Hatred is an emotion of intense revulsion, distaste, enmity, or
antipathy for a person, thing, or phenomenon, generally attributed to a desire
to avoid, restrict, remove, or destroy the hated object. Hatred is also among
the most common emotions that human's experience. It can be based on fear of an
object or past negative consequences of dealing with that object. Hatred is
often described as the opposite of love or friendship.
Often the verb "to hate" is used casually to describe
things one merely dislikes, such as a particular style of architecture, a
certain climate, one's job, some particular food, or people who claim to hate
something when they in fact merely dislike it.
"Hatred" is also used to describe feelings of prejudice,
bigotry or condemnation against a person, or a group of people, such as racism,
and intense religious or political prejudice. The term hate crime is used to
designate crimes committed out of hatred in this sense.
Religion Islam has been accused unjustly of being a religion of
hate by those who never made a true effort to understand even the basic
teachings of Islam. We all know that ignorance is the worst enemy of the truth,
and Allah (SWT) asked us to learn the truth as there is nothing after the truth
except falsehood.
This then is Allah, your true Lord; and what is there after the
truth but error; how are you then turned back? Noble Qur'an (10:32)
Let us present the simple truth about Islam and the Noble Qur'an
that proves that Islam is not a religion of hate but rather a religion of love,
tolerance, understanding, and social justice.
Many people are not aware that Islam is the religion of Prophet
Abraham, not the religion of Prophet Muhammad. Prophet Abraham, being the
founder of Islam, with all its beautiful and peaceful teachings and rituals,
passed his religion to all the prophets who came after him, including all the
Israeli prophets, Prophet Moses, Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammad. Those
attacking Islam, out of ignorance, or deliberately, are attacking Prophet
Abraham who is their prophet as much as the prophet of the Muslims.
Noble Qur'an explains clearly this fact,
And strive hard in (the way of) Allah, (such) a striving a is due
to Him; He has chosen you and has not laid upon you an hardship in religion;
the faith of your father Abraham; He named you Muslims before and in this, that
the Messenger may be a bearer of witness to you, and you may be bearers of
witness to the people... Noble Qur'an (22:78)
Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian but he was (an) upright
(man), a Muslim, and he was not one of the polytheists. Most surely the nearest
of people to Abraham are those who followed him and this Prophet and those who
believe and Allah is the guardian of the believers. Noble Qur'an (3:67-68)
Then We revealed to you (O Muhammad): Follow the faith of Abraham,
the upright one, and he was not of the polytheists. Noble Qur'an (16:123)
In that simple sense, how can Islam which is the religion of
Abraham promote hate when it is the same religion passed down to the Jews and
Christians before reaching Muslims? How can the Jews and Christians claim
different standard when we are talking about the same religion with different names
but all go back to Abraham.
Noble Qur'an, the final Testament, made a special mention of the
relationship that controls the social and daily life with other people
including but not limited to Jews and Christians. In it Noble Qur'an urges the
Muslims to be loving, caring, friendly, patient, tolerant, advocates of
freedom, democracy, and social justice. Islam never advocated hate or promoted
it. People, who promote hate, do so on their own terms and misunderstanding. By
doing so they do not represent Islam or the teachings of Islam in the
scripture.
We need to remember that hate is a man made crime that we should
not blame on any religion. Any claim of hate in a religion is no more than man
made innovation that has nothing to do with God or His scripture. Planting hate
only produces hate. Planting love, will produce love. Our God is Almighty, all
loving.
Hatred
in Islam, Diseases of the Soul, Islam and Hate, Human Vices, Hatred (Nafrat)
A kindergarten teacher has decided to let her class play a game.
The kindergarten teacher told each child in the class to bring along a plastic
bag containing a few potatoes. Each potato will be given a name of a person
that the child hates, so the number of potatoes that a child will put in
his/her plastic bag will depend on the number of people he/she hates. So when
the day came, every child brought some potatoes with the name of the people
he/she hated. Some had 2 potatoes; some 3 while some up to 5 potatoes.
The kindergarten teacher then told the children to carry with them
the potatoes in the plastic bag wherever they go (even to the toilet) for one
week. Days after days passed by, and the children started to complain due to
the unpleasant smell let out by the rotten potatoes. Besides, those having 5
potatoes also had to carry heavier bags. After 1 week, the children were
relieved because the game had finally ended.
