Distinguish Right from Wrong
| Khatib : |
Sadullah Khan |
| Khutbah No: |
162 |
| Khutbah Date: |
08/19/05 |
قُل لاَّ يَسْتَوِي الْخَبِيثُ وَالطَّيِّبُ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ كَثْرَةُ الْخَبِيثِفَاتَّقُواْ اللّهَ يَا أُوْلِي الأَلْبَابِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَAcknowledge the fact that evil and good can never be equal even if the abundance of evil may dazzle thee. Be sincerely dutiful to Allah, O people of intelligence, in order that you may be successful. [Qur’an 5:100]Reflecting on Truth, Goodness & JusticeIslam is based on
haqq/Truth,
‘adl/Justice and
ihsaan/Goodness, demanding from its adherents the habits of contemplation, introspection, reflection. The Qur’anic message is “
li qawmin ya’qiloon," “
li qawmin yatafakkarun” a message for
people who think/reflect/exercise their intellect. It is in the absence of exercising the God-given gift of intelligence that people can be misled, blinded by emotions, brain-washed, tunnel-visioned and self-deprived of wisdom. Distinguishing the Positive from the NegativeThe Qur’an as a
Furqaan/Criterion (the standard between right and wrong) exhorts us to maintain a clear understanding of what is beneficial and what is detrimental and thus distinguish unmistakably between good and bad. In order to clearly demarcate the negative from the positive; Allah uses specific terms to emphasize the divergence.
- To indicate the positive values and qualities that we need to imbibe and manifest, the Qur’an documents such terms as salihaat, birr, khayr, hasanah, ma’ruf, tayyib, halaal … to indicate the concepts and values of piety, righteousness, goodness, positive universal values, wholesome and lawful.
- To indicate the negative values and qualities that we need to avoid, the Qur’an documents such terms as sayyi’aat, sharr, ithm, munkar, khabith, fassad, ‘udwan’ junaah, fahishah, zulm, tugyan, khati’ah, rijs, ma’siyah, zanb … to indicate the characteristics such as evil, bad, wrongful, improper, unlawful, inamicable, lewd, crude, vulgar, impropriety, deviation, disobedience, sinful …
Confound not the Negative with the PositiveWe witness these days how “Islam” is abused – it has become synonymous with terror and violence due to misrepresentation by some and distortion by others. Note how the wrongful could misrepresent the positive and abuse it with negative consequences. Just as the splitting of the atom was meant to provide a greater source of energy,
the peaceful atom was sent to war with diabolical consequences.
60 Years after HiroshimaThis month marks the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, bombings that killed 110,000 civilians and 20,000 military personnel instantly. Tens of thousands more died later from radiation sickness. Millions are still suffering its after effects. This crime against humanity opened an age of terror that is still with us and historical records prove that it can no longer be maintained that the bombs helped to end World War II; in fact it ushered in the age of WMD. This is a somber moment for humanity to reflect on the destructive potential of our weapons and on the apparent inability of our political systems to render those weapons obsolete; it exposes our cowardice for seeing the terrorism in others yet blinding us to our own terror. The 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing should serve as a catalyst for reflection on the morality of warfare, the reality of human sinfulness, the frailty of human decisions, and the burden of history. Wrong is wrong and right is right; so ensure that Truth should not be abused as a yardstick of blind-hatred and condemnation, Goodness should not be an excuse for promoting self-interest and Justice should not be reflection of our prejudices. We are thus commanded in the Qur'an
وَلاَ تُفْسِدُواْ فِي الأَرْضِ بَعْدَ إِصْلاَحِهَا not to cause disruption /corruption/ mischief/chaos on earth after it has been so well ordered/organized [Q 7:56].
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