Monday, December 06, 2004

Tolerance and Forgiveness Are the Keys to Success

Nura's eyes blurred with tears as she heard the Imam proclaim, "The

Prophet, [sallallahu alayhe wa sallam (SAWS)] said, "Do not sever
relations. Do not indulge in mutual enmity. Do not entertain rancor and
jealousy against one another, and not be jealous of others. Be brethren among
yourselves and become Allah's slaves. It is not permissible for a man
to have severed his relations with any of his brethren for more than 3
days." (Bukhari)

She realized then that almost six months had passed since the last time
she spoke to Aisha, and now she could not even remember what their
fight had been about.

We all have had disagreements with our brothers and sisters, but why is
it so wrong to harbor animosity? Why does Islam emphasize freeing the
heart from hatred and enmity?

Even more dangerous is that harboring hatred will eat away at our
faith. The Prophet said, "Listen, may I not tell you something more
important than salah, fasting and charity?" The companions requested him to do
so. He said, "To keep the mutual relationship on the right footing,
because the defect in the mutual relationship is the thing which shaves a
thing clean. I do not mean that it shaves the hair, but that it shaves
(removes) the religion." (Tirmithi)

Hatred consumes the heart, so much that we forget Allah's justice and
mercy. Our gratitude to Allah is repelled by resentment of others.

That is why Satan's favorite method for destruction is instilling
enmity in the believer's heart. He uses this weapon to weaken the Muslim
community and make it vulnerable to both physical and spiritual enemy
attacks.

Our physical enemies do not stand a chance against the Muslim Ummah
unless disunity has weakened it. Our spiritual enemies, Satan and our
lower desires, do not stand chance against our faith unless animosity has
weakened it.

Most importantly, however, we should purify our hearts continuously to
attain Allah's forgiveness, a blessing we all desperately need. The
Prophet (SAWS), assured us that, "Every Monday and Thursday men's acts are
placed before Allah. On these days, Allah forgives the sins of
everybody, except the polytheists. However, if there is a person who has spite
and hatred against his bother, he says about them, 'Leave these two
alone in their condition till they reconcile." (Muslim)

Clearly, purity of heart is a quality we must acquire, and so Allah,
the Merciful, has given us the means to attain it.

We should begin by keeping our hearts free from jealousy. The Last
Messenger (SAWS), warned us, "Keep away from jealousy, for jealousy eats up
virtues in the same way as fire eats up wood." (Abu Dawud)

We must realize that all blessings are from Allah, which He gives to
whom He wills without measure. Failure to accept this and be grateful is
rebellion against the will of Allah. This, in fact, was the crime of
Satan when he refused to submit to Allah's ordinance to make Adam Allah's
khalifah on Earth!

Maintaining our brotherhood also means to never sever relations. The
Prophet (SAWS), admonished us against this serious sin, "There are three
persons whose prayer does not rise even a fist above their heads. One
is that man who leads the prayers of others who do not like him. Second
is that woman who spends her night in such a way that her husband is
displeased with her. And third are those two brothers who have severed
their relations with each others." (Ibn Majah)

While it may seen that severing relations is just a result of harboring
hatred, and not a cause, it actually prolongs and hardens angry
feelings by allowing them to go unresolved. Even worse is that severing
relations distorts our perception of the incident and causes us to become
more bitter.

Instead, we should rush to resolve disagreements. If our brother
wronged us, we should give him sincere advice. If we wronged our brother, we
must race to seek forgiveness from him and from Allah.

The Prophet (SAWS), has instructed, "He who has harmed his brother's
rights or has hurt his honor, then he should please him today, before the
day comes when there will be neither Dirham nor Dinar with him. If he
would have virtues, then they would be taken in proportion to the
aggression that he had committed. If there would be no virtues in his record,
then the evil deeds of the oppressed would be thrust into his account."
(Bukhari)

We should also soften our hearts and forgive if we were wronged. This
requires great inner strength, as was the case for Abu Bakr when his
relative spread a rumor against Aisha. Though Abu Bakr was rightfully
angry, but when he heard the verse, "Let them forgive and overlook; do you
not wish that Allah should forgive you?" [Qur'an 24:22], he responded
by pardoning his relative, saying, "I like that Allah may pardon me."

Covering each other's faults is part of forgiveness, and comes with a
great reward as the Seal of the Prophets, alayhemus-salam, has promised,
"Any one who knows about the defect of his brother and he has concealed
it, then Allah will cover his defects on the Day of Judgement."
(Tabarani)

Clearly, this means we should never backbite. Because not only does it
cause others to share our anger, but it also causes our hatred to flare
and multiply. Even more serious is that it will surely make the
conflict harder to resolve.

We see the wisdom in the Prophet's words when he said, "None of you
should convey to me any hurtful thing about my companions, for I want that
as long as I may come to you my bosom should be clean in respect of
every one of you." (Abu Dawud)

Let us all then hearken to the call of Allah when he ordered us to
"….hold fast, all of you together, to the rope of Allah, and do not
separate." [Qur'an 3: 103]

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