Al-Nawwas bin
Sam'an, radiyallahu 'anhu, reported that the Prophet, sallallahu
'alayhi wasallam, said:
"Righteousness is good character, and sin is that which wavers in
your heart and which you do not want people to know
about."
[Muslim]
According to Wabisah bin
Ma'bad, radiyallahu 'anhu, who said:
I came to the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam,
and he said: "You have come to ask about righteousness ?" " Yes," I
answered. He said: "Consult your heart. Righteousness is that about which the
soul feels tranquil and the heart feels tranquil, and sin is what creates
restlessness in the soul and moves to and fro in the breast, even though people
give you their opinion (in your favour) and continue to do
so."
[A good hadith
transmitted from the Musnads of the two Imams, Ahmad bin Hanbal and
Al-Darimi]
background
The first
thing that should be pointed out is that even though the second hadith is
weak by itself, due to supporting evidence it is raised to the level of
hasan (authentic). These two hadiths state the meaning of
righteousness and sinfulness.
lessons
Ibn Rajab states that the
term 'bir' which is used in this hadith is actually used in two
senses: (a) treating others in a good manner, and (b) all acts of good deeds and
worshipping Allah. Based on this, the first statement in the first hadith
can be interpreted as meaning the most essential aspect of righteousness is good
character. And Ibn Rajab extends this meaning by saying that good character can
be interpreted as all good manners mentioned in the Qur'an. Consequently,
according to Ibn Rajab, the two meanings of bir are there.
Allah has created us with a
pure innate or natural disposition that is called fitra, as mentioned in
other hadiths. This means to love the truth and the good and to hate
falsehood and evil. Consequently, good believers with pure fitra should
never confuse truth with falsehood.
The second hadith
guides us to consult our heart regarding doubtful matters. If the heart is in
tranquility, that implies that it is bir or righteousness. If the heart
is not tranquil, one should abstain from carrying out such an act or doubtful
matter. However, it should be noted that fitra is subject to corruption
and can be spoiled due to the influence of bad environment - a person may start
to like and appreciate what is bad or evil and dislike truth and goodness. Here,
the heart is diseased or even dead. Such a person cannot use his heart as a
measure to judge what is good and bad because the fitra is already
corrupted.
Sin is what wavers or
trembles your soul. This portion of the hadith defines a sinful act as an
act for which its performer deserves blame. Imam Qurtabi gives the previous
interpretation. Ustaz Jamaludin Zarabozo states that in this hadith the
Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, gave very important signs of sin.
The first one is an internal sign within the human being. It is the feelings of
the soul with respect to any particular act. The second sign is also about the
internal feelings but it deals with the outward reaction to the act itself. Sin
causes a wholesome soul to be uneasy and troubled. The soul is unhappy and
worried about sin and its consequences. Ustaz Jamaludin remarks that these signs
occur because the person is naturally disposed to favour what leads to positive
results and avoid what leads to negative results. The commentators of this
hadith stress that the 'people' referred to here are the respected and
righteous people.
The two hadiths
reveal a significant aspect of Islam that is an internal controlling and guiding
system that is established as a result of several factors:
- The pure fitra (natural disposition). Allah created everybody with a
pure fitra and not just Muslims. The Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi
wasallam, mentions many factors in the environment that play an influential
role in subjecting the fitra to corruption.
- The realization of tawhid. This means practicing all the essentials
of tawhid like loving Allah, seeking His Help as the only refuge,
depending on Him (tawakul), asking for His Mercy, and many other
essentials associated with the idea of tawhid.
- Adhering to shari'ah instructions.
- Seeking knowledge.
- Tazkiyah and tarbiyah - that is the purification of the soul
and the heart of the Muslim.
The above mentioned factors
and many others are interrelated and altogether lead to the establishment of the
internal controlling system. However, this system needs to be 'updated' and
'upgraded' regularly by educators and da'ies. It is very important that
the educators and da'ies pay attention to the individual's and the
community's built-in system. They have to create awareness about contemporary
challenges. They should plan future strategies to deal with such
challenges.
