From the depths of darkness
Allah is the Protector of those who have faith: from the depths of darkness He will lead them forth into light. Of those who reject faith the patrons are the evil ones: from light they will lead them forth into the depths of darkness. They will be companions of the fire, to dwell therein.
Surat al-Baqarah, Verse 257
I realize i may be walking a fine line with this discussion but it’s something i’ve been thinking about for a while….something, really, that has been disturbing me for a while. Excuse me if it isn’t fully fleshed out yet. I’m still pondering it.
I remember in sophomore year of college i took a class with Professor Sarah Shields called “Modern Muslim World.” It was a good class with a good professor who was surprisingly pro-Muslim, considering our current global political situation. We studied some of the history of Iraq (the US was quite early in the war at that time) and watched a film about Saddam’s early interactions with Kurds and Shia’s. Anyone who knows anything about this relationship knows what an inhuman and hellish scenario it was, with Saddam and his henchman stopping at nothing to get control of the land and its inhabitants.
As i sat there watching this film, i felt myself getting angrier and angrier. Livid is more like it. Fumingly furious. And a new sensation that, as far as i can remember, never felt before - or at least never felt as strongly or in any way that particularly mattered.
Hatred.
Hatred? I felt a twinge of guilt as i realized what it was - and as i realized the object of said emotion - a fellow Muslim. To be sure, not the kind of Muslim i would be proud to call a brother, but Allah and the Prophet (S) taught us not to judge intentions. We humans have no right to pass such judgement that we allow ourselves to hate a person. Hatred is for actions only, not the people who do them.
So i tried to reconcile this to myself. What would be the test of my emotion, of my self-control? How was i to make sure that i hated Saddam’s actions and not Saddam himself? I decided that if i could ask pray for him, if i could pray that Allah bless him, guide him, and forgive his sins, i would be able to remind myself that he was human like myself, fallible and prone to error and weakness.
I unfurled my hands, cupping them into a pitcher to catch my duas. But as i started to speak….no words emerged.
My voice failed me; even the voice that speaks in my heart and mind was silent. I could not forgive him. I could not ask that Allah forgive him for what he so unabashedly did to my brothers and sisters. My anger still overwhelmed me. I could not forgive.
All at once, i was furious with myself. Disappointed, guilty, ashamed of my arrogance. All i could think about was how much i wished Allah would repay him for all of his misdeeds…even punish him for the pain and torture he inflicted upon fellow human beings. I could not forgive.
Somehow i let this internal struggle fade away as i busied myself with academic matters, but it has re-emerged with a vengeance in the current Israel-Lebanon political crisis.
When i see the brutality of the fighting, it is easy to pray for the innocents, for the oppressed. There are a thousand things your empathetic heart can ask for them.
But what do we ask for the criminals, for the oppressors, for the ones who are perpetuating the pain and anguish?
A momentary respite, reader, before you answer this question. Let me complicate it a little to match the confusion in my mind.
Ground rules:
* We know that, although Allah’s Mercy far overshadows his Wrath, His punishment is strong
and severe, something that one should always fear
* We know that Allah is ultimately Just and that nothing escapes his judgment without its
reward or punishment, as much or as little as it deserves
* We know that Allah is at-Tawwab and al-Ghafoor. He turns towards His servants and
forgives them when they ask to be forgiven, no matter how great their wrongs, until the
last moment of their life
On the authority of Anas , who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) say: Allah the Almighty said: O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great at it.
I’m torn between two extremes. One which represents Prophetic perfection and the other which represents the human obsession with revenge and recompense.
Part of me wants to have the strength to forgive those who oppress innocent people, to ask with all my heart that Allah guide them to the truth and erase their sins. The Prophet Muhammad (S) forgave those who were extremely cruel to him. He prayed that Allah guide them and welcomed them with open arms when they accepted Islam. It is true that he prayed for victory over his enemies, but the most important thing is that he also prayed that they be guided to Allah, that Allah open their eyes to His Light. When the angels asked him for permission to crush Taif, he refused, with the hope that their future generations would accept Islam. When an elderly woman reviled him with trash and insults, he went to her door to ask after her when she was sick. Knowing the man’s hatred for Islam and himself, the Prophet prayed that Allah strengthen Islam with Umar ibn al-Khattab.
Shouldn’t we be aspiring to that same forgiveness and love?
At the same time, we cannot escape the brutality of oppression. It wrenches your heart to learn of the torture, the bombings, the murder, and I, for one, can’t help but feel anger and hatred against those perpetuating the madness. Allah always promises that those who do wrong will be held accountable for their deeds. The human in us wants to promise the innocents that they will rest in peace while their oppressors are punished. Shouldn’t we pray that those villains are taken to task?
I am still pondering over the answers to these two questions, trying to reconcile between these two. I think i’ve come up with a possible ideal answer, whether i can implement it in my life or not.
Ideally, in my opinion, we should be praying for two things. One, that Allah ease the pain of our brothers and sisters who are under constant trial and torture and that any pain they do have is a purification for them in this life and in the next. We should pray that Allah ease their judgment and forgive their sins (and all of our sins) and help them to rise above their suffering.
Secondly, we should be praying much the same thing for the oppressors. Justice and judgment are ultimately Allah’s decision. He will always and ultimately be Just and reward and punish those who deserve it. But we humans have no right to demand punishment for someone when there is a possibility they could become our brother in Islam with the very next breath. We should pray for their guidance and forgiveness, no matter how horrid their crimes, while not forgetting those crimes so that we can prevent them from being repeated. Our role is simply to pray for those innocents that are being oppressed and pray again for those who are oppressing - that they may see the error of their ways.
(Narrated Anas) Allah’s Apostle (S) said, “Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one. People asked, “O Allah’s Apostle! It is all right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?” The Prophet said, “By preventing him from oppressing others.”
and all people are our brothers in humanity. all are children of Adam.
Easier said than done.