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Diseases of the Heart
Part 1: Anger
Someone came to Rasulullah s.a.w and
asked: ‘Give me some advices’,The Holy Prophet Muhammad s.a.w peace be upon Him
replied: ‘Be not angry, be not angry, be not angry’. And Abu Hurayra reported
that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,
"The person who is strong is not strong because he can knock people down.
The person who is strong is the one who controls himself when he is
angry."
Anger is the feeling one has toward
something or someone that hurts, opposes, offends, or annoys, strong
displeasure. Islam defined anger as a destructive fire, based on the Prophet’s
hadith, ‘Anger is like a burning coal’. Anger is a secret weapon of man towards
of evil, and it will snatches away the wisdom of man. Anger is also a
temptation and deception of Syaitan and it is the root of all evils. Moreover,
anger is a very bad condition which it will weakens the person faith.
Anger is one of several coarse
qualities of the soul or heart, which have to be treated by Islam's spiritual
methods. To treat the (spiritual) desease you have to know its causes. And Imam
al-Ghazali had explained it as follows:
The causes which cause anger to grow
are self-conceit, self-praise, jests and ridicule, argument, treachery, too
much greed for too much wealth and name and fame. If these evils are united in
a person, his conduct becomes bad and he cannot escape anger. So these things
should be removed by their opposites. Self-praise is to be removed by modesty.
Pride is to be removed by one's own origin and birth, greed is to be removed by
remaining satisfied with necessary things, and miserliness by charity.
It becomes clear then that in
reality anger is a secret disease, like for example alcoholism, which has to be
treated just like any other desease, and it is you yourself who has to take the
decisive step to curb it, with Allah's help.
Medicines
recommend by Imam al-Ghazli
1.
The
first medicine is to think over the rewards of appeasing anger, which is from
the verses of al-Quran and the sayings of the Prophet. From there, it will
reduce the feeling of anger and will restrain you from taking revenge.
2.
Always
reflect and think over the punishment of Allah. Always tell ourselves, that if
we take revenge on him, Allah will take revenge upon me on the Day of
Judgement. And this will helps us become fears.
3.
Always
remember, that living in this world will not only give protection all the time,
because sometime you may get trouble. So if you were to take a revenge over
your enemy, and yet your enemy will take revenge over you.
4.
When
you get angry, say ‘ Auzubillahi minas syaithaanir rajiim’, which means, I seek
refudge in God from the accursed evil.
5.
If
anger does not go away by this means, you will sit down if you are standing,
lie down if you are sitting, and come near to earth, as you have been created
of earth. Thus make yourself calm like the earth. The cause of wrath is heat
and its opposite is to lie down on the ground and to make the body calm and cool. If
still anger does not stop, make ablution with cold water or take a bath, as
fire cannot be extinguished without water.
There were a famous story about
sayyidina ‘Ali according to which he was fighting against a disbeliever and had
the intention of killing him due to al bughd fi Allah (hatred for the
sake of Allah). After `Ali subdued him and sat on his chest with the intention
of killing him, the man spat on his face. `Ali at once let him go.
The man was amazed and said, "You should have become even more angry due to my spitting at you and should have hastened in killing me. Why did you spare me?"
`Ali replied, "Due to this action of yours my nafs became involved and my intention did not remain purely for the sake of Allah."
The light of sincerity had such a cleansing effect that it purged the impurities and kufr of the disbeliever's heart, and he recited the kalima (profession of faith) at once, and became Muslim.[1]
Part 2: Envy
Envy is a nasty disease of the heart
that leads to bad behavior. Because of envy, one may involve in backbiting,
spreading rumors, lying, turning back on each others, and may also leads to the
worst level. Where the envious person may cause physical damage to the person
he envied and even muder. For this reason, the scholars had agreed that this
disease is the most dangerous , destructive inner disease that will affect
religion and also wordly life.
There were a hadith, reported by
Imam Bukhari and Muslim, saying that: ‘Do not envy one another and do not hate
one another, and do not turn your back to one another (in discontent) and be
the servants of Allah like brothers’.
The definition of envy in Islam is,
feeling hated of a blessing that Allah had blessed someone with and like for it
to go away, and if you could make it go away, you would do that. And if you do
not hate it and do not like for it to go away but you would like for yourself
something similar to it, then this is a possessive desire that leads to
competition; both of which are good and commendable.
However, in Islam, we are still
allow to be envied of only in two things. Based on hadith that was reported by
Imam Bukhari and Muslim,: ‘"It is not worth it, to envy anyone except in
two cases. A man that Allah blessed with money and he spent it righteously, and
a man that Allah blessed with knowledge and he implemented it in himself, and
has taught it to others." So, competition in good manners are allowed, and
this can be found from the verse of al-Quran, which Allah says: ‘And in this,
let the competitors compete’[2]
Envy leads to bad result. This can
be found in many places in the Al-Quran, which Allah scolded envious person and
its bad results among which:
1.
Many from the people of the book, after they
knew Islam was the truth, envied the believers for the blessing of belief and
guidance and wished it could go away from them. Allah (S.W.T.) says in surat
Al-Baqarah, (Verse 109), what can be translated as, "Many of the people of
the Book (Jews and Christians) wish that they could turn you away as
disbelievers after you have believed, out of envy from their ownselves, even,
after the truth has become manifest unto them."
2.
Also, one who reads the story of Prophet
Yousuf (peace be upon him) and his brothers, realizes the danger of envy upon
the envious person, and how it blinds his sight and takes away mercy from his
heart, and drives him to inflict physical pain on the envied person. Allah
(S.W.T.) says in surat Yousuf, (Verse 8 & 9), what can be translated as,
"When they said: Truly, Joseph and his brother are loved more by our
father than we, but we are usbah (a strong group)." Then, they said,
"Kill Joseph or cast him out to some other land, so that the favor of your
father may be given to you alone, and after that you will be righteous
folk." Then, how they deceived their fathers to take Yousuf and throw him
in the well, then how they lied to their father that the wolf ate Yousuf, and to
reinforce their deceit, they came with fake blood on Yousuf's shirt.
