Amidst the cannons’ roar, it is sometimes good to remember that there is more to the world than bloody slaughter. I am not an Islamic scholar. Even my knowledge of Arabic is limited to a few phrases most of us Jewish Israelis are familiar with: such as salam aleikum (peace be upon you), sabakh al khir (good day), tfadal (please), shukran (thank you), and others. That is why I, presumably like 99 percent of all non-Moslems, never spent any time reading the hadith. Not even in translation. For those of you who do not know, hadith, plural ahadith, means “report” or “account.” Considered the second most authoritative source of Islamic life and law, right after the Koran itself, it consists of the Prophet’s recorded sayings as well as exemplary stories from his and followers’ life.

Originating in the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries CE, the total number of ahadith is in the thousands. Not surprisingly for a religion whose billion and a half adherents spread from the Philippines to West Africa, there are many different editions, each with its own collection of what the editor(s) considered authentic and fake, significant and less significant. Many are repetitive, and some contradict each other. The lists differ from Sunni to Shi’ite Islam, from one sect to another, and even from one scholar to the next.

Though I am not a Moslem, I have read the Koran in translation (my late father in law, a typical highly-educated German Jew, owned a copy, and I inherited it). However, while aware of the existence of the hadith and the role it plays in Islam I had never taken a closer look. Stumbling across it recently, I was immediately struck by the beauty and clarity of many of the sayings and examples I encountered. Given all the bad things Israelis and Westerners in general keep reading about Islam, some came as revelations. That is why I decided to share a few of them.

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Narrated Aisha: [Mohammad’s wife and the mother of the faithful believers]. Al-Harith bin Hisham asked Allah’s Apostle O Allah’s Apostle! How is the Divine Inspiration revealed to you? Allah’s Apostle replied, Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell, this form of Inspiration is the hardest of all and then this state passes off after I have grasped what is inspired. Sometimes the Angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me and I grasp whatever he says. ‘Aisha added: Verily I saw the Prophet being inspired divinely on a very cold day and noticed the sweat dropping from his forehead (as the Inspiration was over).

Prophet Mohammad said: Whoever takes a path in search of knowledge, Allah will cause him to walk in one of the paths to Paradise. Indeed the angels will lower their wings in great pleasure with the one who seeks knowledge.

Once a man came to Prophet Mohammad and said, “Advise me!” He said, “Do not get angry.” The man asked the same question several times and the Prophet said in each case, “Do not get angry.”

Said Mohammad: “It is better to sit alone than in company with the bad, and it is better still to sit with the good than alone. It is better to speak to a seeker of knowledge than to remain silent, but silence is better than idle words.”

Said Mohammad: The best jihad is to speak a word of justice to an oppressive ruler.

Said Mohammad: “Those people who show no mercy will receive no mercy from God.”

Said Mohammad: God enjoins you to treat women well, for they are your mothers, daughters, aunts.

Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr [an early follower of Mohammad]: A man asked the Prophet, What sort of deeds or (what qualities of) Islam are good? The Prophet replied, ‘To feed (the poor) and greet those whom you know and those whom you do not know.

Said Mohammad: “God did not send me to be harsh, or cause harm, but He has sent me to teach and make things easy.”

Said Mohammad: “Everybody errs. The best of those who have erred are those that repent.”

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This is just a very small appetizer, made up of ingredients selected more or less at random and put in no particular order.

I hope you will like it as much as I did.