The Divine Education Model in the Family of the Prophets (Part 16)
Lesson Three: The Believer Responds to Evil with Goodness
A believer should not respond to his brother’s threat with a similar threat. Also, it is necessary that he should not counter evil with evil and not act with more ignorance than his enemy; rather, his response should be gentle and calm, and he should respond to evil with goodness and immorality with faith. He should go beyond falsehood and evil and be greater than the ignorant. Allah the Exalted has truly said: “وَلَا تَسْتَوِي الْحَسَنَةُ وَلَا السَّيِّئَةُ ادْفَعْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ فَإِذَا الَّذِي بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَهُ عَدَاوَةٌ كَأَنَّهُ وَلِيٌّ حَمِيمٌ * وَمَا يُلَقَّاهَا إِلَّا الَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا وَمَا يُلَقَّاهَا إِلَّا ذُو حَظٍّ عَظِيمٍ[1]” Translation: “Goodness and evil are not equal (never respond to evil with evil, and ugliness with ugliness. Rather, respond to the evil and ugliness of others) in the most beautiful and best way, and the result of this will be that the one between whom there was enmity will suddenly become like a close friend. This character (and great character) will not be attained except by those who are patient and steadfast, and it will not be attained except by those who have a great share (of faith, piety, and praiseworthy morals).”
The main motivation for being characterized by all the mentioned cases must be the fear of Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. This fear stems from sincere faith, from caring for Allah the Almighty, and from the desire to earn His reward and eagerness for His pleasure.
This fear of Allah the Glorious, which stems from faith in Him, is the valve of confidence in the lives of individuals and societies. This fear is a powerful and reliable deterrent that prevents individuals from oppressing and violating others, and thus, security, tranquility, stability and peace prevail in societies. Therefore, it is obligatory on educators, thinkers, fathers and mothers to educate the young generation and individuals to fear Allah Almighty, to care for Him and to be eager for His pleasure in order to obtain reward and avoid His punishment, so that they adhere to the truth and avoid falsehood.
Lesson Four: Removing evil motives from the heart of the transgressor
A believer must soften his heart in the face of a believer who intends to violate him and arouse the meanings of brotherhood and forgiveness in his being. He must remove the temptations of Satan from himself and eliminate the motives of transgression in his being, just as the believing son of Adam treated his brother who said to him: “I will surely kill you.”
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also instructed the fasting person to do the same and said: “When one of you is fasting, he should not speak obscenely or shout, and if someone insults him or fights with him, he should say: “I am a fast.[2]” Also, the believer should use all the good means available to repel aggression and prevent the aggressor from what he intends to do, as Allah Almighty says: “وَادْفَعْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ[3]” Translation: “Respond in the most beautiful and best way.”
However, he should protect his life with all his might and in every way possible so that he does not throw himself into destruction, because Allah Almighty says: «وَلَا تُلْقُوا بِأَيْدِيكُمْ إِلَى التَّهْلُكَةِ[4]» Translation: “And do not throw yourselves into destruction with your hands”.
But at the same time, he does not resort to killing, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) warned Muslims against it and said: “Whenever two Muslims face each other with their swords, both the killer and the victim will be in the Fire.” They said: O Messenger of Allah, the killer is known, but why the victim? He said: Because he was also eager to kill his friend”[5].
However, if a non-believer intends to violate the believers, harm them, fight and kill them, the believers must also use all available means to neutralize the opportunity of this aggressor. If this is not effective, they must repel evil with what is appropriate for it so that they are not exposed to oppression and violation by others and disasters do not increase. In this regard, Allah, the Exalted, says: «وَلَوْلَا دَفْعُ اللَّهِ النَّاسَ بَعْضَهُم بِبَعْضٍ لَّفَسَدَتِ الْأَرْضُ[6]» Translation: “And if Allah did not repel some people by means of others, corruption would have spread throughout the earth, but Allah is full of grace and blessing to the worlds”.
But it may be said that sometimes a person is too weak to be able to repel evil effectively. This is a great mistake and indicates a lack of trust in Allah Almighty and a weakness of faith. Because a Muslim should not take a passive stance against threats that intend to harm him, but should act actively against any incident or threat. Therefore, it is better for him to try with all his might to keep evil away from himself, his religion, his country and his society, regardless of the harm that may come to him in this way. Because this is more honorable and valuable for him than giving in and being weak in the face of threats or hints of using violence or force, because giving in and being weak often encourages the oppressors to go too far in their oppression of the people. This disrupts the security and stability of peaceful nations and societies and inflames and awakens sedition. The same trials that Allah Almighty has commanded us to avoid and says: “وَاتَّقُوا فِتْنَةً لَّا تُصِيبَنَّ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنكُمْ خَاصَّةً[7]” Translation: “Keep yourselves away from a calamity that will not befall those who wronged you alone.”
Lesson Five: The Psychological Roots of Crime in the Light of the Quran
Crime usually begins with an internal conflict; therefore, reformers must strengthen the positive aspects in order to prevent its occurrence. This story refers to the effort that a believing brother makes to soften the heart of his spiteful brother. He tries to arouse a sense of brotherhood and forgiveness in him, to ward off evil temptations, to eliminate the desire to kill, and to awaken in him the meanings of faith, piety, and fear of the punishment of Allah Almighty in the Hereafter. However, the spiteful man does not respond positively to these sincere efforts and insists on carrying out his plan to kill. He proceeds towards committing a crime with the same sense of hatred and dark thoughts, until he commits the crime and kills his brother.
The Holy Quran describes this stage before the murder with an amazing and miraculous sentence: “فَطَوَّعَتْ لَهُ نَفْسُهُ قَتْلَ أَخِيهِ فَقَتَلَهُ فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ[8]” Translation: “So his (rebellious) soul gradually made the killing of his brother seem attractive to him and made him determined to kill him, and (finally he did not listen to the call of conscience and) killed him! And he became of the losers (and lost both his faith and his brother)”.
The word (طوّعت) here means to encourage, expand, facilitate and embellish.
Let us continue to examine this Quranic sentence with the approach of analytical psychology and in this way, present a kind of psychological interpretation of the Holy Quran. This perspective can help to gain a deeper understanding of the internal processes that lead to crime and suggest strategies for social reformers to enhance the positive aspects of human beings and prevent such tragedies from occurring.
