| October 4, 2002 | Friday | Rajab 26, 1423 |
Holy war for self-control: FRIDAY FEATURE
AS PART OF AN ongoing Outreach programme of the British government, the foreign office minister, Mike O’Brien, recently visited members of the Pakistani community in the Scottish city of Glasgow, which has a large British-Pakistani community. Following the Sept 11 attacks on America, the Pakistani community of Britain is worried about their future in this country. The government is fully aware of these concerns and has started its Outreach programme to reassure the ethnic and religious minorities.
DURING the return march from the victories of Makkah and Hunayun, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to some of his companions “We have returned from the lesser holy war to the greater holy war.” And when one of them asked “What is the greater holy war?” He replied “it is the war against the soul (Nafs).
The minister, during his visit to Glasgow, mixed up with members of the Pakistani community and gave a patient hearing to their concerns. The day’s engagements in Glasgow included a meeting of local British-Pakistani women’s organizations, and meetings with local Pakistani businessmen, councillors and religious leaders. Later O’Brien said his meetings had gained him a better understanding of the views and concerns of the British-Pakistani community about the UK’s relations with Pakistan and the wider region.
He said: “The wealth of experience and knowledge in the community and its strong links with Pakistan, not least through family ties, is important to the foreign office as we seek to strengthen UK-Pakistan relations.”
The main worry of the British Muslims is that some racist elements might use the 9/11 incidents as an excuse to target members of their community. There is no doubt that the 9/11 incidents have increased hatred of the Muslim communities living in the West. Only a couple of weeks ago a firm of solicitors in north London claimed that it has become the first victim in the second year of the backlash against the Muslims in the UK following the events of Sept 11. Some unknown people ransacked the office building and reportedly burnt a text of the Quran, which was hanging on the kitchen wall. The firm strongly believes that “the attack was religiously motivated” and was linked to the first anniversary of Sept 11. The aim of the government’s Outreach programme is to allay such fears of the religious and ethnic minorities of Britain.
BLAIR DOSSIER: Prime minister Tony Blair is faced with a very big political challenge on his Iraq policy. A about 56 Labour Party MPs voted against his policy on Iraq. A number of surveys done in the recent weeks suggest that majority of the British people are not in favour of launching a military strike against Iraq without a UN mandate. The publication of the government’s dossier on President Saddam Hussein’s arsenal couldn’t convince those Labour MPs who are opposed to a military action against Iraq.
The dossier, based on secret intelligence reports of Great Britain, suggests that Iraq could deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes of an order being given. And the dossier says that Iraq is developing long-range missiles that could threaten Europe and that some agents working for the Iraqi leader are trying to buy African uranium to make a nuclear bomb.
President Bush was quick to give his reaction to the dossier and said it contained enough evidence to warrant the toppling of Saddam. This whole situation shows that the clouds of another war in the Middle East are looming. And on Tuesday when the much-awaited dossier was published in London, it looked like that the British government has changed its position on Iraq and that now London was in favour of a military strike against Iraq without a UN mandate. But later on Blair said that disarmament rather than the overthrow of Saddam was his objective and promised to deal with the Iraqi crisis through the UN.
This statement by Blair, besides creating some more confusion on his Iraq policy, was reassuring to those Labour MPs who are opposed to any military strike against Iraq. Even after publishing of the dossier, there isn’t any change in the British policy on Iraq, and the government has all along been saying that “no decision on any actions has been taken yet”.
There still seem to be some differences between London and Washington about how to deal with Saddam. Blair is faced with a big challenge on Iraq and it is hard to think that he would break with the UN in dealing with Iraq and for the US it would be very difficult to go on its own against Iraq.
There is a message of fundamental importance for mankind in the above saying of the Prophet. People have waged and won wars, have acquired every kind of knowledge about the physical world and have conquered all physical hurdles in their ways. Yet they know very little about their inner-selves and are rather constantly losing control over their souls, the prime movers of all human actions. That’s why despite all means of physical protection in place, the people never had such awesome and fearful life as they are leading today.
Despite the availability of all material provisions to meet their wants the people were never so discontented as they are today and despite having the means of all physical comforts at their disposal they never felt so uneasy and uncomfortable as they feel today. And that is why the Prophet termed the war against the soul, which in fact means struggle for the acquisition of control over the soul, as the greater holy war.
