Continue reading »]]> Another Mother of the Believers
By Hamza Yusuf

On November 29, 2009, a majority of Swiss voters approved a proposed referendum to ban the construction of minarets in their nation. The following is a translation from Arabic of an address and commentary on the matter by Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah, president of The Global Center for Renewal and Guidance, and vice-president of the European Union of Muslim Scholars.

In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful,

Praise be to God and blessings and peace be upon our master, the Messenger of God

On both religious and humanistic grounds, we are grieved by the decision of the Swiss people to prohibit the construction of minarets for mosques in the independent nation of Switzerland.

We perceive in this decision a new obstruction on the road to coexistence and integration between the various ethnic and religious segments in this country, which is, in the minds and hearts of many Muslims and others, an exemplary model of harmonious coexistence that transcends the stereotypes that some people hold of others.

We also perceive a failed hope—in the most progressive of democracies which is studied in universities and seen as the best practitioner of democracy in the world in the area of constitutional practices—for such a democracy to issue an undemocratic and unconstitutional decision.

We say undemocratic because democracy represents a system of equal opportunity and equality for all, and [this decision represents] the devaluation of ethnicity, color, and religion in its interaction with its citizens. And it is unconstitutional because the constitution supports these concepts—and makes them a standard for cooperation.

Switzerland used to represent all of that. And perhaps, it still does. That is, at least, our hope and desire.

In light of that, we will address messages to four constituencies:

* • One is to the Swiss people, the owners of the deep-rooted history in resolving ethnic and linguistic disputes. Our hope is that they will commit to introspection. For a wise man once said, “Turning back to truth is better than continuing one’s march into falsehood.” Similarly, we hope they will make a different decision that ennobles and increases the nation’s human capital in the future and not plunge them into backwardness; a decision that appropriately mirrors their history and serves their true interests, not one that is born of emotion and racism.

* • The second message is for the Swiss government. We offer gratitude for its notable stance in expressing its opposition to the extremist points of view and for inviting us to utilize the appropriate constitutional and legal means to appeal this decision.

* • Our third message is directed to Europe. Thanks to all of those who continue to cling to the principles of morality and humanity and those who defend human rights in the simplest of its expressions, and especially the European Union, the Vatican, and other commissions. And special thanks go to the Swiss clergy.

We call on those organizations and peoples to challenge the views that have begun to surface in Europe from fanatical right-wing parties that are striving to ignite violent conflict and popularize historical resentment; [to challenge] things that do not support the success of dialogue and the dousing of the fires of tension in the world, a world that has no need for more fires.

And we call on those of goodwill to create a space for tolerance, accord, and coexistence. Construction is not happening only in Europe; it is happening throughout the globe. We are calling on all people of sound minds and wisdom to not content themselves with timid calls [to right action]. They should, instead, be more active and engaged.

* • The fourth message is to the Muslims of Switzerland especially, and to those of Europe in general. We offer our blessing in observing your maturity, wakefulness, and prudence. And we invite you to represent the values of your great religion: perseverance, tolerance, and forgiveness. “Yet if anyone is patient and forgives, that is determination that will resolve affairs.” [Qur’an, 42:43]

Therefore, alerting one’s brothers and sisters to [the following] principles appears to be a necessity in both particular and general circumstances:

* 1. There should be a rational and wise increase in public relations activities which support humanistic principles and the rights of citizenship.

* 2. There should be legal initiatives that support the principles of fairness and the constitution.

* 3. There should be political and popular campaigns that seek the support of all citizens as well as various human rights and religious organizations.

* 4. There should be a distancing of one’s self from falling victim to agitation in any form and on focusing one’s energies on the judicial process, while reminding the Swiss people that the flag of Switzerland bears the most Christian symbol: the Cross. The flag flies in the lands of the Islamic world and the Muslims find no discomfort upon seeing it. Muslims also love [Swiss] chocolate and the fascinating Swiss landscape, but such a landscape would be even more beautiful if it had a few minarets. Minarets do not symbolize any treacherous intent. They symbolize nothing more than turning one’s self to the Creator, the Majestic and Sublime.

