A RIGHTEOUS FEAR
The concept of fearing none but God is vital for inner peace. If we do not, we will lack spiritual security and fear everything else, which in and of itself is devoid of any power.
To fear people and circumstances that are not an existential threat is to be illusioned, which means having a false and deceptive understanding of reality. We should, therefore, for the most part, become disillusioned and, through our enlightenment, develop the ability to see straight.
Righteous fear is also inextricably linked with truth and truthful living. Dishonesty proliferates in its absence.
When we fear people or outcomes or try to control the future, honesty loses value. When this happens, we become highly susceptible to lying or omitting the truth to get what we want, not get judged, avoid conflicts or self-preserve. We often rationalise this behaviour as inconsequential: what harm can come from a little white lie, we think. But it’s not trivial and sets us on a trajectory that masks us from ourselves and the world.
When we reserve our fear exclusively for God and trust He knows what’s best for us, we protect ourselves from verbal deception and encourage life by the maxim: let go and let God. We stop trying to massage the truth because we no longer fear it, knowing it will free us from the iniquity within and without: ‘You who believe, uphold justice and bear witness to God, even if it is against yourselves, your parents, or your close relatives. Whether the person is rich or poor, God can best take care of both. Refrain from following your desire, so that you can act justly—if you distort or neglect justice, God is fully aware of what you do’ [4:135].
Having a righteous fear for none but God offers us peace, freedom, intimacy, authenticity and genuine relationships. But the supreme benefit is that we earn the Greatest Teacher: ‘Fear Allah, and He will teach you’ [2:282].
INJURE NO ONE
The Prophet (s) never exacted vengeance for personal gratification.
Instead, he lived by the axiom, reported by Imam Malik in his Muwaṭṭa: ‘Lā darar wa lā dirār—Do not inflict injury nor repay one injury with another.’
A glorious example of the Prophet (s) demonstrating this principle was on the day he was mercilessly stoned and chased from the city of Taif.
The Prophet (s) and Zayd found refuge in an orchard. Completely overcome and bloodied by the ordeal, the Prophet (s) made the most heartfelt supplication:
‘O Allah! To You alone do I complain of my helplessness, the paucity of my resources and my insignificance before humanity. You are the most Merciful of the merciful. You are the Lord of the helpless and the weak, O Lord of mine! Into whose hands would You abandon me: into the hands of an unsympathetic distant relative who would sullenly frown at me or to the enemy who has control over my affairs? But if Your wrath does not fall on me, there is nothing to worry about.
I seek protection in the light of Your Countenance, which illuminates the heavens, dispels the darkness, and controls all affairs in this world and the Hereafter. May it never be that I should incur Your wrath or that You should be wrathful to me. And there is no power nor resource, but Yours alone’ [Sirah of Ibn Ishaq].
The Prophet (s) would later relate that the humiliation of that day was the worst he ever suffered.
Yet, he turned his hurt and grief not into wrath but into a deep spiritual well when he opened his heart and found solace in God.
The brilliant and indefatigable late human rights activist John Pilger titled his 2002 documentary Palestine Is Still The Issue.
Fast forward to 2024, and Palestine is not only still the issue but the gravest moral issue of our day.
Due to a combination of occupier apathy, injustice, deception, manipulation, prejudice, dehumanisation and impunity that has lasted nearly 80 years, the land of Palestine continues to languish under a brutal Israeli occupation championed by much of the Western world.
The world’s profound neglect of her has caused her wounds to grow, deepen, fester, and infect the entire planet.
Mercifully, the somnambulant, enlightened and pro-justice have risen, but we are still not doing enough to save her. And as she continues to die a violent death, so does our humanity.
The halls of power in my city, Cape Town, are free to continue with business as usual while defending apartheid, genocide and the slaughter of thousands of babies and children. South African corporations brazenly persist in trading with a human rights abuser guilty of racial killing, dispossession and genocide.
Even though the South African Parliament passed a resolution to close down the Israeli embassy and sever all diplomatic relations with Apartheid Israel, the President still hasn’t issued the executive decision to enforce it. We cannot allow this to continue. We must not! We must remain tireless in pressuring the President and his government to impose full diplomatic, cultural and trade sanctions on the Apartheid state.
Power is contestable, so we must proactively shape the discussion and change public opinion. It will be timely to introduce the words of lawyer, negotiator and human rights activist Diana Buttu’, who said, ‘The powerful never willingly give up power. We (the people) must force them to do it.’
We must take the fight to all the friends of Apartheid Israel and force them to defend their unjustifiable position. We should never be the ones on the defensive. It is not us siding with a brutal Apartheid regime guilty of nearly eight decades of land theft, brutal ethnic cleansing of the native people of Palestine and the worst human rights violations.
Allah reminds us of those who grossly exceed the limits: ‘Does man reckon he will be left to go on unimpeded?’ [75:36].
Whenever there’s a call to action, we must respond and become impediments in the path of child murderers, colonialists, racial and religious supremacists, fascists, their agents and supporters and those who are indifferent and silent to the suffering of people they deem to be of lesser value or worst, Untermenschen (sub-human).
We must remain steadfast and do whatever we can to fight Israeli tyranny and further the cause for Palestinian freedom. We must become lighthouses in a world that’s growing dark and grim. Nothing else is more urgent! Our humanity depends upon it.
Until next week, InshaAllah
Zaahied Sallie
Author of The Beloved Prophet – An Illustrated Biography in Rhyme
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