3.
The
Qur'an told us about the first son of Adam who killed his brother because of
envy, and it was the first blood letting crime on the face of the earth. He
envied him because Allah accepted his brother's sacrifice but did not accept it
from him. He (S.W.T.) says in surat Al-Ma’eedah, (Verse 27, 28 & 30), what
can be translated as, "And (O Muhammad) recite to them the story of the
two sons of Adam in truth; when each offered a sacrifice (to Allah), it was
accepted from the one but not from the other. The latter said to the former:
"I will surely kill you." The former said: "Verily, Allah
accepts only from those who are the pious. If you do stretch your hand against
me to kill me, I shall never stretch my hand against you to kill you, for I
fear Allah; the Lord of the Alamin." Then Allah said, "So the Nafs
(self) of the other (latter one) encouraged him and made fair-seeming to him
the murder of his brother; he murdered him and became one of the losers."
The
Medicine of Envy
In
Ihya Ulumuddin, written by the great scholar, Imam al-Ghazali, did mentions
about envy and its dangerous. He mentions that ‘"Be aware that envy is one
of the most dangerous diseases of the hearts, and there is no medicine for the
diseases of the heart except with knowledge and deeds.’
How
to defeat envy with knowledge? It is to
know without no doubt, that envy will just destroy your life and is dangerous
for you in this worldly life and so your religion. Why it is dangerous for
religion, because envy leads you to hate what Allah has gives or awards to
others and it is same like you hated his blessings that he had divided among
his servants. This are evils in the heart that will eat up every good deeds
that we have done on the previous time.
And
how envy is dangerous in your worldly life, it is when you suffer with heart
pain and lives in sorrows everytime you see the blessings of Allah to the rest.
Then,
Imam Al-Ghazali said: "These are the medicines for envy, and they are very
effective, but they are bitter on the hearts, but the effectiveness is in the
bitter medicine, so whosoever cannot be patient with the bitterness of medicine
cannot get the sweetness of the cure."
Remember
the story of Abdullah Bin Amru Bnil Oass and the man that the prophet (S.A.W.)
said, "A man will come up to you from the people of paradise." (He
repeated this everyday for three days). The same man came every time, and
Abdullah slept at this man's house to find out about what he does to deserve
paradise.... Later, Abdullah almost belittled this man's deeds because they are
not too much, then he asked about what he does, so the man said, "It is
not except what you have seen, but I do not have for any Muslim in my heart any
deceit, or envy for good that Allah (S.W.T.) Has blessed him with. Abdullah,
then, said: I said to this man: This is what got you to paradise." (Reported
by Imam Ahmad with authentic chain of narrators.)[3]
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Part 3: Greed
Greed is another disease of the heart, and it
is also gives harm to the owner and so his religion. It will brings
disappointment, sickness, and depression. Greed is often associated with the
matters of money, wealth and pleasure. And it is one of the bad manners that
leads to various evils and sins. Greed is selfish and uncontrolled desire.
Amir al-Muminin (as)
said: "Know with certainty that you cannot achieve your desire and cannot
exceed your destined life. You are on the track of those before you. Therefore,
be humble in seeking and moderate in earning because often seeking leads to
deprivation. Every seeker of livelihood does not get it, nor is everyone who is
moderate in seeking deprived."
And there were also a
saying, ‘A greedy man will always find himself in the shackles of humility’
Greed will make a man always keeps his eyes on others wealth. This is branch of
worldly love. Which he will feel unsatisfied with the blessing that what Allah
has granted to the others. There are many poor peoples who do not have enough
foods to eat, yet they still never look at others wealth.But there were so many
millionaires, who have lots of money and still greedy. In a hadith, Rasulullah
has told us, that muslim should prevent himself from being greedy, as greedy is
actually the great poverty.
We should keep greed
away from us, because it will low down the value of man in the sight of God.
And greed will make us to be an ungrateful person and which contrary with what
islam has taught us.
To cure this illness,
one should look of its harm. He should notice, where did greed has lead most of
the people. One should also read from the history and ponder over it where history
told us, like the story of certain authority people who were greedy and then
end up fell in the eyes of society. One should also think deeply into the might
of the Lord of the worlds only one God and believe that He has power over
everything.
The greedy cares only
for collecting fortunes without stopping in any limits.Whenever he has achieve
a goal, he works for achieving another. Furthermore, greed takes to the slips
of sinful matters that produce problematic situations in the world to come. It
also hinders from doing charity. Treatment of Greed according to Imam Jafar
Sadiq Aleh Salam , "I guarantee for
the moderate that he will not see poverty." Allahu ‘Alam.
[1] http://www.livingislam.org/m/ami_e.html
[2] Surah Al-Mutaffifin, verse 26
[3] http://islam1.org/khutub/Envy_D_Disease.htm
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Bibliography
Book Referrence :
The heart of Islam.Enduring Values for humanity, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Harper one Publisher 2002, First edition.
Psychology of
Personality in Islamic Perspective,
Amber Haque and Yasien Mohamed, Cencage Learning Asia ptd Ltd 2009
Getting control
of your anger, Robetr Allan, PH.D with Donna Blass, The
McGraw-hill publisher 2006
Islamic
Political Ethics.Edited by:
Sohail H.Hashmi.With a foreword by: Jack Miles. Publisher: Princeton University
Press, New Jersey.
Website
Referrene:
28.03.2011
Year 2, Diploma in Islamic Studies
Institute of higher learning al-Zuhri
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