* 5. This is an opportunity to manifest the values of tolerance and human fraternity in Islam. Islam is the religion of peace. And our Lord, Majestic and Sublime, is Peace (Al-Salam). And He invites us to the Abode of Peace (Dar al-Salam). So we are not to lose hope that the human heart of the citizens will be awakened; history relates a number of examples of abhorrence transformed into affection. Once in European history the Catholics found themselves agitated over the presence of the Protestants, so they oppressed them. Both denominations thereafter were agitated over the Jews. And today the turn of the Muslims has come. However, the just loving nature of the human being will gain the upper hand. For, our Lord, Majestic and Sublime, allows for us to be optimistic, as He says, “Perhaps God may establish friendship between you and those of them you regard as enemies: and God is able; and God is most forgiving, most merciful.” [Qur’an, 60:7]

He also says, “For good and evil are not equal: promote what is better, and then one between you and whom there was enmity will be as friend, a relative.” [Qur’an, 41:34]

Likewise our advice to you is to reply consistently with what is more attractive in word and deed, advancing proof in the most beautiful fashion, and with affection in place of rancor.

May peace and God’s mercy be upon you.
source: http://www.zaytuna.org/articleDetails.asp?articleID=124

Continue reading »]]> Islam has a progressive tradition too
By Hamza Yusuf

When a Welsh resistance leader was captured and brought before the emperor in Rome, he said: “Because you desire to conquer the world, it does not necessarily follow that the world desires to be conquered by you.” Today one could offer an echo of this sentiment to western liberals: “Because you wish your values to prevail throughout the world, it does not always follow that the world wishes to adopt them.” The imperial voice is based on ignorance of the rich traditions of other civilisations, and on an undue optimism about what the west is doing to the world politically, economically and environmentally.

The entrenched beliefs many westerners profess about Islam often reveal more about the west than they do about Islam or Muslims. The Ottomans were history’s longest-lasting major dynasty; their durability must have had some relation to their ability to rule a multi-faith empire at a time when Europe was busily hanging, drawing and quartering different varieties of Christian believer.

Today Islam is said to be less, not more, tolerant than the west, and we need to ask which, precisely, are the “western” values with which Islam is so incompatible? Some believe Islam’s attitude towards women is the source of the Muslim “problem”. Westerners need to look to their own attitudes here and recognise that only very recently have patriarchal structures begun to erode in the west.

The Islamic tradition does show some areas of apparent incompatibility with the goals of women in the west, and Muslims have a long way to go in their attitudes towards women. But blaming the religion is again to express an ignorance both of the religion and of the historical struggle for equality of women in Muslim societies.

A careful reading of modern female theologians of Islam would cause western women to be impressed by legal injunctions more than 1,000 years old that, for instance, grant women legal rights to domestic help at the expense of their husbands. Three of the four Sunni schools consider domestic chores outside the scope of a woman’s legal responsibilities toward her husband. Contrast that with US polls showing that working women still do 80% of domestic chores.

Westerners, in their advocacy of global conformism, often speak of “progress” and the rejection of the not-too-distant feudal past, and are less likely to reveal their unease about corporate hegemony and the real human implications of globalisation.

Neither are the missionaries of western values willing to consider why Europe, the heart of the west, should have generated two world wars which killed more civilians than all the wars of the previous 20 centuries. As Muslims point out, we are asked to call them “world wars” despite their reality as western wars, which targeted civilians with weapons of mass destruction at a time when Islam was largely at peace.

We Muslims are unpersuaded by many triumphalist claims made for the west, but are happy with its core values. As a westerner, the child of civil rights and anti-war activists, I embraced Islam not in abandonment of my core values, drawn almost entirely from the progressive tradition, but as an affirmation of them. I have since studied Islamic law for 10 years with traditionally trained scholars, and while some particulars in medieval legal texts have troubled me, never have the universals come into conflict with anything my progressive Californian mother taught me. Instead, I have marvelled at how most of what western society claims as its own highest ideals are deeply rooted in Islamic tradition.