The kindergarten teacher asked: "How did you feel while
carrying the potatoes with you for 1 week?" The children let out their
frustrations and started complaining of the trouble that they had to go through
having to carry the heavy and smelly potatoes wherever they go. Then the
kindergarten teacher told them the hidden meaning behind the game.
The kindergarten teacher said: "This is exactly the situation
when you carry your hatred for somebody inside your heart. The stench of hatred
will contaminate your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If
you cannot tolerate the smell of rotten potatoes for just one week, can you
imagine what is it like to have the stench of hatred in your heart for your
lifetime?"
Moral: Throw away any hatred for anyone from your heart so that
you will not carry sins for a lifetime. Forgiving others is the best attitude
to take. "Learn to Forgive and Forget."
Remember what Allah (SWT) teaches us in Surah Al-Araf (7:199-200):
"Show forgiveness, enjoin what is good, and turn away from
the ignorant (don't punish them). If a suggestion from Satan assails your mind,
seek refuge with Allah; surely He is Hearing, Knowing (all things)."
In these verses of Noble Qur'an, Allah (SWT) comforts the Prophet
Muhammad (saw) and directs his mind to three Precepts:
To forgive injuries, insults, and persecution.
To continue to declare faith that was in him, and not only to that
was in him, and not only to declare it, but to act up to it in all his dealings
with friends and foes.
To pay no attention to ignorant fools, who raised doubts or
difficulties, hurled taunts or reproaches, or devised plots to defeat the
truth: they were to ignored and passed by, not to be engaged in fights and
fruitless controversies, or conciliated by compromises.
Of all the things we can give other people in life, forgiveness is
one of those that require the most effort. This phrase seems to make the
process of forgiving easier for me: "To bear a grudge against someone is
like burning down your house to get rid of a rat."
People say or do things often inadvertently and mostly out of
personal insecurity or ignorance. You may be just the punching bag for the day.
Maybe the other person is envious or afraid of you. Most of the time, these
people have their own demons to grapple with.
Don't let their words and actions wear you down. They can only
have a moment's effect on you. Then, depending on how you deal with the
situation, they can continue to haunt you, or vanish like ashes in the wind.
But only you can make that decision. Discouraging and spiteful
words and actions from other people can only have the desired effect if you
want them to. Give yourself the pleasure of a free spirit.
Forgiveness is something we "give other people", but
forgiveness, really, is a gift to ourselves.
When we wreak vengeance on people whom we think have done us an
injustice, we invariably end up bitter and resentful. Worse still, if our
vindictiveness provokes retaliation, we might start a cycle of vengeance. And
when you bear hatred within your heart, what you're essentially doing is
destroying your own state of mind and potential to be happy.
Each day yields opportunities for us to let go of or hold on to
grudges, although the severity of each situation may vary. Are you better off
holding on to them, or letting go?
Hatred
in Islam, Diseases of the Soul, Islam and Hate, Human Vices, Hatred (Nafrat)
In the time of a caliph, a rich man bought a slave whom he
treated, from the beginning, like a gentleman, giving him the best of food and
clothes, and money exactly like his own child or even more lavishly. But the
slave noticed that his master always felt uneasy.
Eventually the rich man made up his mind to set him free and
provide him with some capital. One night as they were sitting together, the
master said: "Do you know why I have treated you so well?" The slave
asked the reason. The master said: "I have one request to make which if
you fulfill, you would enjoy all I have given and will give you! But if you
refuse, I will be discontented with you." The slave said: "I will
obey whatever you ask. You are my benefactor who has given me my life."
The master said: "You must promise me in good faith to do it, for I am
afraid you may refuse it."
The slave said: "I promise to do what you want." The
master said: "My proposal is that you must behead me at a specific time
and place." The slave exclaimed: "What? How can I do that?" The
master said: "That is what I desire." The slave said: "That is
impossible." The master said: "I have got your promise. You must do
it."
One midnight, he awakened the slave and gave him a sharp knife and
a bag full of money and climbed up a neighbor's roof, and told the slave to
behead him there and then go wherever he liked. The slave asked the reason for
such an act. The rich man answered: "I hate this one man and prefer death
to seeing his face. We have been rivals but he, my neighbor has gone ahead of
me and excels me in everything, and I am burning with hatred. I desire my
neighbor to be jailed for this fake murder and this idea is a relief to me.
Everyone knows him to be my rival, and so my neighbor will be condemned to
death for this act." The slave said: You seem to be a foolish man and
deserve this death."
