The World Of Soul
Fraternal ties. Kinship of the whole mankind
There is no reason for hostility, hatred, dissociation and estrangement between people. Using logic and overcoming personal selfishness, we can find many reasons for creating an integrated, solid and united society, where all its members would preserve their identity and individuality and the country would be ruled by wise governors, propagating love[1] and mutual respect. Cultivating these qualities among people will lead any society to security, peace and high morale.
The Lord of the world sent down the Holy Qur’an, the last Scripture, where He draws the attention of mankind to first people – Adam and Eve, reminding people of the “meeting place", where their fraternal ties will interlace, become stronger and closer: "Men, We [The Lord say “We", indicating His greatness, and by no means plurality"] have created you from a male and a female and divided you into nations and tribes [there is no wonder that you belong to different nationalities and cultures. This is God’s order. And you were created different in order] that you might get to know one another [study foreign languages, cultures, meet foreign people][2]. The noblest of you in Allah’s sight is he who fears[3] Him most. Allah is wise and all-knowing".[4]
It is friendly relations, mutual respect, but not mutual hatred and hostility that are the basis of human relationships. Yes, sometimes there arise certain obstacles in this aspect. Struggle for higher position, social status, titles and material welfare often deprive people of mutual understanding, respect; they no longer realize that they live among people, the best creatures of the Lord, that are the noblest in His insight.
Yes, of course, people may have different views on the notion of truth. They may put forward different interpretations of what is good and evil, which may result in disputes, and even quarrels and wars. But Prophet Mohammed, as many thousands of Allah’s messengers, who had been sent forth before, said: "Do not show anger towards each other, do not quarrel with each other, do not envy each other and be brothers to each other".[5]
One Muslim scholar has wisely stated: "If you put to prison those, whose opinions differ from yours, it means, that a wall (with barbed wire) is erected in your head. If you sentence people, who do not agree with you, to death by hanging, it means that you have a gibbet instead of reason. But if you exchange your opinions with another person, if you try to convince him of your point of view, and at the same time agree with him in his statements, you listen to the voice of your reason, which serves you properly".[6]
Despite many negative events, troubles and disasters of our everyday life, it is important to remember that all people have the same origin[7]. Accordingly they should proceed from this principle and build their life on Earth together. Everyone, irrespective of nationality, citizenship, confession or worldview, should make their contribution to the establishment of love and harmony on Earth.
Building and improving life, one should always bear in mind that (1) every man enjoys a high position in Allah’s insight: "We have bestowed blessings on Adam’s children!";[8] as well as (2) every man is very close to the Creator: "We created man. We know the promptings of his soul, and get closer to him than his cervical artery [We, Allah says, are closer to man than he himself is]".[9]
At the same time man shouldn’t exaggerate his significance or humiliate other people. The Qur’an and Hadith often warn against the sinfulness of such behaviour. For example: "All of you are the children of Adam and Eve. Adam was created out of soil. So may people no longer boast of their forefathers [may they stop enumerating the achievements of their kin, tribes or nations], otherwise they will become in Allah’s insight [because of their pride and boasting of other people’s successes] even lower in status than a dung-beetle".[10]
It is not the colour of your skin, or your citizenship or nationality that matter, but your personality, your moral values and achievements.
Great imam ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib (cousin of the Prophet) said about fourteen centuries ago:
People are equal as sculptures
Their father is Adam, and their mother is Eve.
The mothers of mankind are similar to vessels – containers (of children),
Whereas the fathers determine noble origin.
And if parents have any achievements, children are proud of them,
Although they (children) are nothing but clay and water.[11]
True honour and dignity (merits) are typical of learned[12] men,
They are the indicators of the right path for those, who ask them for it.
The true value of man is in his skills,[13]
Whereas ignorant people are hostile towards the bearers of knowledge.
Devote yourself to science (knowledge) and cherish it!