The chauvinism apparent among some westerners is typically triggered by Islamic extremism. Few take the trouble to notice that mainstream Islam dislikes the extremists as much as the west does. What I fear is that an excuse has been provided to supply some westerners with a replacement for their older habit of anti-semitism. The shift is not such a difficult one. Arabs, after all, are semites, and the Arabian prophet’s teaching is closer in its theology and law to Judaism than it is to Christianity. We Muslims in the west, like Jews before us, grapple with the same issues that Jews of the past did: integration or isolation, tradition or reform, intermarriage or intra-marriage.

Muslims who yearn for an ideal Islamic state are in some ways reflecting the old aspirations of the Diaspora Jews for a homeland where they would be free to be different. Muslims, like Jews, often dress differently; we cannot eat some of the food of the host countries. Like the Jews of the past, we are now seen as parasites on the social body, burdened with a uniform and unreformable law, contributing little, scheming in ghettoes, and obscurely indifferent to personal hygiene.

Cartoons of Arabs seem little different to the caricatures of Jews in German newspapers of the Nazi period. In the 1930s, such images ensured that few found the courage to speak out about the possible consequences of such a demonisation, just as few today are really thinking about the anti-Muslim rhetoric of the extreme-right parties across Europe. Muslims in general, and Arabs especially, have become the new “other”.

When I met President Bush last year, I gave him two books. One was The Essential Koran, translated by Thomas Cleary. The second was another translation by Cleary, Thunder in the Sky: Secrets of the Acquisition and Use of Power. Written by an ancient Chinese sage, it reflects the universal values of another great people.

I did this because, as an American, rooted in the best of western tradition, and a Muslim convert who finds much of profundity in Chinese philosophy, I believe the “Huntington thesis” that these three great civilisations must inevitably clash is a lie. Each civilisation speaks with many voices; the best of them find much in common. Not only can our civilisations co-exist in our respective parts of the world, they can co-exist in the individual heart, as they do in mine. We can enrich each other if we choose to embrace our essential humanity; we can destroy the world if we choose to stress our differences.

This article originally appeared in The Guardian Wednesday June 19, 2002

source: http://www.zaytuna.org/articleDetails.asp?articleID=114

Continue reading »]]> In Praise of God – The Prophet’s Birthday BBC World Service
By Hamza Yusuf

Produced by Caroline Donne, readings by Shazir Khan and Omar Eltayeb, recitation by (various)

Recitation/ Repentance verses

Twenty-six years ago I became a Muslim largely because I fell in love with a beautiful human being. “I was only sent to perfect noble character”, said the man declared as “a mercy to all the worlds”.

As time passed, this love grew as my knowledge of him increased. I painfully watched his religion hijacked by some for their own ends – distorting his message and forgetting that he was indeed a mercy to all the worlds. I am troubled by the media’s portrayal of him sometimes in the worst of lights. How could the man I came to know and love be so vilified and maligned by those who claim to represent him and also by those who aim to be unbiased interpreters?

Mohammad, Peace be upon Him was a shy, reticent man who lived among his people with such high moral character they called him ‘al-amin,’ the trustworthy.

Music

The Prophet of Islam was born in the city of Mecca, Arabia, into a poor but noble branch of an aristocratic clan known as Koreish, a people who despised treachery, lies and stupidity, while honoring bravery in battle, generosity in partying, and cleverness in poetry.

Music up

Some families, were so ashamed of their baby girls, that they would bury them alive instead of suffering the possible indignity of future dishonor. The religion of the Arabs at the time was a hodge-podge of superstition, divination and idolatry. To them, man’s life ended with his death and his afterlife was based on his military exploits might be immortalized by a poet’s tongue.

The Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon Him was born into ‘this’ world on April 9th, 570, Christian era in the lunar month of Rabi’a al-awwal. His father, Abdallah died during his mother’s pregnancy. And for the first four years he was raised in the relative purity of the desert by a Bedouin woman named Halimah. After which he returned to his mother, Aminah. But in his seventh year, his mother died leaving him in the care of his grandfather.

