The Voice of Nature

Anyone who listens to his inner voice is surely saved from becoming a victim of evil forces. But one who fails to pay heed to it will lose the opportunity to act righteously. And that will be his last chance.

There are numerous examples in history of many men and women who decided to do some evil deed and then their conscience was aroused, their moral sensitivity was awakened and the result was positive: they abandoned their evil plan. They refrained from indulging in the evil practices that they had had in mind. Conscience, or the faculty of sensitivity, is the greatest bounty from God to man. Conscience, or the faculty of sensitivity, is like a divine judge sitting in everyone’s heart.

There are some who observe that human sensitivity is a kind of natural weakness. Should one adopt the formula of tit for tat? This would be an unwise course to follow, for the ‘tit for tat’ formula has nothing positive about it. It is simply a reaction. And reaction cannot work. You have to see things in terms of result and not in terms of your own sentiments. When you are living in a society, you cannot afford any kind of arrogant behaviour. You have to be a realist. You have to be tolerant. You have to adjust with other people, rather than trying to impose your opinion upon them.

No Aggression

According to Quranic teachings, aggression is completely prohibited in Islam. No circumstance whatsoever permits believers to indulge in any act of aggression. Chapter Al-Tawbah (Repentance) makes this quite clear. The translation of the relevant verse is as follows:

This does not mean that, in the case of a breach of peace, you should at once commence hostilities. This kind of instant reaction is not permitted in Islam. In fact, war is a last resort, at a stage when all efforts to de-fuse the situation have failed, and there is no other alternative.

It must be conceded that peace is good for everyone. Initially, everyone has the same peace-loving nature that you have. So, if there is a breach of the peace, do not act in haste. Perhaps there are options other than war. For example, if there is a misunderstanding, you should try to clear it up by amicable means. The option to wage war is the hardest option in human life and is counterproductive for both sides. It is permitted only under the law of necessity. In a normal situation, Muslims would be expected to carry on their affairs by peaceful methods—a course of action that will continue to bear fruit, unless there is some unavoidable breakdown.

Aggression, being an expression of anger, and not the outcome of any reasoned planning, cannot serve any positive purpose. It should not, therefore, be a course that anyone should consider following. Experience shows that aggression, a form of uncontrolled behaviour, is bad for both the aggressor and the victim of aggression. Indeed, leaping into aggression is leaping to one’s own destruction.

Aggression, being an expression of anger, and not the outcome of any reasoned planning, cannot serve any positive purpose.

Considering that aggression entails great losses in terms of money and human life, and also in terms of opportunity, what drives one to aggression? It is nothing but anger and vengefulness, or the urge to exploit. All these stimuli are negative, and no negative action resulting from them is going to yield any positive results. Positive ends can be achieved only through positive action. No wise man can countenance aggression.

Aggression breeds hatred, and hatred is the source of all kinds of evil. Aggression, therefore, is disruptive of the fabric of society. People who follow aggressive instincts cannot, therefore, play any constructive role in building a better society and should ponder upon how even the animals in the jungle live peacefully without indulging in aggression.

The alternative to aggression is peace. Peaceful behaviour is the best course, leading inevitably to peaceful ends. There is no logic to aggression. But there is every reason to support peace. Constructive activity, of whatever nature, stems from long-term, unflagging efforts and aggression only disrupts this process.

Aggression is the ugliest form of human behaviour, while peaceable action is the finest conduct in which both men and women can engage.

This means that when all is well, a person may deny God’s existence, but when there is a calamity and he is unable to deal with it, he feels that he is helpless, his inner nature, consciously or unconsciously, calls out at that point to God. In times of crisis, he admits that there is a superior power and that, without the help of this power, he cannot hold his own on this earth.

A notable example of this is Ali ibn Abi Talib, a companion of the Prophet, who admitted that he had discovered God in a moment of helplessness. This is a common experience. There are ups and downs in everyone’s life. Everyone suffers some kind of unwanted situation; but such moments are moments of discovery. Helplessness is the surest way to find God.

This is true not only of those who deny the existence of God; even believers may have this kind of experience. It is but natural that a believer may at times feel that his conviction in God has weakened or has even been forgotten. But then he receives some kind of shock in his life, physically or mentally. This serves as a reminder of God, after which he re-discovers his Lord. His faith is restored.

God created man with great intellect; man is able, therefore, to discover God through ratiocination, through the study of books or through the observation of nature. Man is fully competent to discover God by using his capacity to think.

But it is also a fact that when a person finds himself in conditions of comfort and luxury, and when he enjoys every convenience, he forgets his Lord. Consciously or unconsciously, he develops the belief that he is the master of his own destiny; that he can make what he wills of his life on his own, through his own efforts. It seems then that he has set aside his belief in God.

God created man with great intellect; man is able, therefore, to discover God through ratiocination, through the study of books or through the observation of nature. Man is fully competent to discover God by using his capacity to think.

Then comes some kind of misfortune or calamity and it is this sad experience that makes him realize that he is helpless, that he is not the master of his own destiny; there are powers other than himself that have the upper hand. But this crisis comes as a blessing in disguise, for it causes him to rediscover his Lord. Through this crisis his faith is firmly re-established.

It is the sad testimony of history that, in times of crisis, man remembers his Lord. But when the crisis is over and order has been restored, he forgets everything and refuses to learn a lesson from it.