ANGER and FORGIVENESS
Greed is said to be one of the innate natures of man. Greed is said to move more people to compete for a lot less number of available and winnable spots. Modern economic, political, social and religious rivals promote this in the spirit of competitiveness. Belief in such survival of the fittest makes the winner boast of victory and moves him to arrogance. The loser is angry and the results range from self-pity to destruction of life, liberty and property.
The most commendable solution is provided in the Holy Qor-aan. The solution breaks the vicious circle of greed, win, loss, anger and the resulting retaliation. The solution is laid in reasonable details in Soorah Aale-Imran Chapter #3, verses 131-135. I lived in the competitive mode all working 80 years of my life as a lawyer or businessman. I never found any alternative to thwart,the aforesaid sequence of events better than as follows.
The 003:131 to 135 has been translated as follows. Some interpretive notes follow.
- 131. Listen believers, do not hungrily eat up the usury (*a), doubled and quadrupled (= with multiple additions). Instead, avoid angering Allah (= be God-fearing, pious and righteous) so that you can be successful (*b).
- 132. And fear the fire that has been prepared for the ungrateful (= the disbeliever; the non-believers; those who reject the faith).
- 133. And obey Allah and follow the messenger so that you have His mercy.
- 134. And hurry (= be quick in the race and hasten) in seeking forgiveness from your God the Provident and the paradise that stretches over heavens and earth (*c) and has been prepared for those who avoid angering Allah (= by becoming God-fearing, pious or righteous)
- 135. Those who spend in prosperity and adversity (*d) and suppress their anger(*e) and forgive (*f) people. Indeed Allah loves those who show kindness (= do good).
- 136. And those that when they do anything to be ashamed of (= foul deed) or wrong themselves they remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins (= wrongdoing). And who can forgive except Allah? And then on they never repeat what they did knowingly (= intentionally, obstinately or stubbornly persist in repeating it) (*g)
(*a) Eating/devouring exponentially multiplied interest though legalized by Christians was prohibited by Moses (Exod 22:25; Lev. 25:36, 37; Deut 23: 19,20) – Malik Ghulam Farid in his Note # 477. Its prohibition in Islaam has been repeated in verses 002:276 to 002:281. The previous “verse spoke of forgiveness even to enemies. If such mercy is granted by God to erring sinners, how much more is incumbent on us, poor sinners to refrain from oppressing our fellow-beings in need, in matters of mere material and ephemeral wealth? Usury is the opposite extreme of charity, unselfishness, striving and giving of ourselves in the service of God and of fellow men” – Yusuf Ali in his Note #450.
(*b) “Real prosperity consists not in greed but in giving – the giving of ourselves and our substance in the cause of God and God’s truth and in the service of God’s creatures” – Yusuf Ali in his Note #451.
(*c) 1. Immense vastness. 2. Price or value of a thing in a form other than money. 3. Breadth or width – Aqrab). Malik Ghulam Farid used it to categorically contradict the argument “… that commerce and trade cannot be carried without interest” in his Notes # 479 and 479A. “Our spiritual felicity covers not merely this or that part of our being, but all life and all existence. Who can measure its width, or length, or breadth?” – Yusuf Ali in his Note #452
(*d) “So far from grasping material wealth, they give freely of themselves and their substance not only when they are well-off and it is easy for them to do so, but also when they are in difficulties for other people may be in difficulties at the same time. They do not get ruffled in adversity or get angry when other people behave badly or their own good plans fail” – Yusuf Ali in his Note #452.
(*e) The word Afw is pronounced as U-foow-woon. It is the forgiveness personified.
The Holy Prophet s.a.w is reported to have offered the following prayer very frequently during the month of Ramadhan and thus underscored the real significance of forgiveness.
“God, you are the Afw; You love Afw; please grant me Afw.” –
Malik Ghulam Farid in his Note #481 stated Afw to express the following two meanings. “In the first stage a believer when offended against restrain and suppresses his anger. In the second stage he goes a step further and grants forgiveness and free pardon to the offender.”
