A man will go to sleep and honesty will be taken out of his heart and only a trace of it will remain, like the trace of a dark spot. And a man will go to sleep again and the honesty will decrease further still, so its trace will resemble that of a blister.

The Hadīth states that honesty shall be gradually uprooted from people’s hearts. As the first part of honesty leaves, the heart loses its light leaving a faint trace of darkness, different in color from the color preceding it. Further loss of honesty leaves a substantial irremovable mark, except for after a period of time. This darkness is denser than the previous one.

The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) likened the elimination of the deep-rooted light from the heart and its replacement with darkness to an ember rolling down a man’s leg and leaving a mark on it. The ember rolls away, but the blister remains. The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) picked up a small stone and rolled it over his leg to make his point clearer.

After the sleep during which honesty is removed, people who are trading will rarely be willing to return the things that they were entrusted with, let alone actually return them in reality. Due to such rarity, very few people will be labeled as honest and trustworthy. You may even see a man who is hardworking and intelligent, but there will be no grain of faith in his heart, let alone honesty, which is a branch of faith.

The narrator reflected on a past time in his life when he would carry out transactions with anyone, without caring who they were, because he was certain that honesty was flourishing and people would fulfill their promises. Fully trusting people’s honesty, he used to trade with anyone, without investigating their situation. Later, however, when honesty disappeared, except in rare cases, he would only conduct transactions with those he knows and trusts.