The Limits

Now, after the eagle and the hawk, it's time for the mighty, the garuda, to come forward. After saying the salaam, he delivered the opening kalimah, "All praise is due to Allah, we praise Him, seek His Support, Guidance and Forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah, from the evils of our selves and from our misdeeds. He whom Allah guides, will never be misguided by anyone and he whom Allah misguides, will never be guided by anyone. I testify that there is no deity but Allah Alone, having no partner, and I testify that Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) is His Servant and Messenger.

O believers, fear Allah, and speak words hitting the mark, and He will set right your deeds for you and will forgive your sins. Whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ), has won a mighty triumph. And fear Allah as He should be feared, and see you do not die, save as Muslims. The truest discourse is the Qur’an, the most noble of traditions is the Prophet Muhammad’s (ﷺ), the most evil of things is their novelties, every novelty is a bid’a, every bid’a is a dhalala [act of misguidance], and every dhalala is in Fire!"

"Amma ba'du!" then he said,

The Mountains told me, do not go up, do not go up!

But my feet were headed to the wet streams in heart of the mountains

The Mountains told me, do not go on, do not go on!

But my feet were headed to the muddy streams in heart of the mountains

I want to live like a single gust of wind and go

Like the wind travels through mountains, clouds and tears

He continued, "There was a seeker, who had walked a long way, until he came to a closed door. He knocked on the door, a voice said, "Please come in!" The seeker looked doubtful, but slowly, he opened the door.

A spacious, white room, he found behind the door. In the middle, there was a man, the healer, sitting in a rocking chair. The seeker drew near, they looked at each other, the healer smiled. The seeker greets with a salaam.

The seeker stayed around, there were no windows, there were only two closed doors, one, the one he had passed, and the other, he did not know which way to go if he passed. He looked at the healer, as if asking.

Shaking his chair, the healer said, "O human! The closed door is the limit, and behind the closed door, you will find nothing but a destruction. Listen to this story, 'A Wolf meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea, which should justify to the Lamb himself his right to eat him. He thus addressed him, 'Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me.''Indeed,' bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, 'I was not then born.' Then said the Wolf, 'You feed in my pasture.'

'No, good sir,' replied the Lamb, 'I have not yet tasted grass.' Again said the Wolf, 'You drink of my well.'

'No,' exclaimed the Lamb, 'I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me.' On which the Wolf seized him, and ate him up, saying, 'Well! I won't remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations.' The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.

Man has several muses, among which there are the muses of innate faith and temporal self-interest. If the muse of temporal self-interest triumphs, the reproachful soul intervenes to redress the balance. However, if the soul were devilish, it demands the fulfillment of pleasure, because it is a soul that incites man to do evil. But, if it complies with Allah’s Law and does what Allah commands, then it is a peaceful soul. The person who wrongs himself is the one who pursues the desires of his soul, giving it a temporal enjoyment, and therefore, expects a deferred misery. Therefore, by doing so, he has wronged himself.

One is unjust to himself by harbouring a temporal pleasure for it, and thus; causing it a permanent misery. As a result, man finds himself in a strange situation, because he has embroiled his self in an eternal misery through an ephemeral pleasure. Injustice to the self is one of the most distressing forms of injustice, and is there any person with a sound mind who disobeys Allah by not executing His commands and by committing the forbidden?

A person with a sound mind would not do that, because he knows that, apparently, there is a fulfillment of a desire, but, deeply, there is an involvement of the self in misery. For example, sleeping without observing prayers means an apparent fulfillment of a sleeping desire for his self, but means an isolation of the self from Allah. Similarly, if one drinks alcohol, he would think that he has fulfilled a desire for himself; whereas, in reality, he has wronged himself by involving it in an enormous misery. When one wrongs himself, he does feel secure towards it.

O human! Injustice entails the involvement of two parties: the unjust and one to whom injustice has been done. But in the case of being unjust to the self, who is the unjust? And who is the party to which injustice has been done?

The self, refers to the presence of soul in matter, and it is this union which gives the soul the character of peacefulness, the character of evildoing, or the character of reproach. The convergence of soul and matter, produces the human soul. Prior to this convergence, the soul would, by nature, be good, and the substance is subdued according to the will of its subduer. I am saying this so that nobody would argue that there is a materialistic life and a spiritual life, and that the materialistic life is evil, and the spiritual life is good. Arguably, the matter is, generally, good, obedient, subjugated, worshipping and glorifying; and so is the soul.