According to the Quran, every human soul has three inclinations. One is the inclination towards doing wrong, evil and sinful acts, termed as Nafs-i-Ammarah (12:53). The other is the inclination towards realisation and repentance i.e. to realise immediately if one does something wrong, that what he has done is wrong, and repent over it or rather reproach oneself for it, termed as Nafs-i-Lawwamah (75:2). The third is the inclination towards doing good and righteous deeds, termed as Nafs-i-Mutmainnah (89:27), also called the soul at peace because satisfaction and peace of mind are the natural outcome of doing good and righteous deeds.
The Quran also signifies the frailties and weaknesses common to all human beings that have close bearing on all the three inclinations of the soul in the sense that they either activate Nafs-i-Ammarah or suppress one or the other of the two other inclinations of the soul. They are: the inability to resist desire (4:27,28), leaning towards unfairness and injustice (14:34), hastiness (17:11), ingratitude (17:67), contentiousness i.e. not prone to easily accepting own’s faults (18:54), niggardliness i.e. not prepared to part with what one has (17:100) and anxiety (70:19,20).
At the same time the Quran highlights the qualities that the human beings have been endowed with that can be of great help in making up or overcoming the said weaknesses or frailties. As it says “He gave you hearing, sight and heart that you may be grateful” (16:78).
In Arabic idiom, heart is considered as the centre of intelligence and affection. Hence, the word “heart” in the verse is to be understood as having reference to intelligence and affection. The word “grateful” in the verse implies making right use of the qualities mentioned therein. Human beings have also been endowed with the quality of conscience i.e. the ability to make distinction between right and wrong in regard to one’s own conduct (91:8) and provided necessary guidance (76:3).
Of all the frailties common to human beings, the inability to resist desire is the main moving force of Nafs-i-Ammarah and hence the basic cause of the evils that the people are prone to. For example, if a person commits theft, it is not the thing stolen that has impelled him to do so but the desire that he wanted to fulfil by stealing that thing that impelled him to commit theft. Desire by itself is not a bad thing. It is a part of human nature and is the main source of motivation. It becomes a bad thing when it turns into lust and overpowers the faculties of reasoning and conscience.
The Quran says “and who goes farther astray than he who followed his lust without guidance from Allah” (28:50). And again it says “do not follow lust for it will lead you astray from the way of Allah” (38:26). The first wrong that the human beings committed soon after their creation was because of uncontrolled desire. It was desire that impelled Adam and Eve to do that which they were forbidden to do and because of which they were expelled from the gardens (7:20-24).
Likewise, the first murder committed on earth was because of envy, an off-shoot of uncontrolled desire, when one of the two sons of Adam killed the other (5:30). In one of his last sermons, the Prophet cautioned the believers thus: “I fear not for you that you will set up gods beside God but I fear for you this world, lest you seek to rival one another in worldly gains.” The Quran also says “your craze for more and more and mutual rivalry for worldly gains has made you heedless” (102:1). Craze for more and more worldly gains and resultant rivalries are also the offshoots of lust.
With the aid of qualities and guidance that Allah has bestowed on the human beings, they can overcome or control their desires and thereby suppress Nafs-i-Ammarah to the desired extent. For example, a person wants to become rich which is not a bad thing by itself. He applies his mind and works out two options to achieve this object. One is to earn more by working hard and putting forth more efforts which could be a lengthy process indeed. The other is a short-cut i.e. to commit theft. Simple desire may impel him to adopt the short-cut if he can do it safely. But conscience will make him feel that even if he can do it safely and become rich overnight, it will still fall in the category of major sins for which he will be answerable to Allah Who sees everything.
The use of the faculty of reasoning becomes more effective and meaningful when it is complemented by the use of the faculty of conscience coupled with the fear of Allah. As the Quran says “O believers, if you fear Allah He will provide you with a criterion (to judge between right and wrong)” (8:29).
The term “Jihad” in essence means struggling or striving hard. When it is initiated for some noble cause i.e. for the prevention of something wrong or for the promotion or achievement of something right, it is termed as Jihad in the way of Allah, even if it does not involve any conventional fighting. And when the struggle is initiated with a view to acquire control over the soul, the prime mover of all human actions, good or bad, right or wrong, it could obviously and more appropriately be termed as the greater holy war as the Prophet termed it.
The other thing that we can learn from the above quotations is that the cause of many ills besetting the human society these days lies in the very souls of the people. The earth will become a place truly worth living when, following their normal pursuits, the people do not become unmindful of keeping their souls in control for which the Quran prescribes an excellent prescription.