having 5 potatoes also had to carry heavier bags. After 1 week, the children were relieved because the game had finally ended. The kindergarten teacher asked: "How did you feel while carrying the potatoes with you for 1 week?" The children let out their frustrations and started complaining of the trouble that they had to go through having to carry the heavy and smelly potatoes wherever they go. Then the kindergarten teacher told them the hidden meaning behind the game. The kindergarten teacher said: "This is exactly the situation when you carry your hatred for somebody inside your heart. The stench of hatred will contaminate your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot tolerate the smell of rotten potatoes for just one week, can you imagine what is it like to have the stench of hatred in your heart for your lifetime?" Moral: Throw away any hatred for anyone from your heart so that you will not carry sins for a lifetime. Forgiving others is the best attitude to take. "Learn to Forgive and Forget." Remember what Allah (SWT) teaches us in Surah Al-Araf (7:199-200): "Show forgiveness, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the ignorant (don't punish them). If a suggestion from Satan assails your mind, seek refuge with Allah; surely He is Hearing, Knowing (all things)." In these verses of Noble Qur'an, Allah (SWT) comforts the Prophet Muhammad (saw) and directs his mind to three Precepts: To forgive injuries, insults, and persecution. To continue to declare faith that was in him, and not only to that was in him, and not only to declare it, but to act up to it in all his dealings with friends and foes. To pay no attention to ignorant fools, who raised doubts or difficulties, hurled taunts or reproaches, or devised plots to defeat the truth: they were to ignored and passed by, not to be engaged in fights and fruitless controversies, or conciliated by compromises. Of all the things we can give other people in life, forgiveness is one of those that require the most effort. This phrase seems to make the process of forgiving easier for me: "To bear a grudge against someone is like burning down your house to get rid of a rat." Forgiveness is something we "give other people", but forgiveness, really, is a gift to ourselves. When we wreak vengeance on people whom we think have done us an injustice, we invariably end up bitter and resentful. Worse still, if our vindictiveness provokes retaliation, we might start a cycle of vengeance. And when you bear hatred within your heart, what you're essentially doing is destroying your own state of mind and potential to be happy. Each day yields opportunities for us to let go of or hold on to grudges, although the severity of each situation may vary. Are you better off holding on to them, or letting go? In the time of a caliph, a rich man bought a slave whom he treated, from the beginning, like a gentleman, giving him the best of food
and clothes, and money exactly like his own child or even more lavishly. But the slave noticed that his master always felt uneasy. Eventually the rich man made up his mind to set him free and provide him with some capital. One night as they were sitting together, the master said: "Do you know why I have treated you so well?" The slave asked the reason. The master said: "I have one request to make which if you fulfill, you would enjoy all I have given and will give you! But if you refuse, I will be discontented with you." The slave said: "I will obey whatever you ask. You are my benefactor who has given me my life." The master said: "You must promise me in good faith to do it, for I am afraid you may refuse it." The slave said: "I promise to do what you want." The master said: "My proposal is that you must behead me at a specific time and place." The slave exclaimed: "What? How can I do that?" The master said: "That is what I desire." The slave said: "That is impossible." The master said: "I have got your promise. You must do it." One midnight, he awakened the slave and gave him a sharp knife and a bag full of money and climbed up a neighbor's roof, and told the slave to behead him there and then go wherever he liked. The slave asked the reason for such an act. The rich man answered: "I hate this one man and prefer death to seeing his face. We have been rivals but he, my neighbor has gone ahead of me and excels me in everything, and I am burning with hatred. I desire my neighbor to be jailed for this fake murder and this idea is a relief to me. Everyone knows him to be my rival, and so my neighbor will be condemned to death for this act." The slave said: You seem to be a foolish man and deserve this death. felt a prick of conscience, went to the authorities and confessed the truth. When they understood the matter, they freed both the slave and the neighbor.This is a fact that Hate is a disease of the soul. The Noble Qur'an says in Chapter "The Sun" (Shams 91:9-10). "He will indeed be successful who purifies it, and he will indeed fail who corrupts it." Thus, the first proposal of the Noble Qur'an is purification of the self from ailments, complexes, ignorance, deviations and metamorphoses.You could have heard that in the past there were people who, because of excess of sins, were cursed by the Prophets of their time and were thus metamorphosed, that is, they were transformed into animals such as a monkey, a wolf, a bear etc. Someone said: "We had made a pilgrimage to Makkah along with and when we looked down at the Desert of Arafat it was full of Hajis (pilgrims). There were so many of them that year. The Imam Sajjad said: "There is much uproar, but few are true Hajis (pilgrims)." The man says: "I don't know how Imam Sajjad gave me the insight, but when Imam Sajjad asked me to look down again, I saw a desert full of animals, like that in a zoo, among whom a few human beings were moving about." The Imam Sajjad told him how things looked to
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those who had a clear sight and were concerned with the inward concept of things. So you think you are superior to others because you belong to a different ethnic group, or you speak a different language, or you are from a different country or you belong to a specific family, group, clan or race. And you will support others on the basis of their language, ethnicity, relationship, origin.even though they do injustice, commit crimes, in the name of tribalism, racism, nationalism or any other ism, other than their moral superiority, good qualities or for justice. And you will not help or support other human beings because they do not belong to 'your' group, country, clan, race, family. Even though they are oppressed, denied their rights, they deserve to be supported, they are on truth. Are you aware that this type of fanatic behavior is known as ? Do you know what Islam says about Asabiyyah or Prejudice? The Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: "Whosoever possesses in his heart Asabiyyah even to the extent of a mustard seed, God will raise him on the Day of Resurrection with the (pagan) Bedouins of the Jahiliyyah (the preIslamic era)." Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) said: "Whosoever practices Asabiyyah (against someone), Allah (SWT) shall wrap around him a fold of Fire." Imam Ali (as) said: "Almighty Allah (SWT) will punish six groups of people for six kinds of sins: .He will punish the Arabs for Asabiyyah..." The Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: "One who calls towards Asabiyyah is not from us, one who fights for Asabiyyah is not from us and the one who dies on Asabiyyah is not from us." The Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: "Best among you is the person who defends his tribe till they do not commit a sin." Imam Ali (as) said: "If it becomes unavoidable for you to be among those who practice Asabiyyah, then do Asabiyyah to uphold the truth and support of the oppressed." Imam Ali (as) said: "The one whose deeds lower him, his family background or ancestry cannot elevate him."Thus, remember that the superiority is only on the basis of pure intentions and sincere and lofty deeds. Asabiyyah is a dangerous condition for an individual and the society. It is an evil trait, inspired by satanic forces. One must ponder seriously about its consequences in this world and hereafter. A true believer annihilates his own will in the Will of his Lord. He is free from all traces of ignorant Asabiyyah's and thick and dark curtains of blind Asabiyyah's would not obstruct his vision.When called to deliver justice and utter the word of truth, he puts a firm foot on the head of all associations and ties, sacrificing all ties of kinship and customary affinities at the altar of the aims and orders of his Lord. He supports truth and justice under all circumstances.