In this section vices will be
dealt with. As we have explained in the previous sections, the essence of good
nature consists of four main virtues. Similarly, the essence of bad nature
consists of four main vices.
1– Scandal (razâlat) is the opposite of wisdom.
2– Cowardice (jubn) is the opposite of courage (shajâ’at).
3– Debauchery (fujur) is to follow the desires of the nafs and to commit sins. It is
the opposite of chastity (iffat).
4– Tyranny (jawr, zulm) is the opposite of justice.
There are innumerable vices corresponding
conversely to every virtue. For, goodness occupies the medial position. To be
on the right or left of the middle means to have digressed from goodness.
Farther away from the middle way farther away from goodness. There is only one
correct path but there are many aberrant paths. We could even state that there
are infinite deviated paths. Never departing from the right path after finding it
and staying on that path permanently is very difficult. The hundred and twelfth
âyat of Sûra Hûd purports: “Therefore stand firm (in the Straight Path) as thou art
commanded,– ...” (11-112) When this âyat-i-kerîma was
revealed, Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sal-lam’ stated: “Sûra Hûd has caused my beard to turn hoary.”
To stand firm in the straight path as commanded in the âyat-i-kerîma, Prophets ‘alaihim-us-salawât-u-wa-t-taslîmât’, Awliyâ,
and Siddîqs ‘rahimahumullâhu ta’âlâ’ spent their lives in great anxiety. It is
this dread which made the beard of the Best of Entire Creation (Afdal-i-kâinât)
‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi
wa sal-lam’ hoary. It was for this reason, again, that it was stated: “The Bridge of Sirat is
thinner than a hair and sharper than a sword.”
An âyat-i-kerîma in Sûra Fâtiha purports: “Invoke Allâhu ta’âlâ to guide you to the
straight path!” What is primarily incumbent on a Believer
(Mu’min) in this world is to hold fast to the right path. Passing the Bridge of
Sirat on the Day of Rising requires having abided by the right path in this
worldly life.
As is pointed out by the
greatest ones of Awliyâ ‘rahimahumullâhu ta’âlâ’, all the blessings and
torments which the Mukhbir-i-sâdiq, [i.e. Ever-truthful,] stated will be
awaiting in the world to come, are the reflections and manifestations of the
habits, moral attitudes and deeds which mankind acquired and performed in this
world. Abiding by the right path regarding moral behaviour and deeds in this
world, those great masters say, will manifest as the Bridge of Sirat in the
Hereafter. Those who keep on the right path and do not deviate from Islam in
the world will pass the Bridge of Sirat rapidly there, attaining the Heavens of
ma’rifats and perfections and entering the Gardens of good deeds. People who
are slack in their religious responsibilities here will stagger along the
Bridge of Sirat, passing it with difficulty. And those who fail to abide by the
creed and deeds dictated by Islam and who deviate into either direction, will
also fail to pass the Sirat, falling down onto the fire of Hell.
The thirty-sixth âyat of Sûra
Zukhruf purports: “If anyone (follows his nafs and) withdraws himself from serving Allâhu ta’âlâ Most Gracious, We
appoint for him an evil one, to be an intimate companion to him.” (43-36) Some Islamic scholars made the following explanation in
the light of this âyat-i-kerîma: The faculty which prompts pious and good deeds
is produced by an angel, and the one which causes deviation from the medial
path and goads into malice is produced by the devil. On the Rising Day each
person will be accompanied by one of these two creatures. Accordingly,
everybody can visualize their companion on the Rising Day by way of an
assessment of their own worldly habits and deeds.
Two meanings can be understood from the
medial path. The first meaning is, as everybody understands, the exact center
of something, like the center of a circle. The second meaning is the relative
center of something. In other words, it is the center
of
a certain thing. That it is the center of something known, does not mean that
it is the center of everything. The middle or center which is used in the
science of ethics is the second meaning. Hence, virtues vary, depending on
persons, places, and times. Something which is considered as a virtue by one
community might not be recognized as such by another. A habit which is
recognized as a virtue at one time could be recognized as something else at
some later time. Therefore, virtue does not mean being exactly in the middle;
it means being on average, and evil means diverging in either direction from
this average. The hadîth-i-sherîf which reads, “Temperance in all
things is the best of all deeds,” epitomizes what we have
been trying to explain. In that event, there are two vices for each virtue,
which adds to eight main vices to counterbalance four main virtues:
1– Deceitfulness (jarbaza): It is the excessiveness of the wisdom (hikmat). It is the utilization of one’s habits and capacity to
investigate matters in depth in wrong places unnecessarily, e.g., utilizing
them for deceiving others or for scheming, plotting or committing prohibited
actions. Using the scientific powers “intelligence” of the spirit in an
excessive manner is not a vice or deceitfulness. Utilizing one’s power of
investigation excessively to obtain scientific or religious information or
improving in mathematics is a very good deed.
