the wise, who have risen above the ordinary faults of human life, it matters little if they find fault, but they are the ones who do not criticize. They, as a rule, overlook all that seems undesirable, and that action of overlooking itself prevents all the undesirable impressions from penetrating through their hearts. There is a natural tendency in the human as in the animal to protect the heart from all hurt or harm, but that is the external heart. If we only knew what harm is brought to one’s being by letting any undesirable impression enter the heart, we also would adopt the above-mentioned policy of the wise, to overlook.
Overlooking the faults of others with politeness, tolerance, forgiveness, and resignation is regarded as a moral virtue in the East. One’s heart is visualized as the shrine of God, and even a small injury in thought, word, and deed against it is considered as a great sin against God, the Indwelling One. [ The emphasis and focus for this approach is on the hearts of others rather than on our own hearts. And the Work is to develop the sensitiveness and deeper awareness to witness and identify those thoughts, words, and deeds of our own which cause injury to the hearts of others; to repair the injuries we have caused by apologizing and by asking for forgiveness; and to reduce the frequency of future injuries by practicing self restraint. Of course we need to maintain healthy and responsible boundaries to protect ourselves from harm, but tabulating a list of injuries we have received from others and nursing them as sins against God is not a productive approach for our own growth and evolution — Muiz ]
In the East, when we speak of saints or sages, it is not because of their miracles, it is because of their presence and their countenance which radiate vibrations of love. How does this love express itself? In tolerance, in forgiveness, in respect, in overlooking the faults of others. Their sympathy covers the defects of others as if they were their own; they forget their own interest in the interest of others. They do not mind what conditions they are in; be they high or humble, their foreheads are smiling. To their eyes everyone is the expression of the Beloved, whose name they repeat. They see the Divine in all forms and in all beings.
The more the self learns, the more it overlooks the evil in others. It does not mean that the evil is not in others; it only means that one finds in oneself the enemy which one was seeing outwardly. And the worst enemy one was faced with in outer life, one finds to be in one’s own heart. It makes one feel humiliated, but it teaches the true lesson: one finds oneself having the same element which one wishes to resist [ or correct, or attack — Muiz ] in another.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
There are several manners for overlooking the fault of another. One way is often equal to condoning it or excusing it. While outwardly this may be done, the more a mystic may outwardly defend such a wrong doer, the more inwardly he or she must pray for or condemn that person. Otherwise one will be partaking of that fault oneself and will have to answer for it.
Another way is the heart view, which while not excusing the person, recognizes the person’s limitation and knows positively the difference between the real personality and one’s acting or reacting under conditions that are more or less trying. The heart recognizes the conditions and endeavors to free that person from the subjugation by these conditions. This is the real nature of overlooking.
However, one must be careful in doing this, for it is not in committing the same act that one is partaking of it but in defending another openly for such an act when one is not aware of all circumstances, that one partakes of it. Likewise if one wrongly condemns another of a sin, you are guilty of a sin. Both these attitudes come from the domination of mind by nufs, and of will by mind.