March 9th 2012 - March 22nd 2012
20 | ISLAM
Islam
Blessed Are the Peacemakers By Abu Eesa Niamatullah
islammessage.com, 11/12/2010 With so much of our daily news digests dominated by the search for conflict resolution in the world’s military hot-spots and problem zones, one can often forget that despite the obvious starting point political solutions may offer to solving many of our big international issues, actually most of the real problems are found between ourselves at the personal level. When we argue amongst ourselves and become divided as individuals, families, friends, neighbours and colleagues, we induce ourselves to pursue different interests and objects. Making peace on the other hand restores us back to a state of unity, giving us that single interest to build a healthy community upon, and indeed take that unity forward as a strong foundation to tackle the bigger wider issues. The alternative is untenable at every level, as God Almighty says in the Qur’ān: “…and do not quarrel among yourselves lest you lose heart and your momentum disappears.” (al-Anfāl, 46)
Those who can see the effects of disunity, argumentation and conflict upon others as well as importantly themselves in the general sense, have to act upon the moral and religious imperative of helping out whenever possible and as quickly as possible. History teaches us that the moments during which reconciliation and indeed reason prevail are far too short and fleeting amongst the chitter-chatter of our busy fast-paced lives. God Almighty brings our attention to this again when He says: “There is no good in much of their secret talk, except in the case of those who enjoin to charity, or what is good, or reconciliation between people. If anyone does that, seeking the pleasure of God, We will give him an immense reward.” (An-Nisā’, 114) Muslims above all others should recognise the sense of urgency on bringing peace between opposing parties, as God commands in the Qur’ān: “The Believers are but brothers, so make peace between your brothers and be conscious of God so that hopefully you will gain mercy.” (al-Hujurāt, 10)
Islamically speaking this means that whenever there is some kind of problem or enmity between two parties, you should try your best to resolve the issue and diffuse the situation of what is causing the difficulties in the first place. And whenever the magnitude from a sin point of view is greater with respect to the enmity between the two parties such as between a father and son, or between two blood brothers or between husband and wife, then the urgency and importance to resolve the problem becomes more emphasised respectively. One should never lose sight of how excellent an act conflict resolution is – Christian tradition calls such Peacemakers the “children of God” which is a term of respect in their theology as one is doing the work of the Divine when bringing people together. In Islam, the sentiment is the same but rather our recompense is an “immense reward” and as narrated from the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) that the one that brings about reconciliation is “giving in charity” every day by doing the work of the Divine. Indeed in Islam, despite lying and deception being completely impermissible, it is
still allowed for a Peacemaker to stretch the truth slightly – let’s call it a “white lie” for argument’s sake – if it will bring people together. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) mentioned in a narration collected by Imām al-Bukhārī and Imām Muslim, “The one who reconciles between the people is not to be considered a liar.” (Bukhārī, 2692) In the version collected by Imām Muslim, the narrator Umm Kulthūm added, “I have not heard him grant a concession in anything with respect to how the people talk (i.e. lie) except in three: war, reconciling between people and what a husband says to his wife and a wife says to her husband.” (Muslim, 2605) So when we approach some folks who have had an argument, not only should we appreciate that there really is a real impasse here where each party is unhappy, feels they have been wronged and/or are not getting their full rights, but we must appreciate also that a worked solution has to get over other personal issues as well. We might be able to negotiate a “settlement” but how are we going to get the people to actually negotiate blessed Pg 22
The Great Emptiness of the Soul
By Abu Muntasir M. Manwar Ali
Surely, before that, they indulged in ease and plenty. [Sūrah al-Wāqi’ah (56): 45] Engrossed in the pursuit of our desires we keep ourselves back from reflecting upon the state of our souls. Scholars have always taught and lived by the truth that love of this world is the source of all error. `Umar (radī Allahu ‘anhu) thought about the following words in the noble Qur’ān: Fair in the eyes of men are the love of things they covet. Women and sons; heaped up hoards of gold and silver; Horses branded (for blood and excellence) and (wealth of) cattle, And well-tilled land. Such are the
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possessions of the life of this world; But the best (thing) to return to is in the presence of Allāh. [Sūrah Āl-I-Imrān (3): 14] `Umar (radī Allahu ‘anhu) then responded, “O Allāh! We cannot but be happy with those things which You (yourself) have made fair in our eyes. (So) O Allāh! I request You to give me power to spend all those things in the right way.”
We have the great gift of intellect and plainly some of us never lack in our will power to rake in all sorts of gains we wish to gather in this world. However, let us try to imagine for a moment all the gaps we have in our lives. We have gaps in empathy, understanding of realities, compassion, courage, knowledge, and self-reliance to gaps in gratitude,
charity, justice, inventiveness, appreciation and being resourceful. Put all these gaps together and they form a great void indeed. With our faith and the knowledge we have of it, especially with regards to the life story and practices of the last Messenger of Allāh, MuHammad (sallallāhu `alayhi wa-sallam), we have little trouble in recognising this void as nothing else but a great emptiness of the soul. Being able to impose my intellect and will; my mind; on that great emptiness, so that it can take shape and leave a beautiful trace in time, forever to my credit, is what true devotion, learning and service to humanity is all about. This is the Sunnah that can neither be expressed in a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ nor set down as a dry list of rules. It is the
comprehensive Sunnah of worshipping Allāh in sincerity and love. It is as much to do with removing the sins in our lives as to fill that emptiness within. It is a way to behave with our hearts, minds and bodies; so that God is witnessed in truth in our being who we are. At its core is TawHīd and purification of the heart. The pure heart fills the emptiness of the soul and makes it peaceful and sound. That is the goal of faith and the result is not union with Allāh but nearness to Him in this life and then a vision of Him in the Hereafter in Paradise. This is the reason why it is so very hard, perhaps impossible, to understand with acceptance, the constraints and motives of those who confuse, or hinder, or put to trial others about Islam when we all need to come
soul Pg 23