Corruption arises when the soul meets with the matter. At this interaction, there comes the principle of choice. A mature person, legally responsible for his actions, would be told, 'Are you satisfied with Allah’s Law? Or are you going to vacillate between the reproachful soul and satisfaction? Or are you going to indulge in disobedience of Allah O and have an evil soul?' This variation comes at the convergence of soul and matter.

Which does wrong when the soul and matter meet? It is desire which wrongs the soul in an act of disobedience. This is to say that the wrongdoer fulfils a desire for his soul by committing a sin, but, in reality, he burdens his soul.

There is a difference between committing a wrong in order to fulfill a desire, for one’s self committing a wrong in order to fulfill a desire for someone else’s self. Committing an act of indecency is something, and wronging the self is a different matter. Committing an act of indecency may be a momentary enjoyment for the soul. However, one who has wronged himself for the sake of fulfilling someone else’s desire, cannot be said to have brought enjoyment to himself; he has wronged it. He has not given his self the short-lived desire in this life nor protected it from the torment of the Hereafter.

O human! Generally, Zulm is like Al-Jawr (oppression): a form of aggression, coercion, subjugation or devaluation of importance. The antonym of Zulm is Al-Insaf (justice), just as the antonym of Al-Jawr (oppression) is Al-‘Adl (justice). Az-Zulm is, therefore, injustice, and when one does injustice to himself, he would, then, be wronged by himself and unjust towards it. Wronging one’s self is the worst forms of injustice. The soul which Allah honoured and created deserves to be guarded by man, who should achieve what Allah W wants from it, and prevent any relentless desire which incurs Allah’s wrath, from reaching it.

Man may be both a wrongdoer and wronged at the same time. This is because people wrong their selves, and the human soul possesses the muses of immediate or temporal interest and muses of desires and fantasies; which compete with one another. If you have done wrong and reproached your self and performed a good deed, then you are a person with a reproachful soul. If your soul is used to doing evil and indulging in desires, then you are a person with an evil soul. If your soul succumbs to Allah, then you are a person with a peaceful soul. It is the evil soul which has violated people’s rights and wronged them, and it, at the same time, wronged itself by giving it a temporal enjoyment and goading it into a permanent wretchedness.

O human! If Zulm (injustice) means usurping somebody’s right; that is, what he/she has earned legally, then Az-Zalim (the wrongdoer) wrongfully and with hostility takes what the other has sweated for. This stops the activity of life, because given that I work and other takes my fruits unlawfully is the result of work, then I am not going to work. Moreover, when the wrongdoer does wrong, he not only takes unlawfully the right of the other, but mislead other powerful people like him to usurp the rights of the weak and wrong them. As a result, injustice prevails, and if it prevails in a society, then it would give rise to unemployment and paralyses the flow of the entire life.

Therefore, the wrongdoer takes more than his right, lies to others, wrong and usurp their rights. However, even if he were to take all that is in the present life, and would like on the Day of Judgment ransom himself with it against the torment of that Day, it would not be accepted from him. But why? This is because he has transgressed the limits, wronged and lied to people.

If the all punishment had been postponed for the Hereafter, then injustice would have prevailed among people and across the entire universe. A person who does not believe in the Hereafter, would lark about as he pleases. For this reason, it was necessary to set up a punishment for his actions in this life, which would draw people’s attention to Allah’s control over His Universe. The punishment of the wrongdoer would also set a lesson for others. Yet, the serious punishment still awaits him in the Hereafter.

O human! Allah forbids us lean on the wrongdoers, because if you incline towards the wrongdoer and believed in him, he would involve you with him. But if you keep away from him and do not lean on him, he would feel that you lean on a strong base. Therefore, do not lean on him until he understands that you have confidence in Allah and His Ability to take on the wrongdoer. At that time, he would feel weakened. One of the evils of the present life is leaning on the wrongdoers and helping them in their wrongdoing. He who does so does not notice that Allah is capable to cause the collapse of the wrongdoer and of all his tyranny and power. And one of the sign of the collapse of the wrongdoer, is the epidemy. And Allah knows best."

Garuda was silent, then said,

The Mountains told me, forget it, forget it!

But my feet were headed to the wet streams in heart of the mountains

The Mountains told me, go down, go down!

Pushing my tired sholder as I can't bear the weight of something I couldn't understand

But my feet were headed to the muddy streams in heart of the mountains

I want to live like a single gust of wind and go

Like the wind travels through mountains, clouds and tears

References :
- Muhammad Mutawalli Shaarawi, Oppression and the Oppressors, Translated by Chafik Abdelghani, Al-Firdous
- Rev. Geo. Fyler Townsend, M.A., Aesop Fables, George Routledge and Sons

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