Crowd is dead, whereas learned people are alive.[14]
Let us turn to the notion of fraternity. It is important to differentiate between fanatic and religious understanding of fraternity. First: “My brothers are those who think in the same way as I do, all the others are my enemies". Those who share this opinion, often fail to associate with other people, especially with those who follow other principles, operate with other categories, who do not share their views and opinions.
Whereas the religious understanding of fraternity is as follows: "We are all humans. We are free in the choice of views and actions. The Creator wished the birth of everyone of us. Living in this world, we face the tests, sent down by the Lord. Relations between people, their attitude towards each other also puts them to serious test[15].[16] We shall all return to the Lord of the worlds and everyone of us will answer for his/her deeds".
“On that day mankind will come in broken bands to be shown their labours [everyone, who has ever lived on Earth, will see the final result of their faith, words, deeds and actions]. Whoever has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it, and whoever has done an atom’s weight of evil shall see it also".[17]
The Qur'anic culture of communication between the bearers of different ideals
“Do not revile the idols which they invoke besides Allah [the Lord of the creation, He is Unique and Eternal], lest in their ignorance they should spitefully revile Allah. We[18] have planned the actions of all men [we have provided them with the freedom of choice. Man has an inclination both to good and evil. Human intellect, psyche and nature are flexible and sensitive]. To their Lord they [irrespective of nationality, confession or convictions] will return [on the Day of Judgement], and He will declare to them all that they have done".[19]
Prophet Mohammed (let peace and Allah’s blessing be upon him) said: "He who believes in Allah and the imminence of the Day of Judgement, should either speak good or keep silence!"[20]
Only during the epoch of global integration and close international and individual cooperation and partnership such discipline as rhetoric has formulated some of the principles which Prophet Mohammed declared as far back as fourteen centuries ago. Thus, rhetoric highlights the following postulate: "You can speak only to the people whom you treat in a friendly manner. Ideally, the man who irritates you cannot be the object of your speech.
It is impossible to conceal or control the unconscious. Whatever we may speak to another man about, whether we wish it or not, we simultaneously let him know of our attitude towards him.
The second reason why we shouldn’t communicate with the people whom we don’t like, is of moral character – we shouldn’t do evil to other people. It will be undoubtedly requited of us. You should always show positive and warm feelings to people around.
We should treat the interlocutor as Allah’s Apostle, with love and respect".[21]
Due to the friendly attitude of people towards the outer world, the sermons of God’s prophets and apostles have spread throughout the Earth and influenced the hearts and conscience of many nations.
[1] “You can love only what you know”. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), architect, engineer, sculptor.
[2] The scholars of the Center for brain research of California University have established: people who have received higher education, for the whole life engaged in mental pursuits, have longer dendrites than people of manual work. Dendrites are branchy shoots of nerve-cells that obtain and analyze information coming from brain. It is possible to “grow” dendrites, for example engaging oneself in an interesting or extraordinary activity. One can learn a foreign language, for example, get familiar with the cultures of other nations. Studying forein languages and cultures is extremely useful for the development of the intellectual potential of human brain. By the way, it has been proved that we use our brain’s activity only for 5-10 percent, that is we are bound by our physical nature, every-day fuss and we rarely seek to remove blinkers from the eyes.
Blinkers – 1. Pieces of leather that are placed at the side of a horse’s eyes to stop it from looking sideways. 2. Something that hinders somebody to understand or perceive outer reality properly; narrow-mindedness.
The comprehensive explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. Saint-Petersburg: Norint, 2000, p. 1503.
[3] What is piety? Man is pious if he observes rites, guards himself and keeps away from the prohibited. But it is impossible to define piety, to weigh it or to measure. “Piety is here”,- said Prophet Mohammed pointing at his chest.
Hadith from Abu Hurayra; the holy ahadith from Muslim. See, for example: An-Nawawi Y. Sahih muslim bi sharh an-nawawi [The ahadith collection of imam Muslim with the comment of imam an-Nawawi]: 10 volumes, 18 parts, Beirut: al-Kutub al-‘ilmiya, the 8th volume, part 16, p. 121, hadith ¹ (2564) 32.