At the age of twenty-five, he was employed as a commercial agent by Lady Khadijah, a successful widow from his own clan. She soon recognized his honesty and good nature and proposed marriage. Although fifteen years younger than she was, he accepted her proposal, and fathered six of his seven children with her.

Music up………

At the age of forty, it had become his custom to escape the idolatry of Meccan society by seeking solitude in a cave on the mountain known as the “the mountain of Light.” In the solitary confines of his small cave a voice pierced his consciousness declaring: Recite!

Quran: iqra bismi rabbika / the clinging cell

Alarmed and shivering he fled to his wife, begging her to wrap him in a cloak. He feared for his sanity, concerned that a desert spirit or poetic muse might be pursuing him. More revelations soon followed and Muhammad came to the understanding that he was not only a prophet in a long line of prophets, but that he was the last of them who was sent with a universal message.

As the days passed his revelations increased and they were powerfully rhythmic punctuated with intoxicating messages that challenged listeners to reflect on everyday miracles such as the alternation of the night and day:

Wa layli idha saja/ The ForenoonThese revelations revealed to Muhammad came to be known as the Koran, the Muslim holy book.
For thirteen years he invited his clan to worship one God, sit with slaves in spiritual solidarity, respect women as soul-full equals and the source of human mercy, care for the widow, the orphan, the weak and the oppressed.

At first people ridiculed his message and accused him of “attempting to make the gods one.” His message threatened his people’s financial control of the markets of Mecca where pilgrims from all over Arabia came to spend their wealth.

When his clan failed to stop his preaching they plotted to kill him in his sleep. But he was warned by the Angel Gabriel and told to flee in the cover of darkness to Madina with his beloved friend and lifelong companion Abu Bakr.

Setting out, the two sought refuge in a cave to escape the skilled trackers of Mecca hot on their trail. The bounty hunters quickly came upon the cave, but a spider’s web had already covered the entrance and a dove with her young rested in a nest above it.

The poet Busiri celebrates this incident in the most celebrated Arabic poem: the Burda

Burda section on the cave incident.

When the posse left and the two felt safe again, they continued their journey to the city of Yathrib. And as they entered it the young girls and children of Bani Najjar came out chanting lines of poetry which is still sung all over the world in remembrance of this auspicious occasion:

Tala’ badru alayna – Yusuf Islam.

The name Yathrib was changed to Medina, city of hope. It became a city founded on the brotherhood of virtue. The Prophet enacted a treaty uniting the once warring groups. He secured the rights of the Jewish minority by granting them full citizenship and freedom to practice their religion without constraint.

Days after his arrival in Medina he began the construction of a mosque, a sanctuary of prayer and meditation, in the center of the city. And he had his companions; the Muslims create their own marketplace in order to insure economic strength.

The Meccans, sensing that a rising power was now emerging in the peninsula, plotted ways of subverting the prophet and his growing community of believers.

And the prophet, who had practiced a strict pacifism in Mecca for 13 years and disliked the use of coercive force, was now given permission by God to defend against any attacks by his enemies. The Quran declared, “Fighting has been prescribed for you and you detest it, but perhaps you detest something and in it is much good. And perhaps you love something and in it is much harm, and God knows and you do not know.” (Quran 2:216)

The prophet said, “Never desire to meet your enemies, rather ask God for peace and well-being; but should you be forced to meet them, then act courageously.” (Sahih al-Bukhari)

Muslims are not ashamed of their Prophet’s teaching about war. On the contrary, for us it is a great source of pride. He was courageous as a great lion against the strong and oppressive yet gentle as a shepherd with the weak and the oppressed.

The true object of war fought for God should always be peace. What the Prophet taught is that Muslims fight for a just cause only. In this world, there are only two choices: two sides, truth and justice or falsehood and oppressions. You don’t have to be a Muslim to understand that.

