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Self-Sufficiency & Mercy of Allah, Good Character, Fighting Pride

Issue 297 » October 22, 2004 - Ramadan 8, 1425

General

Living the Quran

Al-Anam (The Livestock)
Chapter 6: Verse 133

The Self-Sufficiency and Mercy of Allah
 "Your Lord is Self-Sufficient, full of compassion."

The Quranic statement: 'Your Lord is Self-Sufficient' signifies that God is in need of nothing from anyone, that none of His interests will be jeopardized by disobedience to Him, and that no benefit will accrue to Him from obedience. Even if all human beings became disobedient, God's dominion will not shrink. Nor will His dominion expand if everybody were to become obedient and serve and worship Him as they ought to. God is dependent neither upon their show of veneration nor upon their offerings. He lavishes His limitless treasures on human beings and seeks nothing in return.

The other statement, namely that 'Your Lord is full of compassion', has been made to emphasize two things:

First, that when God urges human being to follow the Right Way, and asks them no to do anything in conflict with Ultimate Reality, He does not do so because their good behaviour benefits Him or their misconduct hurts Him. He does so because good conduct is beneficial to man himself, as evil conduct in harmful to him. Hence it is out of sheer benevolence that God urges man to develop righteous conduct, for it will raise him to great heights, and He urges him to avoid evil conduct because it will lead to his own degradation.

Second, that God is not unduly stern in judging man. He gets no pleasure from punishing people. God is highly compassionate towards all His creatures and governs with utmost mercy and benevolence. Hence, He constantly forgives the sins of people. He grants respite to the sinners in order that they may take heed, understand things properly and reform themselves. Had He been excessively stern, He could even have obliterated them instantly and raised up another people. He could have put an end to humanity and brought into being an altogether different species of creation.

Source:
"Towards Understanding the Quran" - Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi, Vol 2, pp. 275-276
Understanding the Prophet's Life

Righteousness is Good Character

On the Authority of Al-Nawwaas ibn Samaan (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) who said, "Righteousness (birr) is good character (khuluq)." Recorded by Muslim.

The word birr is used in two senses. The first is treating others in a good fashion. If this is the usage intended by the Prophet in this particular statement, then the hadith must be understood to mean, "Good character is essential to righteous dealings with others."

The second sense in which birr is used refers to all acts of worship and obedience to Allah, both inward and outward. If this is what the Prophet meant in this hadith, it can be understood as, "Righteousness is good khuluq," in the general sense of khuluq as explained below.

One's khuluq is a combination of understanding, intention and deeds, with the last two aspects playing the most important role. If a person has good intentions followed by good deeds, it is said that he has good character or good morals. If a person has bad intentions followed up by evil deeds, it is said that he has bad character or bad morals.

Among many Muslims today, there is a misconception concerning khuluq. If a person is kind, nice and sweet, they say that he has a good character or khuluq. They may say this even if the person does not pray or fast, for example. One may even hear the statement, "He does not pray but he has a good character." This demonstrates a lack of understanding of the Islamic concept of khuluq and its all-inclusive nature.

Khuluq is often divided into three categories: khuluq with respect to the Creator, khuluq with respect to other humans and khuluq with respect to oneself. Two other categories should be added to the commonly mentioned three categories: khuluq with respect to all the other creatures that Allah has created, and khuluq with respect to the Earth and all of its natural resources. All of these categories comprise a person's khuluq. For a person to have good khuluq he must have good khuluq with respect to all of the different categories of khuluq. It is not sufficient to be good in one category and then fail with respect to the other categories.

Source:
"Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi" - Jamaal al-Din Zarabozo, pp 1011-1026
Cool Tips!

Fighting Pride!

Imam al-Ghazali has stated, the only way one who is guilty of pride (kibr) can condition himself to be humble is by using both the cognitive and practical resources and using them to acquire the habit of humility:

1. Why are you so proud? The cognitive steps involve knowing first why you are acting so proudly and then convincing yourself against it. For instance, if you are proud because of the wealth you possess, then you should think of what became of those who were wealthy and acted proudly. Think of the terrible fate of Pharaoh, Nimrod, Qaroon, etc. Think of those rich people who never benefited from their riches; rather their riches became a source of doom and gloom for them.

2. Know your status. You should also remind yourself of your true status as a creature of Allah. You were born of a despicable drop of semen; that was your beginning. As for your end, you will be reduced after death to a rotten corpse eaten by worms and finally disintegrating into the earth. How can anyone who is aware of his true nature act so proudly?

On the other hand, think of the Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) who, in spite of being the best and the chosen servant of Allah, was always so humble that he never set himself apart from his people in any way. Thanks to his humility, Allah has exalted his status. As opposed to this, the status of those who acted proudly became diminished in the sight of Allah as well as people; people today only remember them with utmost contempt and derision.

3. Beware of the Consequences. To reinforce this concept further, list as many verses and Hadiths as you can find that speak about the terrible punishments or fate awaiting those who are proud.

4. Adopt Humility. We cannot break any bad habit unless we acquire the opposite habit. So if you wish to break the habit of pride, you should do what the humble people do consistently until humility becomes your second nature. This will be easy when you use every opportunity to be humble when meeting people. You should be consistent in this behaviour until humility is acquired as a habit, just as you had acquired the habit of being proud.

5. Turn to Allah. Along with all of these, turn to Allah in repentance and pray to Him to inspire you with humility. You can use the following supplications:

Allaahumma innee a`aoodhu bika min ash-shiqaqi wa an-nifaaqi wasoo’ al-akhlaaq
(O Allah I seek refuge and protection in You from discord, hypocrisy and all base morals and character).

Allaahumma habbib ilaynaa al-imaana wa zayyinhu fee quloobinaa wa karrih ilaynaa al-kufra wa al-fusuqa wa al-`isyaana
(O Allah! Make faith dear to our heart and beautify it in our heart, and make us hate unbelief, corruption and disobedience).

Source:
"IslamOnline.net"