. J ࢁ e u (cont.)

His soul cares about what he is doing and is distressed when he is doing something harmful or sinful. This is the person who has a real conscience, who does not accept from himself the doing of wrong or evil. Allah has mentioned this kind of soul in the Quranic verse, "And I swear by the self-reproaching soul" (al-Qiyaamah 1). Qutb notes that Allah only swears by those things that are very great and noteworthy. Hence, this type of soul must be something noteworthy: this is the soul that drives a person to do good and keeps him away from doing evil. There is no doubt that such a soul has a great weight in Allah's scale. This is so because it is the true axis which elevates man and keeps man adhering to the noble qualities. (And this will only be the case when that soul has the quality of hayaa', this noble quality of Islam.) What happens to a human when he loses that quality in his soul? Then the soul becomes of a different nature. It becomes a soul that actually drives man to do evil and the person does not care about the evil he commits. This type of soul does not refine or elevate the person because true refinement and elevation can only occur with true imaan, of which hayaa' is an essential component. Allah has described this soul that is lacking in its conscience as the soul of those whom Allah has not blessed with His mercy. Allah says, quoting the wife of the Azeez in the story of the Prophet Yusuf (peace be upon him), c_-ল) ޟ) PI YZ[ rाjŻ\g :_, ঱ h1\ ol i...:>) / k ,,,. / k "Verily, the (human) self orders one to evil, except in the case of the one whom my Lord has bestowed His mercy" (Yoosuf 53). Qutb argues that atheism and kujr remove the self-reproaching aspect from the person and he is left wit the soul that orders to evil. He further states that even if on the surface many disbelievers may seem to have a moral conscience, in 1 Al-Khizindaar, p. 322. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi reality, when one studies their real goal and purpose, one will see that they have no real moral conscience as their deeds are never sincere and solely for the sake of Allah. 1 Summary of the Hadith • The characteristic of hayaa' has been encouraged by all of the previous prophets. Indeed, it may be one of the few of their teachings (or the only one) that had been passed on among the people until the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him). • Although this hadith has a number of possible interpretations, the one preferred by the author is: If an act is not shameful in any way, then it is permissible for a Muslim to do it. 1 Cf., Qutb, pp. 166-167. Qutb did not tie his discussion into the concept of hayaa'.