Music up

After years of conflict between members of his clan and his followers, the Prophet had a revelation that he should visit the sacred mosque. In the eighth year after his migration to Medina the Prophet set out for Mecca but his adversaries refused to allow him in. They sent out an arbitrator to strike an agreement that would bring the stand-off to an end. And on every point of this treaty the Prophet compromised his own position in pursuit of peace.

On the journey back to Medina some of the companions were deeply troubled by what had just taken place and disappointed that they were thwarted from visiting the sanctuary. When asked to explain, the Prophet replied, “Did I say it was going to be this year?”

And so the following year, in accordance with the treaty, the prophet and his followers performed a pilgrimage completely unmolested. But soon his clan the Koreish broke their end of the deal, massacring another clan with alliance to the prophet, attacking them even in the sacred precinct. Abu Sufyan, the head of the Prophet’s enemies, attempted to restore the truce but it was too late. News of the massacre enraged the believers and the prophet summoned all of the Muslims capable of bearing arms to march on Mecca. When the nearly ten thousand Muslims arrived on the outskirts of the city, the Koreish realized they did not stand a chance and people either fled or stayed in their homes.

And so it was, after years of persecution, the Prophet marched triumphant into the city of his birth at the head of the largest army ever assembled in Arabian history. With his head bowed in humility he declared a general amnesty and granted war criminals refuge.

His overwhelming magnanimity of character led to a mass conversion among the citizens of Mecca. Even Abu Sufyan, his archenemy, embraced the religion of the Prophet. In the months that followed, almost all of Arabia dispatched representatives to swear allegiance to this Prophet, and to enter in the faith of Islam.

Fez Orchestra

You can hear the love of the prophet so wonderfully in the music of the Fez singers of Morocco.

In a period of twenty-three years Muhammad, Peace be upon Him, had succeeded in uniting a feuding people trapped in cycles of violence into one people with a sense of destiny and a mission that would transform the world.

He elevated the low, and he lowered the elevated that they might meet in that middle place known as brotherhood. He infused in them a love of learning unleashing a creative power that would lead to some of the most extraordinary scientific breakthroughs in human history. The spirituality he inspired in his people led to the construction of seven hundred mosques in the Spanish city of Cordoba in the West, and a restoration of the temple mount of the Jews in the East. Upon it his followers built the Dome of the Rock, a testimony to the Unity of God.

He died on the same day he was born, in the same house he had lived in for ten years in Medina, on a small bed made of leather stuffed with palm fibers, in the arms of his beloved wife Aishah. His dying words were, “Treat your women well, and do not oppress your servants, the prayer, the prayer, don’t be neglectful of the prayer. O God, my highest companion, O highest companion.”

Music – Burda

But the Prophet was more than just a great historical person, he was a father and friend, a husband, a companion and above all he was a human being. The prophet’s unique physical appearance, his high character and willingness to sacrifice for others, are often at the essence of any description of him.
He was once described by a contemporary in the following words:

“The messenger of God was imposing and majestic.
His face was luminous like a full moon. He was taller than medium but not excessive in height. He had wavy hair which he parted and it never went beyond his shoulders. He was light-skinned with a high brow. He had full eyebrows and a small space between them. He had a fine, aquiline nose. His beard was full, his eyes black. His physique was supple and lithe, with a full chest and broad shoulders. When he walked, he was determined and his pace was as if he was walking down hill.When he spoke he was always brief and reflective. He spoke when he saw benefit and spent long periods in silent contemplation. His speech was comprehensive being neither wordy nor laconic. He had a mild temperament and was never harsh nor cruel, coarse nor rude. He expressed gratitude for everything given to him no matter how insignificant. When he spoke, his companions lowered their heads as if birds were perched upon them. When he was silent, they felt free to speak. He never criticized food or praised it excessively. He never swore, nor did he find fault in people. He did not flatter people but praised them when appropriate.

People entered his gatherings as seekers and left enlightened. He would ask about his companions when they were absent often making inquiries about people’s needs. He never stood nor sat without mentioning the name of God. He never reserved a special place for himself in a gathering and sat where space provided. He gave each of those who sat with him such full attention that everyone felt that he was the most important person in that gathering. Voices were never raised in his presence. The aged were respected for their age and the young were shown compassion for their youth.”

