Obedient Angel
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Join date : 2011-04-30
Posts : 2448
 | Subject: Repel Evil with Good: My Enemies I Thank You.  Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:26 pm | |
| Fostering enmity is the meanest of all human activities. Unfortunately, creating enmity between people requires nothing more than a good helping of stupidity served up with poor judgment and a disregard for people’s feelings. With these ingredients, you can soon find yourself surrounded by a host of people wrangling, cursing, and hating each other.
Experience has taught me the wisdom of exercising patience with those who argue with me, to show them courtesy and apply the remedy prescribed in the Qur’an: to respond with what is better.
And not equal are the good deed and the bad. Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend.
[Sūrah Fussilat 41:34]
I have also learned from experience not to begrudge those who have resolved themselves to hate me. Such people are a part of life. In Allah’s wisdom, they are the price one has to pay for success and for engaging in any productive activity in this world.
But I say: My enemies, I thank you.
It is you who have taught me how to listen to criticism – even hurtful criticism – without becoming embarrassed. You have taught me how to go forward without hesitation, even after hearing the most degrading of insults and discouragements.
This is an extremely important lesson in life that cannot be learned from a book. It can only be learned through the experiences Allah causes us to endure. At first, it stings bitterly, but a person must learn to deal with it.
My enemies, I thank you.
You have made me more self-reliant. You have taught me not to be taken in by flattery. You have put both praise and censure into perspective and given me a balanced view. Because of you, I do not fall victim to the excessive praise of flatterers, or become vain due to the over-eagerness of those who see in me more than my true merit and cannot see my faults. Such people are your opposite, since you only see my faults and regard even my good qualities as bad.
My enemies, I thank you.
You have compelled many people to speak up and defend the truth. Your open contempt is what has inspired them to determine the truth of the matter and then come forward to defend it.
My enemies, I thank you.
You have the honor, though you might see it a dubious one, of helping me to arrive at stronger, more balanced, and better-considered opinions. Sometimes a person may arrive at solid conclusions, but then take those conclusions too far. You have often been the reason why I was able to rethink my views, refine them, and improve upon them.
Therefore, my enemies, do not become angry that I have often refrained from getting into arguments with you. When people get too involved in defending their opinions, it prevents them from rethinking their own point of view. In the heat of an argument, they become too busy with refuting their opponents and lose the presence of mind needed for constructive thinking. Worst of all, arguing prevents them from understanding the other side, which might very well have a valid point.
Hātim al-Asamm once said:
I have three traits that give me an advantage over my opponent: I rejoice when he is correct, I despair when he is wrong, and I guard myself from insulting him.
[Abu-Nuaym, al-Hulyah (8/82) and Tārīkh Baghdād (8/242)]
My enemies, I thank you.
It is you who have sharpened my resolve, presented me with challenges, provided me with opportunities for growth, and honed my skills. I have learned to be harder on myself, more attentive to my behavior, and more eager to better myself, so I can compete in attaining the goal that Allah calls us towards – which is Paradise:
For this, let those compete who aspire to compete.
[Sūrah al-Mutaffifīn: 83:26]
The nobility of this competition lies in the nobility of how it is conducted, the goodness through which it is advanced, and the purity of its aims.
My enemies, I thank you.
You have taught me patience and clemency. You have taught me to respond to rude behavior with kindness. There are virtues that we do not attain simply through good action, but by exercising patience, self-restraint, tolerance, and magnanimity –and by showing forgiveness.
My enemies, I know that some of what I am saying right now displeases you immensely, but that is not my intention. But I say with all sincerity, you are my true friends. You are my fellow human beings – and quite often by brethren in faith – even though you disagree with me. If we were to consider all the things that we agree upon, we would find that we have far more in common than the things we disagree about.
I do not call you my enemies because I think of you in that way, but rather because I think this is how you want to be thought of. Rather, I think of you as my friends, whether you are pleased or displeased with my doing so.
My enemies, I thank you and wish you peace. | |
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