78: Avoiding Common Social Diseases
[Qur'an 42:37]
Part of the fruits of faith is the commitment of the faithful to do good while avoiding the wrong and the harmful. The very presence of the Believer should be a source of benefit, a resource for goodness whose every action reflects ihsaan/goodness.
Fault-Finding (see WRL 6 and 7)
As people of Faith, we have the duty of Amr bil ma'roof wa nahee 'anil munkar -- commanding good and forbidding evil. We thus engage ourselves, as social beings, in improving ourselves and working towards improving the world we live in. As people of Faith, we should also have the decency not to search for faults in others. One way is to mind your own business. While the purpose of commanding good and forbidding evil is to correct and restore; fault-finding inevitably leads to undermining the character of people and sometimes to destroying relationships. Fault-finders normally tell others about someone's faults and rarely have the guts to face people; fitting the description of dhul-wajhain /‘two-faced’ which the Prophet Muhammad assigned to troublemakers and hypocrites. Often, innocent people are targets of the fault-finder's focus. Prophet Muhammad warned: "Among the worst of people are those who try to find fault with the innocent.” Fault-finders also tend to be miserable themselves, lacking self-esteem; and since they focus so much on blaming others, they become resentful; and rather than cherish people, tend to develop a desire to undermine and discredit people.
Self-Righteousness (see WRL 21 and 56)
Allah says Do not ascribe righteousness to your self, Allah alone knows best who is truly pious. [Qur'an 53:32]. Self-righteousness/`ujb, in the opinion of religious scholars, is the magnification of one's virtues and good deeds, and the satisfaction with one’s deeds accompanied with a feeling of superiority because of them; while at the same time, excusing the self from all failings and faults.
`Ujb applies to both good and bad actions. A virtuous person may become conceited about his good deeds, just as, a doer of wicked deeds may feel proud of himself and his conduct. This is all allusion to the verse of the Quran which says: And what of him, the evil of whose deeds has been decked out fair to him, so that he considers them good? [Qur'an 35:8]
Another type of 'ujb is when a person considers himself more superior and pious to others and regards himself as a better human being. Somehow he suspects the sincerity of their virtues in his heart and considers his own deeds as free from any kind of fault.
Envy (see WRL 16 and 69)
Envy is the state of wretchedness that arises from low self-esteem (the lower the self-esteem, the greater the scope for envy), fuelled by a feeling of inferiority coupled with a vengeful desire for the destruction / deprival of merits / advantages of others. It is reported that Luqman The Wise said: ”There are three signs of the haasid / envier ... backbiting in your absence, flattering in your presence and delighting in your misfortune.”
~ Kinds of Envy
- According to the social/political/economic/moral status of the envied
- According to the emotional condition of pride, humiliation, fear of the envier.
So destructive and detrimental is this emotional disease that we are taught by Allah in the Qur'an to seek protection from it ... I seek refuge in Allah from the evil of the envy of the envious one. [Qur'an 113] Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that the best of people are saduq-ul-lisan/the truthful and mahmum-ul-qalb/the good hearted. He was asked to explain what good hearted means. The Prophet replied: “The good hearted are the pious, the pure; harboring no evil, no injustice and no envy.”
Arrogance (see WRL 17)
Allah states in the Qur’an that "Surely, Allah loves not those steeped in arrogance.” [Qur'an 16:23] “Allah certainly loves not the vainglorious, the boastful.” [Qur’an 4:36]
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “That person who has an atom's weight of pride in the heart will not enter Paradise.”
Greed (see WRL 12 and 68)
Greed is the excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially material wealth) than one needs or deserves; a reprehensible acquisitiveness; an insatiable desire for wealth with disregard for the plight of others; the implication of placing undue premium on material possessions. Greed forces the individual to pursue materialism in a manner that makes material gains an axis on which the mind rotates; and this insatiable desire for material wealth becomes the primary objective of life. It is perchance to this kind of mentality that Allah refers to when posing the question ... have you seen the person who makes a god of his desires? [Qur’an 45:23]
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) thus prayed ... “O Allah! I seek Thy protection from a self that is never gratified.”
Imam Hasan, grandson of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) said;
“Annihilation of people lies in three (negative) characteristics:
arrogance, greed and envy.
Arrogance causes damage to your way of life and Iblees was cursed due to it,
Greed is the enemy of the soul and Adam (pbuh) was expelled from the Garden due to it,
Envy is the path to wickedness and Qabil (Cain) killed Habil (Abel) due to it.”