Fez Orchestra

The Quran reminds Muslims that when they are slandered by those who reject them they should bear it patiently and be forgiving. I yearn for a deeper understanding of this man, his gentleness toward children, his love of animals, his concern for the weak and oppressed, his sense of justice tempered always with mercy.

Clapping rhythms

I personally love his humor and his sense of tomfoolery. He said once, “I joke but always tell the truth.” His wife Aishah said, “He was always making us laugh in the house.” One of his names is ad-dahhak, the smiling one. His humor and cheerfulness even in the face of the most difficult of times is so needed today in our troubled world. I imagine him telling those of us who don’t laugh enough to lighten up, to show more gratitude even in what appears to be difficulties. And as for those who laugh too much and do so inappropriately, I imagine that he would ask that they reflect deeper on the condition of humanity and nurture compassion in their hearts.

“Those who sin while laughing enter hell crying,” he once said.

Clapping rhythms

Once an old woman asked him if she would enter paradise and he replied, “Old people don’t go to heaven!” The woman was crestfallen with the answer he had provided, to which he added with a smile, “You shall enter paradise in the prime of your youth.”

Clapping rhythms

The Arabs believed dates made eye infections worse. His companion Suhaib was eating dates one day while his left eye was infected. The prophet said, “Suhayb do you eat dates and your eye is infected?” To which Suhayb said, “I am eating with my right eye only O messenger of God.” To which the prophet laughed heartily”

Clapping rhythms

And once a gruff desert Bedouin came into the mosque and prayed out loud saying, “O God forgive me and Muhammad and don’t forgive anyone else.” Hearing this the prophet laughed and said to him, ‘You are limiting the vast mercy of God.”

I feel so incredibly grateful and blessed to have come to know him and to learn from him. A day of my life has not gone by that I haven’t felt indebted to him for the wisdom he has given me in making sense of my life and my world.

Every day my love for Muhammad, Peace be upon Him increases. Like the vast majority of my fellow believers across the world and through times he is, indeed, the Beloved – the Praised one.

To the solace of his name, simply saying Muhammad, has an incredibly soothing effect on me.

Music – BurdaSource: BBC World Service

Continue reading »]]> By Hamza Yusuf

An Interview with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf by Nazim Baksh

Q: The convenient response to those who revile your religion is to return the favor. The more virtuous position however is to forgive. Forgiveness as you know, while less in virtue when compared to love, nevertheless, can result in love. Love, by definition, does not require forgiveness. What many Muslims today seem to forget is that ours is a religion of love and our Prophet, peace be upon him, was the Habib, the Beloved. How did love, the defining virtue of our community, come to be replaced by an urge to redress wrongs, to punish instead of to forgive?

A: It is the result of Muslims seeing themselves as victims. Victimization is a defeatist mentality. It’s the mentality of the powerless. The word victim is from the Latin “victima” which carries with it the idea of the one who suffers injury, loss, or death due to a voluntary undertaking. In other words, victims of one’s own actions.

Muslims never really had a mentality of victimization. From a metaphysical perspective, which is always the first and primary perspective of a Muslim, there can be no victims. We believe that all suffering has a redemptive value.

Q: If the tendency among Muslims is to view themselves as victims which appears to me as a fall from grace, what virtue must we then cultivate to dispense with this mental and physical state that we now find ourselves in?

A: The virtue of patience is missing. Patience is the first virtue after tawba or repentance. Early Muslim scholars considered patience as the first maqam or station in the realm of virtues that a person entered into.

Patience in Islam means patience in the midst of adversity. A person should be patient in what has harmed or afflicted him. Patience means that you don’t lose your comportment or your composure. If you look at the life of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, you will never ever find him losing his composure. Patience was a hallmark of his character. He was ‘the unperturbed one’ which is one of the meanings of halim: wa kaana ahlaman-naas. He was the most unperturbed of humanity. Nothing phased him either inwardly or outwardly because he was with Allah in all his states.

