Part 16

Thus, it has been said: "Allah establishes the just state even if it is disbelieving, and does not establish the oppressing state, even if it is Muslim." It has been said: "The affairs of this world last with justice and kufr, but they do not last with oppression and Islam." The Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said: "The quickest of evils to be punished are injustice and breaking of family ties." (Ibn Majah) Thus, the unjust transgressor is overcome in this life, even though he may eventually be forgiven in the hereafter. This is because justice is the system of everything. So, when the affairs of this world are established with justice, they last and are strong, even though its author may have no share in the rewards of the hereafter, and when they are not established with justice, they do not last, even though its author(s) may have that faith for which they may be rewarded in the hereafter. Enjoining Right & Forbidding Wrong - 32 Translated by Salim Abdallah ibn Morgan Human Nature: Tyranny, Envy & Oppression Within the human self is a drive to oppress others by tyrannizing them, and by envying them, and by violating their rights. Within it, also, are drives to oppress itself by indulging in despicable acts, such as adultery and consuming unclean things. Thus, a person may oppress others without first being oppressed, and may lust after those indulgences, even though no one around him is doing them. However, when he sees his peers oppressing, or indulging in these desires, a drive appears in him to do these things which is much stronger than previously. This may also bring about in a person hatred of those having the object of his lower desire, and his envy of them, and his desire for their punishment and the removal of that thing which they have which were not otherwise there. He has an ample justification for this from the direction of intellectual reasoning, and from the principles of Islam because of the fact that those who he opposes are oppressing themselves and the Muslims as a whole, and his enjoining right and forbidding wrong and fighting jihad in the pursuit of that appears to be from Islam. Categories Of People In This Issue People, with respect to this issue, can be divided into three categories: One group does not become aroused except by the hawaa of their own selves. They are not contented except with those things which they have been given, and do not anger except because of something which they have been denied. If such a person is given all that he desires from the halal and the haram, his anger disappears, and he is contented. When he is given his desires, those things which he called evil, which he actively forbid others and punished them for indulging in them, became angry with them, and openly criticized them, when he obtains these things, he suddenly becomes an indulger in them, and a partner and helper of their users, and a staunch enemy of those who order the people to stay away from these things, and point out to them their evil. This is widespread among the sons of Adam. We all see and hear examples of this whose number is unknown except to Allah. Its cause is that man is, as Allah said, ever given to criminality (dhaloom), and ever given to ignorance and foolishness (jahool). And so, many never practice justice; rather, they may be oppressors in both states. For example, there may be a group of people who criticize the oppression of the ruler and his transgression on the rights of the Enjoining Right & Forbidding Wrong - 33 Translated by Salim Abdallah ibn Morgan citizens, and so the ruler appeases them with some position or money. Suddenly, they become the biggest helpers and supporters of this unjust government or ruler. It would have been better for them if they just kept quiet, and refrained from enjoining right and forbidding wrong in the first place. In the same way, you can see these people acting very harshly with those who take intoxicants, fornicate and listen to music until they manage to get him involved in their sins, or appease him with some of the pleasures in which they indulge. At that time, you will see them becoming the biggest supporters of those acts which they opposed so harshly previously. Such people, when they undertake enjoining right and forbidding wrong may come into a state worse than their state before they began, or perhaps not quite as bad, or equal to it. Others, have taken the correct stand of religiosity and piety. They are in that sincere to Allah, and in their actions reformers, and bringers of good. In this they are granted success such that they are able to be patient and forbearing in the face of persecution. These are "those who believe and do good works", and they are of "the best nation brought forth for the people: they enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and they believe in Allah." A third group, combines the characteristics of the first group and those of the second, and these are the majority of the believers.