.008: Conflict between actions and beliefs
Text of the Hadith:
عن عبد الله بن عمر قال:سمعت رسول الله (صلي الله عليه وآله وسلم)يقول: انما هو خير يرجي، أو شر يتقي، أو باطل عرف فاجتنب ، أو حق يتعين فطلب، و آخرة أظل إقبالها فسعي لها، و دنيا عرف نفادها فأعرض عنها...إن العجب كل العجب لمن صدق بدار البقاء، و هو يسعي لدار الفناء، و عرف أن رضي الله في طاعة، و هو يسعي في مخالفة
English translation:
It has been narrated from `Abdullah ibn `Umar that he said, I heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) say, Surely that which is good is anticipated, or that which is bad is kept away from, or that which is vain is known and avoided, or that which is the truth which is clear and apparent is sought after, and the next life is drawing a near so then it should be worked for, and it is known that (this) world shall come to an end, so then it should be turned away from. Surely that which is amazing and is the most amazing is that person who believes and accepts as being true is that there is an eternal abode, however he is striving and struggling for the abode (of this life) which is transitory and (that person) who acknowledges that surely the pleasure of Allah lies in obedience to Him however he struggles in going against Him.(1)
Commentary of Hadith:
The sentences in this hadith are somewhat complex, however that which can be noted is that in the beginning of his words, the Noble Prophet (blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) wished to discuss the substance of this material world. Then in the continuation of the hadith, he brings up the inconsistencies between the actions and theological beliefs of a person. By this it is meant that the problem with people is not their inability to recognize (Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him)) rather, it is the shortcomings in their (righteous) actions.
The equities of this world are of two types they are either good or bad. If they are good equities, then they are worthy for a person to seek, and if they are bad, then it is better that a person keeps away from them. In other words, there are a series of truths which are recognized and defined and a person too must recognize these and accept them and must realize that without doubt, there is a next life on the road which he is upon, and each and every person is standing at the threshold of the path, and in order to reach to felicity in the next world, he must put forth an effort and struggle.
Everyone realizes that they cannot trust this material world and they know that this world has never been loyal to anyone and is similar to a bride that has made thousands of suitors fail and has never granted anyone their desires and aspirations. (2) Thus, we must try to keep our distance from this material world.
Many times we see that we commit sins and we place the blame of this sin on the shoulders of being ignorant and not knowing better although we do not say that ignorance is not one of the causes of being misled since many of the despicable acts and bad deeds stem from being unaware - however if we were to put this in the balance, we would see that most of the issues (of life around us) are clear and it is the person himself who is to blame.
It has been mentioned in Nahjul Balagha(3) in relation to that person who denounces the material world as being one of deception and trickery and as being such a wicked place that the Imam (peace be upon him) has said to him, O you who denounce the material world and have been deceived by is trickery, tell me where has the world deluded you?
The Imam (peace be upon him) then continues and states, Are these bones of your forefathers and ancestors that are under the ground the things which have deluded you? Is it these graves which are now destroyed which belonged to your friends and relatives the things which have deluded you? Is it the ill people who had fallen sick for nights on end and had been bed ridden and called you to their side, and through their cries and screams or yelling and the soul leaving his body the thing which has deluded you?
Imam `Ali (peace be upon him) has stated that the best of warners are these same corpses that are placed in front of a person and with the chanting ofلا إله إلا الله
are passed in front of our eyes to see
فكني واعظا بموتي عاينتموهم ،حملوا إلي قبورهم غير راكبين،أنزلوا غير نازلين
The dead whom you have been watching suffice as warners. They were carried to their graves, not going themselves, and were placed in them (the grave) but not of their own accord. It seems as if they never lived in this world and as if the next world had always been their abode.(4)
In the fall season, we just need to walk through the gardens and look at all of the lessons around us within the dead plants and trees. This is the same garden - which in the spring season - was full of the sound of the nightingales and the sights of all of the other beautiful sights including the budding and blossoming flowers and this scene is similar to the world around us. Sometimes for a period of six months, sometimes for a period of sixty years and sometimes for a period of these beauties last. So then, where are these things that have deluded us? It is the person himself who wished to delude himself and thus, when he sins, he tries to place the blame of this act on the world.
Because of this, we have been told that we should occasionally pay a visit to those who are buried in the graveyard. At least once a week we must make a trip to the cemetery so that we know that our final stage in this world is the graveyard. It has been stated by the scholars that it has been mentioned in the ahadith that through visiting the people in the graveyard, our depression and sorrow is reduced, since our depression and sorrow (in this world) is not related to the spiritual aspect of our lives. We show sorrow and grief because we grieve for the fact of why we were not able to reach to such and such a lofty station (in the material world)? We show grief over not having a nice house! We show grief for many reasons and thus, when we go to the graveyard and see our eventual final resting place, our heart then becomes as the grave at ease and full of tranquility.
In Qum, there is a graveyard in which at the end of it, many Scholars are buried. one day I went to this area of the graveyard and saw many photos of my previous teachers, many of my friends not just one or two either they are all buried there. When you see these photos and the people buried there, then you will realize that death has also been prescribed for us and these things that the common people say in relation to death such as: May Allah protect us from death and, May we seek refuge in Allah (from dying) have absolutely no meaning! Death does not joke around with people - and all nations and religions accept the fact that the eventual outcome of everyone is death and that not a single person knows exactly when he will die!