Q: Patience is a beautiful virtue … the cry of Prophet Yaqub …. “fa sabran jamil.” Patience, it appears, is not an isolated virtue but rather it is connected to a network of virtues. Should Muslims focus on this virtue at the expense of the other virtues?

A: The traditional virtues of a human being were four and Qadi Ibn Al-Arabi considered them to be the foundational virtues or the ummahatul fadaa’il of all of humanity. They are: prudence, courage, temperance, and justice.

Prudence, or rather practical wisdom, and courage, are defining qualities of the Prophet. He, peace be upon him, said that God loves courage even in the killing of a harmful snake.

Temperance is the ability to control oneself. Incontinence, the hallmark of intemperance, is said to occur when a person is unable to control himself. In modern medicine it is used for someone who can’t control his urine or feces. But not so long ago the word incontinence meant a person who was unable to control his temper, appetite or sexual desire. Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates one’s appetite in accordance with prudence. In early Muslim scholarship on Islamic ethics, justice was considered impossible without the virtues of prudence, courage and temperance.

Generosity as a virtue is derived from courage because a generous person is required to be courageous in the face of poverty. Similarly, humility is a derivative from temperance because the humble person will often restrain the urge to brag and be a show-off because he or she sees their talents and achievements as a gift from Allah and not from themselves. Patience as a virtue is attached to the virtue of courage because the patient person has the courage to endure difficulties. So “hilim” (from which you get “halim”), often translated as for-bearance or meekness if you wish, is frowned upon in our society. Yet it is the virtue we require to stem the powerful emotion of anger. Unrestrained anger often leads to rage and rage can lead to violence in its various shades.

Our predecessors were known for having an incredible degree of patience while an increasing number of us are marked with an extreme degree of anger, resentment, hate, rancor and rage. These are negative emotions which present themselves as roadblocks to living a virtuous life.

A patient human being will endure tribulations, trials, difficulties, hardships, if confronted with them. The patient person will not be depressed or distraught and whatever confronts him will certainly not lead to a loss of comportment.

Allah says in the Qur’an: “Isbiru.” “Have patience and enjoin each other to patience.”

The beauty of patience is that “innallaha ma’assabirin” Allah is with the patient ones. If God is on your side you will always be victorious. Allah says in the Qur’an “Ista”inu bi-sabiri was-salat.”” Isti”aana is a reflexive of the Arabic verb “aana” which is “to help oneself.” Allah is telling us to help ourselves with patience and prayer.

This is amazing because the Prophet, peace be upon him, said “if you take help, take help from God alone.” And so in the Qur’an, Allah says: “ista inu hi-sabiri was-salaat”. This means taking help from patience and prayer because that is the means by which Allah has given you to take help from Him alone.

How is it then that a person sees himself as a victim when all calamities, difficulties and trials, are ultimately tests from Allah. This does nor mean the world is free of aggression and that victims have suddenly vanished. What I”m talking about is a person”s psychology in dealing with hardships.

The sacred law has two perspectives when looking at acts of aggression that are committed by one party against another. When it is viewed by those in authority the imperative is to seek justice. However, from the perspective of the wronged, it is not to seek justice bur instead to forgive.

Forgiveness, “afwa”, pardon, is nor a quality of authority. A court is not set up to forgive. It’s the plaintiff that’s required to forgive if there is going to be any forgiveness at all. Forgiveness will not come from the Qadi or the judge. The court is set up to give justice but Islam cautions us not to go there in the first place because “by the standard which you judge so too shall you be judged.” That’s the point. If you want justice, if you want God, the Supreme Judge of all affairs, to be just to others on your behalf, then you should know that your Lord will use the same standard with you.

Nobody on the “Day of Arafat” will pray: “Oh God, be just with me.” Instead you will hear them crying: “O Allah, forgive me, have mercy on me, have compassion on me, overlook my wrongs.” Yet, these same people are not willing to forgive, have compassion and mercy on other creatures of God.

