Statue of Lady Justice in London
There is a saying: ““Choose love and peace will follow. Choose peace and love will follow.”
As Muslims we also understand that justice and fairness are vital, and I think this is one of the distinguishing factors of our deen (our Islamic way of life). Other religions speak of love, but do not emphasize justice. But when people are brutalized and oppressed, what does it mean to speak of love or peace? When a man has has boot on another man’s neck, while he loots his home and hurts his family, does it mean anything to tell the victim to be peaceful?
No, without justice you can never have peace. That’s why Lady Justice carries a sword in one hand and a balance in the other. The sword represents the authority of law to enforce peace and punish criminals. But the sword would be meaningless without the balance, which indicates the principles fairness on which laws must be built. This representation of justice is common, and in some versions the lady is blindfolded, indicating the justice should be applied equally to all regardless of race or social status.
War, bigotry and hatred are not the original condition of humanity. They are not inevitable. They don’t represent the natural state of the human heart.
- War is almost always a product of greed and selfishness.
- Bigotry is not a natural human trait, but is usually bred and whipped up by cynical leaders looking to exploit people’s ignorance for personal aggrandizement. People like Hitler, or Slobodan Milosevic, or the politicians and radio hosts who whipped up genocidal hatred in Rwanda, or even Sarah Palin. These people exploit ignorance, and not only cater to it but feed it, for political gain.
- Hatred is not the original human condition, but a product of oppression and suffering.
Treat people fairly, be honest, and do not covet what is not yours, and there will be no war. Peace is not an elusive dream, or a mysterious goal at the end of some obscure path. The road to peace is obvious, but it takes radical honesty, and total justice.
So I would amend the saying to, “Act justly and peace will follow. Choose peace and love will follow.”
“True religion shines from the face of the believer and impresses itself on others without words. It is subsequently followed by words that are uplifting and beneficial.” – Imam Zaid Shakir, Oakland California USA
Moon over a beach at night
You are trying to sleep but you are restless. You wake up, and turn onto the other side. You can’t get comfortable. You wake up because you are too hot or too cold. There is some vague worry or uneasiness keeping you awake… Did you know there is a dua for those moments when you wake up in the dark, stirring restlessly?
Laa ‘ilaaha ‘illallaahul-Waahidul-Qahhaaru, Rabbus-samaawaati wal’ardhi wa maa baynahumal-’Azeezul-Ghaffaaru.
There is none worthy of worship but Allah, the One, the Victorious, Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, the All-Mighty, the All-Forgiving.
See the Arabic version here. (Reference: This is to be said if you turn over in bed during the night. Al-Hakim graded it authentic and Ath-Thahabi agreed 1/540. Also see An-Nasa’i, ‘Amalul-Yawm wal-Laylah, and Ibn As-Sunni. See also Al-Albani, Sahihul-Jami’ As-Saghir 4/ 213).
Isn’t that beautiful? Islam has a dua for every occasion and for anyone who sees that as a burden, you are missing the point. These duas are not a requirement or a burden, they are gifts. They are little gems, powerful invocations to bring your mind closer to Allah, ease your heart, and bring peace to your spirit.
A dua like this is a mercy from Allah, as if He is saying, here is a way to contact me when you are in need, here are beautiful words to comfort your soul.
SubhanAllah.
By Wael Abdelgawad for IslamicSunrays.com
Matthew Arnold, the English poet, wrote:
“Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.”
In this poem, Arnold envisioned the world as a place of darkness, conflict and confusion, with no light to show the way out. To him the beauty of the world was just an illusion, a dream, and the reality of life was one of struggle and pain.
Indeed, the world seems to become a more dangerous and hopeless every day. The news is filled with dire stories about war and starvation, the inexorable destruction of the natural environment, pollution of the oceans, terrorism, and crime.
Wouldn’t a sane person be afraid of such a world? Wouldn’t an intelligent person be consumed with anxiety, and wouldn’t a very intelligent person be plunged into despair?
The thing about fear, anxiety and despair is that they flourish in spiritual darkness, just as some species of mushrooms can only grow in the dark. They might be represented by the image of a monster hiding in the corner of a dark room.
What do you do when you’re afraid there’s a monster in the closet, or creeping quietly toward you? You turn on the light.
The Light is Allah
For us, the light is Allah, and the Quran through which He communicates with us. Our guiding light is the natural bond we have with Allah, our instinctive yearning to know our Creator. Let’s cherish that bond and strengthen it, and it will fill us with light.
Allah’s light is our salvation from fear of the unknown; fear of failure; fear of loss and pain; fear of poverty, illness and injury; fear of enemies who want to hurt us; fear of strange things; fear of death.
“Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.” - Quran, Surat An-Nur, 24:35
An Illuminating Lamp
And what about the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)?
Allah says in the Quran, Surat Al-Ahzab, 33:45-46,
“O Prophet, indeed We have sent you as a witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner, And one who invites to Allah, by His permission, and an illuminating lamp.”
The Messenger too is a source of light. He is an illuminating lamp, which is what you hold up so you can see the way ahead. His Sunnah gives us a brilliant path to walk. It shows us the way past all the evils that lurk in the darkness, including the evils of racism, nationalism, anger, selfishness, dishonesty, hypocrisy, and greed.
I’m not saying that all we must do is read the Quran and pray, and those dire problems that I mentioned earlier will evaporate. Not at all.
But the solutions to those problems lie within the Quran if we look. The Quran is the light that shows us the way out out of the gloom that we have created for ourselves.
Early dawn and Venus in the sky
On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:
Our Lord (glorified and exalted be He) descends each night to the earth’s sky when there remains the final third of the night, and He says: Who is saying a prayer to Me that I may answer it? Who is asking something of Me that I may give it him? Who is asking forgiveness of Me that I may forgive him?
It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Muslim, Malik, at-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud).
In a version by Muslim the Hadith ends with the words:
And thus He continues till [the light of] dawn shines.
***
A poet wrote about this with the following couplet:
At every early dawn I hear this call:
the door of mercy is open, come one, come all.
Sun rays shining on the ruins of Machu Picchu
“All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.”
- T.E. Lawrence
From a state of darkness to one of light
I changed from worrying to praying; from complaining to problem solving; from boredom to having good clean fun; from a state of darkness to one of light; from selfish love to love of self and others; from independence to interdependence; from winning or losing to learning, and growing; from telling to asking; from being aggressive to being assertive; from being reactive to being proactive!
-Hanan Bilal
Recent Comments