Amir al-Mominin `Ali ibn Abi
Talib (prayers be upon him) spoke some amazing words while on his death bed and has summarized everything in one sentence when he said:
أنا بالأمس صاحبكم و أنا اليوم عبرة لكم و غدا مفارقكم
Yesterday I was your companion and today I am the lesson (which you should learn from) and tomorrow I will depart from you.(5)
Thus, we can summarize our life in this world into these three days my yesterday, my today and my tomorrow.
Therefore, is there any value that a person should commit sins or take the rights of another person? If these things have no value, then let us step forward and try to correct and reform ourselves.
A Conflict Between Actions and Beliefs:
ان العجب
Sometimes we see that a conflict arises between a persons beliefs and actions by this we mean that he may believe one thing however his actions go against this. For this sort of a conflict, we must go straight to the source and root and determine what it is, since a persons beliefs have a direct impact on his actions and similarly, his actions have a relation to his beliefs.
The difference between mankind and animals is that the animals only posses the natural and animalistic instincts to work with, however mankind has the use of their power of intelligence meaning that man can think and rationalize and then determine the good and bad in the act which he wishes to perform. once this is determined, then he would decide how to act. However even though mankind has been given this trait, we see many people still have a conflict between their actions and their beliefs and thus in summary, we must analyze where this comes from.(6)
An example of this are these two sentences which the Prophet (blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) has stated in this hadith that, It is amazing that a person accepts the Day of Resurrection however all of his endeavors are for this material world! In addition, it is amazing that a person knows that the pleasure of Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) lies in obeying Him however he leaves this to perform sins!
From the point of view of psychology, such a disparity between actions and beliefs actually stems from various sources, including:
1) We Weak Faith
One’s theological beliefs are weak and in this instance, they get mixed with doubt and uncertainty. This weakness and doubt stems from the absence of true acceptance in the heart (of the religion_ and such things also have an impact on the actions that one performs since the actions are a mirror image of that which is inside a persons heart.
When you see a fire burning, it is impossible to think that you would ever bring your hand close to that fire. If we had this same amount of belief in the words of Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) then it is impossible that a conflict could ever occur between our beliefs and the actions that we perform:
أن الذين يأكلون أموال اليتامي ظلما أنما يأكلون في بطونهم نارا و سيصلون سعيرا
Surely those people who oppressively eat (take) the wealth of the orphan, certainly they are eating fire in their stomachs and soon for them shall there be a punishment of (hell) fire.(7)
Thus, in order to be protected from these trials and tribulations and calamities, we must make our beliefs firm.
2) Power of the Lower Desires
On the surface, the person has good, strong faith however his lower desires are so strong that they actually take over his faith. In order to prevent this disease, the person has no other choice but to control his lower desires through the (spiritual) mortification of his soul which cannot be accomplished except by studying the lives of the great Muslims in history, reading about our previous scholars and to read over and study the verses of the Quran and the ahadith.
3) Negligence
Such a person has faith and his lower desires are not powerful and this person can be compared to the negligent person who unintentionally goes towards fire or who, due to his negligence, accidentally pours hot water on his hand. In summary, negligence is one of the factors responsible for this form of conflict between one’s faith and his actions.
The material aspects of this world are so beautiful and alluring that a person becomes negligent of all other things and the path to confront this type of negligence is through constant thinking - meaning that within the day, the person must set aside some time for contemplation - especially just before going to sleep. He must stop and think for some time about the actions that he performed during the day and what he did not do. He should think to himself where he is at and why he was brought into this world and what was the purpose of his being created? He should think to himself and ask himself if he has reached close to the purpose for his existence on this Earth? In summary, this continuous thinking would result in the curtains of negligence from being ripped apart.(8)
In any case, when we see that there are people who act contrary to that which they believe in, it is due to the reasons mentioned above.
For example a person knows the dangers that smoking drugs has however he says that, What can I do, I am not able to prevent myself from smoking these drugs and I have lost all control of myself.
Keeping in mind this issue, from one point we see that we must strengthen our pillars of faith and from another point, we see that we must constantly be engaged in thought.
Our faith can be increased and strengthened through more reading and studying and through performing good, righteous deeds and by restraining our lower desires.
Righteous actions make a person unwavering (in his faith) and steadfast and increases the nur (Divine Light) of guidance in the heart of the person.
and all praise belongs to Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him), only the mistakes are mine
Notes
مجو درستي عهد از جهان سست نهاد كه اين عجوز ،عروس هزار دامادست
روزها فكر من اين است و همه شب سخنم كه چرا غافل از احوال خويشتنم
از كجا آمدهام ،آمدنم بهر چه بود؟ به كجا ميروم؟ آخر ننمايي وطنم
مانده ام سخت عجب كز چه سبب ساخت مرا
يا چه بوده ست مراد وي ازين ساختنم
جان كه از عالم علوي است،يقين مي دانم رخت خود باز برآنم كه همان جافكنم
مرغ باغ ملكوتم نيم از عالم خاك دو سه روزي قفسي ساختند از بدنم
به هواي سر
اي خوش آن روز كه پروازكنم تا بر دوست
كويش پر و بالي بزنم
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Author: Ayatullah Seyyed Muhammad Shirazi