Q: Imam Al-Ghazali argued that for these virtues to be effective they had to be in harmony. Otherwise, they said, virtues would quickly degenerate into vices. Do you think that these virtues exist today among Muslims but that they are out of balance? For example, the Arabs in the time of the Prophet had courage, but without justice it was bravado. Prudence without justice is merely shrewdness. Do you think that Muslims are clamoring for justice but have subsumed the virtues of temperance and prudence?

A: Yes. Muslims want courage and justice but they don’t want temperance and prudence. The four virtues relate to the four humors in the body. Physical sickness is related to spiritual sickness and when these four are out of balance, spiritual and moral sickness occurs. So when courage is the sole virtue, you no longer have prudence. You are acting courageously but imprudently and it’s no longer courage but impetuousness. It appears as courage but it is not. A person who is morally incapable of controlling his appetite has incontinence and thus he cannot be prudent nor courageous because part of courage is to constrain oneself when it is appropriate. Imam A1-Ghazali says that courage is a mean between impetuousness and cowardice.

The interesting point to note about the four virtues is that you either take them all or you don’t take them at all. It’s a packaged deal. There is a strong argument among moral ethicists that justice is the result of the first three being in perfect balance.

Q: You have painted a very interesting landscape in terms of Muslim behavior in the contemporary period but we are seeing evidence of resentment among some Muslims today which is very strange indeed. I am wondering how this might be related to a sense of victimization?

A: Of course it is. Look for example at the word injury. It comes from injuria, a Latin word that means unjust. So if I perceive my condition as unjust it is contrary to the message of the Qur’an. Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in we hold ourselves as responsible. It gets tricky to navigate especially when it comes to the oppressor and the oppressed.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, along with the early Muslim community, spent 13 years purifying themselves in Makkah. These were years of oppression and thus serious self-purification accompanied by an ethic of non-violence, forbearance, meekness, and humility. They were then given permission to migrate and to defend themselves. At this point they were not a people out to get vengeance and they were certainly not filled with resentment because they saw everything as coming from God. I’m not talking about being pleased with injustice because that’s prohibited. At the same time we accept the world our Lord has put us into and we see everything as being here purposefully, not without purpose, whether we understand it or not.

The modern Christian fundamentalists always talk about Islam as a religion devoid of love. It’s a very common motif in these religious fundamentalist books that attack Islam. They say “our religion is the religion of love and Islam is the religion of hate, animosity, and resentment.” Unfortunately, many Muslims have adopted it as their religion, but that doesn’t mean resentment has anything to do with Islam.

Love (mahaba) is the highest religious virtue in Islam. Imam Ghazali said that it is the highest maqam or spiritual station. It is so because trust, zhud (doing without), fear, and hope are stations of this world and so long as you are in this world these stations are relevant, but once you die they can no longer serve you. Love is eternal because love is the reason you were created. You were created to adore God. That’s why in Latin the word adore which is used for worship in English is also a word for love, adoration. You were created to worship God, in other words, to love Him because you can’t truly adore something or worship something that you don’t love. If you are worshipping out of fear, like Imam A1-Ghazali says, it’s not the highest level of worship, but its lowest.

Q: A vast number of young Muslims today who have the energy to run Down the road of hate do so thinking that it is a display of their Iman. What do you say to help them understand that hating wrongs has to be balanced with the virtues of mercy, justice, forgiveness, generosity, etc.

A: The challenge is to get your object of hate right and hate it for the right reason. In other words, there are things that we should hate for the sake of God. Oppression is something that you should hate. It’s not haram to hate the oppressor, but don’t hate them to the degree that it prevents you from being just because that is closer to Taqwa (awe of Allah). The higher position is to forgive for the sake of God. God gives you two choices — the high road or the low road — both of them will get you to paradise.

We should strive for the highest. Anger is a useful emotion. God created anger in order that we could act and respond to circumstances that need to be changed. Indignation is a beautiful word. Righteous indignation is a good quality and even though it is misused in modern English it’s actually a good thing. It means to be angry for the right reasons and then it is to be angry to the right degree because Allah says, “Do not let the loathing of a people prevent you from being just.”

This article originally apeared in Q News Magazine (2004)