Patience & Pardon, Mutual Enmity, Fun
Issue 345 » September 23, 2005 - Shaban 19, 1426
General
| Living the Quran |
Al-Jathiya
(The Kneeling Down)
The commentators have given two meanings of this verse and the words of the verse support both:
Some other commentators have regarded this verse as repealed. They say that this command was applicable only till the Muslims had not been give permission to fight. Then, when they were given permision to fight, this command became abrogated. But a careful study of the words of the verse shows that the claim about abrogation is not correct. The word "forgive" is never used in the sense that when a person is not able to retaliate upon another for the latter's excesses, he should forgive him, but on such an occasion the usual words are patience and forbearance. Instead of them, when the word "forgive" has been used here, it by itself gives the meaning that the believers, in spite of their ability for retaliation, should refrain from retaliating upon the people for their excesses, whom fearlessness of God has made to transgress all limits of morality and humanity. This command does not contradict those verses in which the Muslims have been given the permission to fight. Permission to fight pertains to the condition when the Muslim government has a reasonable ground for taking military action against an unbelieving people, and the command concerning forgiveness and pardon pertains to the common conditions in which the believers have to live in contact with a people who are fearless of God and have to suffer persecutions from them in different ways. The object of this command is that the Muslims should keep their moral superiority and should not stoop to the level of the morally inferior people by indulging in disputes and wrangling with them and resort to retaliation for every foolishness As long as it is possible to respond to an accusation or objection gently and rationally, or to defend oneself against an excess, one should not refrain from this, but when things seem to be crossing these limits, one should hold one's peace and entrust the matter to Allah. If the Muslims themselves become involved in a fight or quarrel with them, Allah will leave them alone to deal with them; but if they forgive and forbear, Allah will Himself deal with the wicked people and reward the oppressed ones for their patience. Source: |
| Understanding the Prophet's Life |
| Keep away from Mutual Enmity When the quarrel intensifies and its roots go deeper, and its thorns become branches and branches increase in number, then the freshness of the fruits of faith is adversely affected. Softness, sympathy, satisfaction and peace which are encouraged by the Islamic teachings receive a setback. Performance of worship loses its righteousness, nor does the self get any benefit from it. When a man is displeased, his eyes become prejudiced and ignore the camel and object to gnat. Such eyes do not appreciate the beauty of the peacock, for they only see its ugly feet and claws. If a slight defect is present, it turns the molehill into a mountain. And sometimes the internal rancour and jealousy affect them so badly that no hesitation is felt in inventing imaginary stories. Islam disapproves of all these manifestations of ill-feeling and advises to abstain from them. It declares their avoidance as the most virtuous form or worship. The Prophet has said: "Listen, may I not tell you something more important than salat, fasting and charity.” The people requested him to do so. He said: "To keep the mutual relationship on the right footing, because the defect in the mutual relationship is a thing which shaves a thing clean, I do not mean that it shaves the hair, but that it shaves (removes) the religion." (Tirmizi) The best method adopted by the devil to drive people away from God is to sow the seeds of enmity in the hearts of the people. When this enmity develops into a fire and open hostilities result, he enjoys the scene. This fire burns man's present and future into ashes and totally destroys their relationship and virtues. When wickedness takes roots in the hearts, and people start hating love and brotherhood and when these are destroyed, people revert to cruelty and enmity, and break all those relations and connections for which Allah has given commands to join; and thus they spread corruption on this earth. Source: |
| Blindspot! |
| Fun in Islam “Do you mean to imply that there is no such thing as fun and enjoyment in Islam?” The question should be turned around to, “What should I, as a Muslim, consider enjoyable, relaxing, or fun?” This is a matter of priority and perspective. To take an extreme example, many non-Muslims turn to alcohol or drugs and claim that they do that because they enjoy it. A Muslim looks at that—especially many converts who experienced that in the past and are now at a completely different level of understanding—and he cannot understand how they find that to be fun and entertaining. One cannot imagine the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) wasting their time in some of the pursuits that many Muslims spend a great deal of their quality hours in. This is because their purpose and goal in life was very different and much loftier. The purified soul gets rest, enjoyment and pleasure by doing acts that are pleasing to Allah. The Prophet would say to Bilal, “O Bilaal, make the iqaamah for the prayer, giving us rest by it.” The things that the Companions enjoyed and felt pleasure with were the acts that when performed would bring Allah’s pleasure to them. Consider the fact that both Eids or celebrations for Muslims come after completing a very important act of worship or drawing oneself closer to Allah (the fast of Ramadan and the pilgrimage to Makkah). This is a clear indication that the real source of joy and happiness for believers must be in completing those acts that are pleasing to Allah. Source: |