(*f) ‘Afw’ is the quality that obliterates from the mind so that one forgets totally the offenses, sins and wrongs committed by him, as well as by others to him.
(*g) Chaudhry Azam Ali used to say that “If you do a wrong, have the courage to admit it and stand the consequence so that you do not have pay for it in the hereafter.”
Malik Ghulam Farid in his Note #482 said as follows: “When good men happen to be guilty of a moral lapse, they do not seek to justify their conduct but frankly confess their guilt and try to reform.”
Anger and Forgiveness – per 003:135
ANGER and FORGIVENESS
Greed is said to be one of the innate natures of man. Greed is said to move more people to compete for a lot less number of available and winnable spots. Modern economic, political, social and religious rivals promote this in the spirit of competitiveness. Belief in such survival of the fittest makes the winner boast of victory and moves him to arrogance. The loser is angry and the results range from self-pity to destruction of life, liberty and property.
The most commendable solution is provided in the Holy Qor-aan. The solution breaks the vicious circle of greed, win, loss, anger and the resulting retaliation. The solution is laid in reasonable details in Soorah Aale-Imran Chapter #3, verses 131-135. I lived in the competitive mode all working 80 years of my life as a lawyer or businessman. I never found any alternative to thwart,the aforesaid sequence of events better than as follows.
The 003:131 to 135 has been translated as follows. Some interpretive notes follow.
(*a) Eating/devouring exponentially multiplied interest though legalized by Christians was prohibited by Moses (Exod 22:25; Lev. 25:36, 37; Deut 23: 19,20) – Malik Ghulam Farid in his Note # 477. Its prohibition in Islaam has been repeated in verses 002:276 to 002:281. The previous “verse spoke of forgiveness even to enemies. If such mercy is granted by God to erring sinners, how much more is incumbent on us, poor sinners to refrain from oppressing our fellow-beings in need, in matters of mere material and ephemeral wealth? Usury is the opposite extreme of charity, unselfishness, striving and giving of ourselves in the service of God and of fellow men” – Yusuf Ali in his Note #450.
(*b) “Real prosperity consists not in greed but in giving – the giving of ourselves and our substance in the cause of God and God’s truth and in the service of God’s creatures” – Yusuf Ali in his Note #451.
(*c) 1. Immense vastness. 2. Price or value of a thing in a form other than money. 3. Breadth or width – Aqrab). Malik Ghulam Farid used it to categorically contradict the argument “… that commerce and trade cannot be carried without interest” in his Notes # 479 and 479A. “Our spiritual felicity covers not merely this or that part of our being, but all life and all existence. Who can measure its width, or length, or breadth?” – Yusuf Ali in his Note #452
(*d) “So far from grasping material wealth, they give freely of themselves and their substance not only when they are well-off and it is easy for them to do so, but also when they are in difficulties for other people may be in difficulties at the same time. They do not get ruffled in adversity or get angry when other people behave badly or their own good plans fail” – Yusuf Ali in his Note #452.
(*e) The word Afw is pronounced as U-foow-woon. It is the forgiveness personified.
The Holy Prophet s.a.w is reported to have offered the following prayer very frequently during the month of Ramadhan and thus underscored the real significance of forgiveness.
“God, you are the Afw; You love Afw; please grant me Afw.” –
Malik Ghulam Farid in his Note #481 stated Afw to express the following two meanings. “In the first stage a believer when offended against restrain and suppresses his anger. In the second stage he goes a step further and grants forgiveness and free pardon to the offender.”
(*f) ‘Afw’ is the quality that obliterates from the mind so that one forgets totally the offenses, sins and wrongs committed by him, as well as by others to him.
(*g) Chaudhry Azam Ali used to say that “If you do a wrong, have the courage to admit it and stand the consequence so that you do not have pay for it in the hereafter.”
Malik Ghulam Farid in his Note #482 said as follows: “When good men happen to be guilty of a moral lapse, they do not seek to justify their conduct but frankly confess their guilt and try to reform.”
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