2– Foolishness (balâdat): It means stupidity or not using one’s brain. It is also called
thickheadedness. One who has this habit cannot discriminate between right and
wrong. His learning and reaction will be slow and defective.
3– Rashness (tahawwur): A person with this habit has a quick-temper. It originates from
excessive bravery (shajâ’at) in his constitution.
One with this habit attempts to do things that would not be approved by the
wise and exerts gratuitous pressure on his soul and body.
4– Cowardice (jubn): It is an outcome of inadequate bravery. A person down with this
deficiency acts timidly in situations requiring courage.
5– Debauchery (fujûr) is a kind of excess whereby the limits of chastity (iffat) are exceeded.
6– A person with this excess is
addicted to worldly pleasures and commits excessive actions not approved by
Islam and wisdom.
7– Laziness (humûd) ensues from inadequate power utilized in chastity. A person
having this shortcoming foregoes pleasures allowed by Islam and wisdom. Thus,
he loses physical strength, becomes ill and his family-tree ends with him.
8– Injustice (zulm) means to violate the rights and freedom of others. A person with
this habit violates other people’s rights by stealing their property or by
injuring them physically or by sexual harassment.
9– Indignity: A person having
this inefficiency accepts all dishonorable treatment and oppression. It is
caused by not having enough amount of justice in his constitution. As justice
is an assortment of all sorts of goodness, so does oppression (zulm) contain
all vices. For that reason, some scholars said that things that would not break
others’ heart would not be sinful. For example, Abdullah-i Ansârî ‘quddisa
sirruh’ said,
Couplet:
Never hurt a heart if in the path of Haqq thou art a wayfarer;
Otherwise, of all the wrongdoers thou wilt be the worst offender!
Abdullah-i Ansârî was one of the
greatest scholars of the “Sôfiyya al-aliyya” [a chain of very great Islamic
scholars]. He was the Shaikh ul-Islâm of his time. He was born in 396 (hijrî)
in Herat and passed away in 481 (hijrî) in his birth place [1088 A.D.] Some
aberrant people misunderstood the above couplet. They construed it as a licence
for taking liberty in your personal conduct unless you hurt others, which in
turn enticed them into ceasing from worship and committing all sorts of sins
and, for good measure, boasting for not hurting anyone.
In fact, by saying,
“Go ahead and renege on your faith or to the Kâ’ba set fire,
Or be a wine drinker; yet, as for hurting a heart; Oh never!”
they abandoned Islam. The fact, however, is that all the
prohibitions of Islam are within the meaning of zulm, (which is translated into
English in such terms as tyranny, oppression, etc.). When you do something
which Islam prohibits, it makes no difference whether by doing so you have
harmed only yourself or others as well; everything which is harâm is zulm at
the same time. Oppressors are mostly well-to-do and occupy higher positions.
Most of the oppressed, by contrast, are poor
people. Those who follow the medium way are the ones who try to do
justice.
All the virtues are in average
proportions. Every habit which is in excessive or deficient proportion becomes
a vice. Perhaps many languages do not possess words to describe all the vices.
But, if one contemplates and ponders over them their meaning will become clear.
There are some virtues which are
necessary for human beings to possess. People assume that the more abundance of
them you have the higher will you be in goodness. That is not the case, though.
Every virtue has its limits and beyond those limits virtue turns into a vice.
That it is a vice to have less of a virtue than the amount prescribed by Islam
requires little thought to realize. Examples of this are shajâ’at (courage) and
sahâwat (generosity). Excessive proportions of these two habits are rashness (tahawwur) and spending wastefully (isrâf). Ignorant
people and especially people who are unaware of ethics of Islam think that
spending extravagantly constitutes generosity and thus praise those who do so.
In their view people who are rash and impetuous are brave and courageous. On
the other hand, no one considers a pusillanimous person as brave or a stingy
one as generous.
There are other habits which a person should possess which people think are better when they are possessed in a proportion below average. When they are in excess, however, their wickedness becomes flagrant. A good example of them is humility, which means not having conceit (kibr). If this exists in a less than necessary amount, it constitutes excessive humility (tazallul). It is difficult to discriminate excessive humility (tazallul) from humility. In fact, many people mix humility of a beggar with that of a scholar (’âlim) because freedom from arrogance is their common behaviour. This similarity deludes people’s optimism concerning the beggar’s humility.