[4] See: the Holy Qur’an, 49: 13.
[5] Hadith from Anas and Abu Hurayra; the holy ahadith from al-Bukhari and others. See, for example: Al-‘Askalani A. Fath al-bari bi sharh sahih al-bukhari [The help from the Creator (for man in the understanding of the new) through the comment on the ahadith collection of al-Bukhari]: 18 volumes, Beirut: al-Fiqr, 1996, the 12th volume, p. 102, ahadith ¹ 6064, 6065.
See, also: Al-Benna A. (known as as-Sa’ati). Al-Fath ar-rabbani li tartib musnad al-imam ahmad ibn hanbal ash-shaybani. The 10th volume, part 19, p. 238, 239, ahadith ¹ 110-117.
[6] The words of Mustafa Sadyk ar-Rafi’i. See: Al-Hudoybi H. Du’atun la kudo [Those who call, but do not judge]. Cairo: At-tawsi’ wa an-nashr, p.8.
[7] “Men, have fear of your Lord, who created you from a single soul. From that soul He created its mate [that is the Lord created Adam and Eve, who were the origin of mankind], and through them [Adam and Eve] He bestrewed the earth with countless men and women.
Fear Allah, in whose name you plead with one another, and honour the mothers who bore you. Allah is ever watching you [your intentions, words, actions and deeds]” (the Holy Qur’an, 4: 1).
[8] See: the Holy Qur’an, 17: 70.
[9] See: the Holy Qur’an, 50: 16.
[10] Hadith from Huzeyfa; the holy ahadith from al-Barraz. See, for example: As-Suyuty Dj. Al-djami’ as-sagyr [The concise volume]. Beirut: al-Kutub al-‘ilmiya, 1990, p. 396, hadith ¹ 6368, “hassan”.
[11] “Only clay and water”, that is they do not have any significance as such.
It should be born in mind that imam ‘Ali came from a very old family, and his children were the grandchildren of Prophet Mohammed (let peace and Allah's blessing be upon him). At the same time he emphasized that the merits of the family or parents do not give the right to the child to become conceited. The child must grow up and become a man worthy of general respect.
[12] Those who are well educated and are good at the issues of morale, who keep cognizing themselves, meet other people, study their languages and cultures. Those who cognize the outer world through studying various sciences, also cognize Him Who created all this in full harmony and perfection.
[13] For example, in his ability to do something well and professionally, be it deep knowledge in a certain branch of science, or good skills in a certain handicraft.
[14] See: Al-Karam A. Diwan amir al-mu’minin al-imam ‘ali ibn talib. P.7.
[15] “You can love a man who is dear to you with human love, but only for an enemy you can feel divine love” L.N. Tolstoy.
[16] ] “[Had Allah willed, He could Himself have punished them; but He has ordained it thus] that He might test you, the one by the other. [Actually it is the relations between people in many different situations show the true essence of man, whether he is a bad or a noble person. And all this (our words, addressed to one another, our behaviour, reactions, attitude towards each other) will be an illustrative example for us to realize the correctness of God’s verdict that will be passed on everyone of us on the Day of Judgement]“ (The Holy Qur’an, 47: 4).
[17] See: the Holy Qur’an, 99: 6-8.
[18] The pronoun “We” indicates the greatness of the Lord, but by no means His plurality.
[19] See: the Holy Qur’an, 6: 108. See also: az-Zuhayli W. At-tafsir al-munir. The 7th volume, p. 322-328.
[20] Hadith from Abu Hurayra: the holy ahadith from al-Bukhari and others. See, for example: Al-’Askalani A. (773-852 A.H.). Fath al-bari bi sharh sahih al-bukhari [The help from the Creator (for man in the understanding of the new) through the comment on the ahadith collection of al-Bukhari]: 18 volumes, Beirut: al-Fiqr, 1996, the 13th volume, p. 101, ahadith ¹ 6475, 6476.
[21] Zaretskaya E.N. Theory and practice of speech communication. Moscow: Delo, 2002, p. 11-15.
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