This internal system is very
important for Muslims today. They should know about it in order to activate it.
Only through such proper reconstruction of the consciousness can we be certain
about the validity and effectiveness of the internal controlling system. Muslims
need to be aware of this fact and have to activate their system in order to be
sensitive towards doubtful acts and sinful matters. Unless this system is
'upgraded', the person may not act in the right way. It is like 'installing' an
'anti-virus software' within ourselves. With such a 'software' in place, our
internal system will prevent 'viruses', i.e. bad/evil acts, from entering our
thoughts or hearts.
There are many issues today
where people are in total doubt about whether something is allowed or not. In
many areas such as insurance, food, medicine, trade, and technology, there are
no definite answers - or the people themselves are not aware of the Islamic
approach. This may lead to moral conflicts. Unfortunately, even some people who
teach akhlaq and moral values are sometimes not even aware of these
conflicts.
In this era we have several
clashing values. Muslims should be exposed to the Islamic point of view of the
issue in order to go for the right value. Works about such issues should be
published and translated for all Muslims. Books and magazines should be
available to all Muslims. If the existing works are very long, we need to
summarize the findings and translate them into major Muslim and international
languages. Exposing Muslims to such findings will minimize disputes among them
regarding certain issues. They will at least know what to do and what not to do.
This will lead to unity and remove anything that can lead to
disputes.
Another thing is that
educators and da'ies should not simply use the traditional approach. If
we want to talk about sidq, tazkiyah, and tarbiyah, we
should not limit ourselves to one scholar or website. We should compare
knowledge and information between different scholars. For example, if we compare
the works of Al-Shaikh Zarrouq and Imam Ghazali on tazkiyah, we will
notice differences; the work of Al-Shaikh Zarrouq is totally different from Imam
Ghazali's. His books of Qawaed Altasaruf and Udat Alboroud Alsadeq use totally
different approaches from Imam Ghazali. Al-Shaikh Zarrouq addressed the people
of his time. We can read these books and benefit from them but we should use a
more suitable approach that is more convenient to the challenges of our time.
This means that we should have different ways of presenting these issues about
tazkiyah and tarbiyah. It is only by this way can we 'upgrade' our
internal controlling system.
We should interpret the
Qur'anic texts and hadiths in the light of what we have today. This
cannot happen unless the internal system is 'upgraded'. Otherwise we may get
lost. The system has two sides: positive and negative. We must use the positive
side. We have to know how to be honest in this era. It is the responsibility of
the educators and da'ies of today to 'upgrade' the internal controlling
system of the Muslims in general and the young generation in
particular.
We should also be aware of
the recent advancements in technology. For example, nowadays there are filtering
software that are developed by non-Muslims. We can download these software and
have control over some of the negative elements that can reach us through the
Internet. We should develop this type of software to suit our needs as
Muslims. We have to
maximize the positive side of information technology. We need to do this to
enable Muslims to access the Internet and use their time in the right
way.
One more area that we need
to be aware of is that of intellectual slavery - that is when people try to
benefit from technology through globalization. There are some people who want to
influence others in order to affect the akhlaq and ideology. They use
cognitive psychology and other branches of knowledge where they can manipulate
the mind. They practice brainwashing and Muslims are not aware of this. This is
a very great challenge to Muslims since this may lead us to question our beliefs
and moral values. Educators need to address this crucial issue. They should do
something to 'upgrade' the above mentioned internal controlling system in order
to prevent ourselves from being brainwashed.
conclusion
Without a
'fully functioning' internal controlling system, people will have different
attitudes which may lead to problems such as extremism. Extremists will increase
in the Muslim community if issues like those mentioned above are not resolved.
Muslims may end up with multiple personalities. They are Muslims but they commit
haram (forbidden) and many other negative things. They are not aware that
they are doing anything wrong and they start acting in strange ways. These
people are victims of the new system of globalization. Our strategy to face such
challenges is to 'activate' and 'upgrade' our internal system. Then Muslims can
live their lives in tranquility and without confusion. Other solutions will
merely be short term because there will be no tranquility.
