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Today's Reminder

March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445

Living The Quran

Yusuf (Joseph)
Chapter 12: Verse 55

Civil Servant
(Joseph) said, "Give me charge of the treasures of the realm; I am trustworthy and competent."

It is important to note here that Joseph, peace be upon him, had pointed out both moral as well as the corporeal qualities that were necessary to qualify him for the post he had agreed to accept. In other words, he was not merely a virtuous and trustworthy man, but was also competent and capable of assuming fully his responsibilities over the state's resources. Moreover Joseph was able to propose himself for a role in public office because there was no other person in Egypt at the time as suitable and qualified for the post as he was. The public interest could only be best served by appointing a strong and honest person to take up the responsibilities that the position demanded.

Seeking leadership or public office is a grave matter if undertaken for reasons of self-aggrandizement and greed for power, privilege or domination. History is replete with the examples of many great nations that have been led to ruin and humiliation by despotic and power-hungry individuals.

Source:
"A Thematic Commentary on the Quran" - Muhammad al-Ghazali, pp. 244-245

From Issue: 475 [Read original issue]

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Patiently Striving

Al-Bukhari narrated it with his sanad to Al-Zubayr Adi. He said: "We came to Anas ibn Malik and we expressed to him our misgivings about what we met from al-Hajjaj. Then he said: 'Be patient!' For indeed there will not come upon you a time except that what is after it is worse than it - until you meet your Lord. I heard it from your Prophet.'"

Some people have taken this hadith to justify sitting back from taking action, from striving to reform, change and deliverance. They have argued that the hadith demonstrates that human affairs are in decline continually, in a permanent falling off, a successive decaying, from one level to another level lower than it; it is not carried from bad except to worse, nor from worse except to what is worse than that, until the Hour stands over the evil ones of the people and all people meet their Lord.

It is our duty to say that the predecessors among our scholars held back from this hadith, regarding its 'generality' as dubious. According to Ibn Hajar: "the referent of the times mentioned is the time of the Companions, on the basis that it is they who were addressed by that [hadith]. Then as for those after them: they were not intended in the report mentioned."

As for the particular claim that the hadith implies an appeal to silence before injustice, patience with abuse of power and tyranny, and contentment with wrongdoing and disorder, and that it supports negativism in the face of the arrogance of the tyrants in the earth - it is rebutted by a number of arguments:

First: that the speaker of "Be patient!" was Anas. He inferred what he understood from the Prophet, peace be upon him. And a Muslim is free to adopt or leave the discourse of every individual except the one who was free of sin.

Second: Anas indeed did not command people to be content before injustice and disorder, but only commanded them to be patient - and the difference between the two is great. Contentment before unbelief is itself unbelief, and before wrongdoing wrongdoing. As for patience, it is all but indispensable; one is patient with a thing that one is averse to, while endeavouring to change it.

Third: One who does not have the capacity for resistance to injustice and tyranny, has no way other than to seek refuge in patience and long suffering. At the same time he must strive to make preparations for appropriate action, for change, and to seize means and occasions, to take help from all who share his burden of concern.

Fourth: patience does not forbid one from speaking the word of truth, and enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong before tyrants acting as gods. Yet there is no obligation to do so upon one who fears for himself or his family or those around him.

Thus it is not proper to understand the instruction to be patient as meaning an absolute surrender to injustice and arrogance. Rather: it means waiting and watching attentively until God gives his judgment, and He is the best of judges.

Compiled From:
"Approaching the Sunnah: Comprehension & Controversy" - Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, pp. 84-89

From Issue: 701 [Read original issue]

Blindspot!

Men and Love

Women and men alike in our culture spend very little time encouraging males to learn to love. Even the women who are pissed off at men, women most of whom are not and maybe never will be feminist, use their anger to avoid being truly committed to helping to create a world where males of all ages can know love. Yet, any time a single male dares to transgress patriarchal boundaries in order to love, the lives of women, men, and children are fundamentally changed for the better.

Every day on our television screens and in our nation's newspapers we are brought news of continued male violence at home and all around the world. When we hear that teenage boys are arming themselves and killing their parents, their peers, or strangers, a sense of alarm permeates our culture. Folks want to have answers. They want to know, Why is this happening? Why so much killing by boy children now, and in this historical moment? Yet no one talks about the role patriarchal notions of manhood play in teaching boys that it is their nature to kill, then teaching them that they can do nothing to change this nature - nothing, that is, that will leave their masculinity intact. As our culture prepares males to embrace war, they must be all the more indoctrinated into patriarchal thinking that tells them that is their nature to kill and to enjoy killing. Bombarded by news about male violence, we hear no news about men and love.

To create loving men, we must love males. Loving maleness is different from praising and rewarding males for living up to sexist-defined notions of male identity. Caring about men because of what they do for us is not the same as loving males for simply being. When we love maleness, we extend our love whether males are performing or not. Performance is different from simply being. In patriarchal culture males are not allowed simply to be who they are and to glory in their unique identity. Their value is always determined by what they do. In an antipatriarchal culture men do not have to prove their value and worth. They know from birth that simply being gives them value, the right to be cherished and loved.

I heard from many men around our nation about early childhood feelings of emotional exuberance, of unrepressed joy, of feeling connected to life and to other people, and then a rupture happened, a disconnect, and that feeling of being loved, of being embraced, was gone. Somehow, the test of manhood, men told me, was the willingness to accept this loss, to not speak it even in private grief. Sadly, tragically, these men in great numbers were remembering a primal moment of heartbreak and heartache: the moment that they were compelled to give up their right to feel, to love, in order to take their place as patriarchal men.

Women have believed that we could save the men in our lives by giving them love, that this love would serve as the cure for all the wounds inflicted by toxic assaults on their emotional systems, by the emotional heart attacks they undergo every day. Women can share in this healing process. We can guide, instruct, observe, share information and skills, but we cannot do for boys and men what they must do for themselves. Our love helps, but it alone does not save boys or men. Ultimately boys and men save themselves when they learn the art of loving.

Compiled From:
"The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love" - Bell Hooks, pp. 10-16

From Issue: 1043 [Read original issue]