So he beheaded the rich man and ran away, His rival neighbor was
consequently arrested and imprisoned, but no one believed that he would have
killed his rival on his own roof. It had become a mystery. At last, the slave
felt a prick of conscience, went to the authorities and confessed the truth.
When they understood the matter, they freed both the slave and the neighbor.
This is a fact that Hate is a disease of the soul. The Noble Qur'an
says in Chapter "The Sun" (Shams 91:9-10). "He will indeed be
successful who purifies it, and he will indeed fail who corrupts it."
Thus, the first proposal of the Noble Qur'an is purification of the self from
ailments, complexes, ignorance, deviations and metamorphoses.
You could have heard that in the past there were people who,
because of excess of sins, were cursed by the Prophets of their time and were
thus metamorphosed, that is, they were transformed into animals such as a
monkey, a wolf, a bear etc.
Someone said: "We had made a pilgrimage to Makkah along with
Imam Sajjad (as) and when we looked down at the Desert of Arafat it was full of
Hajis (pilgrims). There were so many of them that year. The Imam Sajjad said:
"There is much uproar, but few are true Hajis (pilgrims)." The man
says: "I don't know how Imam Sajjad gave me the insight, but when Imam
Sajjad asked me to look down again, I saw a desert full of animals, like that
in a zoo, among whom a few human beings were moving about." The Imam Sajjad
told him how things looked to those who had a clear sight and were concerned
with the inward concept of things.
Prejudice
and Islam, Muslims and Racism, Asabiyyah is a Disease of the Soul
So you think you are superior to others because you belong to a
different ethnic group, or you speak a different language, or you are from a
different country or you belong to a specific family, group, clan or race.
And you will support others on the basis of their language,
ethnicity, relationship, origin.even though they do injustice, commit crimes,
in the name of tribalism, racism, nationalism or any other ism, other than
their moral superiority, good qualities or for justice.
And you will not help or support other human beings because they
do not belong to 'your' group, country, clan, race, family. Even though they
are oppressed, denied their rights, they deserve to be supported, they are on
truth.
Are you aware that this type of fanatic behavior is known as
Asabiyyah or Prejudice?
Do you know what Islam says about Asabiyyah or Prejudice?
The Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: "Whosoever possesses in his
heart Asabiyyah even to the extent of a mustard seed, God will raise him on the
Day of Resurrection with the (pagan) Bedouins of the Jahiliyyah (the pre-Islamic
era)."
Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) said: "Whosoever practices Asabiyyah
(against someone), Allah (SWT) shall wrap around him a fold of Fire."
Imam Ali (as) said: "Almighty Allah (SWT) will punish six
groups of people for six kinds of sins: .He will punish the Arabs for
Asabiyyah..."
The Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: "One who calls towards
Asabiyyah is not from us, one who fights for Asabiyyah is not from us and the
one who dies on Asabiyyah is not from us."
The Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: "Best among you is the
person who defends his tribe till they do not commit a sin."
Imam Ali (as) said: "If it becomes unavoidable for you to be
among those who practice Asabiyyah, then do Asabiyyah to uphold the truth and
support of the oppressed."
Imam Ali (as) said: "The one whose deeds lower him, his
family background or ancestry cannot elevate him."
Thus, remember that the superiority is only on the basis of pure
intentions and sincere and lofty deeds. Asabiyyah is a dangerous condition for
an individual and the society. It is an evil trait, inspired by satanic forces.
One must ponder seriously about its consequences in this world and hereafter.
A true believer annihilates his own will in the Will of his Lord.
He is free from all traces of ignorant Asabiyyah's and thick and dark curtains
of blind Asabiyyah's would not obstruct his vision.
When called to deliver justice and utter the word of truth, he
puts a firm foot on the head of all associations and ties, sacrificing all ties
of kinship and customary affinities at the altar of the aims and orders of his
Lord. He supports truth and justice under all circumstances.
So if you love or hate someone, or support or are against a group
of individuals or a nation, think wisely for a while, what has motivated you
for it. If it is other than promoting truth and justice or help of oppressed or
preventing aggression and tyranny, than give up your support of the people you
are associated with. It will be certainly difficult for you to take a bold step
and give up love, friendship, and affinity of your relatives, friends and
colleagues. But your decision to give up blind Asabiyyah will not only save you
from the fire of hell, but also motivate others to do the same.
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