Yaser M. Haddara

Things have been hectic, hence the last two week hiatus. I am still working on that loooong article on humor in classic texts, but in the meantime the buffer has filled up with things I’ve been meaning to post. So a few entries to follow. The long post will most likely come next week inshaa Allah. In the meantime I’ll try to keep you busy with things that have backed up in the queue

Abdul asked about the hadeeth “that Allah says that I am to my servant as he /she thinks of me” and he says “does it mean that we should always think ‘merciful’ and that way we’ll be more prone to mercy?”. The short answer is that yes that is what it means and we should always strengthen our hope in God’s mercy. To shed a little more light on this I looked it up in ibn Hajar’s commentary on Bukhari and Imam al-Nawawy’s commentary on Muslim. They make a number of significant points:

1. Imam al-Nawawy is explicit in stating the simple meaning mentioned above, that the hadeeth motivates us to have hope in God’s pardon (الرجاء وتأميل العفو).
2. True hope is what is joined with action. So if you call upon God in the manner that He prescribed and while fulfilling the conditions that He has set then you should be in no doubt that He will respond. Similarly if you sincerely seek to come closer to Him you should be in doubt that He will guide you. “Hope” that is used as an “excuse” or justification of the abandonment of effort is pure delusion.
3. The opposite of hope is despair (not fear, true fear complements true hope). When one’s awareness of his/her own shortcomings, failings, sins, error, etc., is so acute and so destructive as to leave one in no doubt of being lost, then one is indeed lost – another hadeeth says that for such a person “God will consign him to what he expected of God.”
4. During a person’s life the emotions of love of God, hope of His mercy, and fear of His displeasure should all work together. Scholars differed in the matter of hope and fear as to which, if either, should be more prevalent in the servant’s mind. The debate arises from the simple fact that there is still room for action and so the question becomes how to spur oneself on to better action. At the time of death, however, scholars used this hadeeth as well as other texts and knowledge to emphasize that one should categorically be hopeful at the moment of death. This is because the time for action is ended and all that is left is God’s mercy.
5. There are two beautiful quotes included in the commentaries on this hadeeth. Imam al-Nawawy quotes al-Qady (I believe he means Abu Bakr ibn al-Araby) to say that the “thinking” or “expectation” referred to here is “forgiveness when he asks for forgiveness, acceptance when he repents, a positive answer when he supplicates, and sufficiency when he asks for sufficiency.” Ibn Hajar quotes Imam al-Qurtuby to say that the “thinking” or “expectation” is “to expect a positive answer when he supplicates, to expect acceptance when he repents, to expect forgiveness when he asks for forgiveness, and to expect reward when he worships God fulfilling the conditions of that worship, and to expect these because of his holding firm the truth of God’s promise.”

On a separate note, just before I took this latest hiatus I had posted “The Best and the Worst” — two sayings of the prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, that describe for us the best and the worst. From your comments it seems to have resonated and for that we say al-hamdulillah. Nonetheless some of the reaction was unexpected, at least to me. We can sometimes be our own worst critics – and that in a destructive not constructive manner. Of course it is important to worry about oneself and to challenge oneself to identify and work against shortcomings. But two very important things need to be noted.

The first issue is quite general and not specific to this particular case. The prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If your doing good feels good to you, and doing bad feels bad to you, then you are a believer.” There is also a saying (not sure if it is a hadeeth) that Shaytan does not come into a ruined house. In short, if you are questioning yourself, challenging yourself, worrying about your faith and your goodness and your spirituality, then inshaa Allah that itself is the indication that you are traveling the right road. Inshaa Allah you’ll get there. Just keep the faith, and keep going.

The second issue is specific to this case. The prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, is filling us with hope and joy. He is telling us if we are simply kind, then God will be kind to us. Indeed it is important to fulfill our legal obligations, to study to deepen our faith, to struggle to excel in spirituality, to persevere in the obedience of God, to feel and manifest gratitude to God, and all the other ways of thinking about coming closer to God, an ambition that should have no end short of the meeting with God, and a desire that should not be sated until God by His grace enters us into paradise and favors us with the sight of Him. And in seeking this ambition and struggling on this path we should always be setting the bar higher and be critical and all the rest of it. But what these two sayings are telling us is that sometimes we need to step back from the struggle and put in perspective the central importance of human relations: the bottom line is that if God has graced us with the genuine desire to be good to others, then He is telling us that He will be good to us! And there is nothing in all the universe that is more merciful, or more beautiful, or more conducive of hope than the knowledge that simple human kindness may save us.

One of my favorite clips is this minute from young Dilbert.

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One of the reasons I like Dilbert so much is that I can bear first hand witness to its uncanny accuracy in many an industrial environment. Clearly, not every company is a Dilbert-like company. And as with any comedic venture there has to be some exaggeration, although in this case it’s not very much at all .

I recently re-discovered the Dilbert website. But what’s more important is that with it I discovered the Dilbert blog (now officially the first “thing” on my blogroll). Scott Adams seems to have interesting insights even away from engineers, corporate culture, comic strips, and even comedy in general. He has this running argument with some atheist guy on the net that seems to think that for someone to as much as wonder out loud whether the Huxley-Darwin apes-at-the-typewriter model of the universe is compelling qualifies such a person for moron duty and immediately earns them the pleasure of his scathing attacks. This is not to say that Scott Adams is a theist or a creationist. What he believes is (a) his own business, (b) probably not easily categorizable in the convenient bins we intellectually keep, (c) neither particularly authoritative nor a guarantee of correctness in any case, and (d) should not be (and thankfully is not) entirely clear just from reading one or two entries on his blog. If he has spelled out his beliefs on the blog, or if he does so as a matter of course, or if he is in the process of doing so, I plan on reading the blog regularly enough that inshaa Allah I’ll understand. But whether he does spell out his beliefs or whether he just goes on expressing whatever particular insight he has on any particular day, it makes for good reading, and a starting point for further reflection. Good on ya Scott!

I remember as a teenager wanting a game system (and no I am not going to mention which one it was — that would be telling ). I learned a number of important things about life (at least I think they were important) through the simple fact that we did not get a game system. So when my kids asked for a game cube a couple of years back the answer was a reasoned ‘no’. When I say reasoned I mean that we actually talked about it, we discussed my reasons, and we went around the issue until they were “satisfied.” Al-hamdulillah the boys are smart enough to get what I am saying so I don’t try to dumb it down for them, and I guess they are diplomatic enough to pretend to be “satisfied” when they sense that I’m unlikely to change my mind so we all get to pretend it’s a real democracy . Nonetheless, and this should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone, “getting it” and being “satisfied” are entirely different from actually letting the matter rest. And when there’s a grampa in the picture, all parental logic is at risk [ despite the fact that we're talking about the same person that said no some number of years ago ].

So the kids got their cube and, what the hey, as long as we have it might as well enjoy it. Enter EA sports and the annual FIFA game .

Turns out there’s actually a lot about life one can learn pretending to play football (that’s what the game’s really called you know ) on a game system.

Consider this:

• There’re 11 players on a team but you can only control one of ‘em at a time. That means the computer has to move the other 10 in some “logical” fashion.
• You can’t control the goalie yourself. So the computer’s gotta decide which way he’ll jump, whether he’ll clear the ball properly or just throw it into the path of an oncoming striker, etc.
• You can tell the computer to “goalie charge” meaning your goalie will come out of net and run towards the striker with the ball. But the computer may delay before obeying your instructions, and it’s the computer that decides when, if at all, the goalie throws himself down to stop the ball. To complicate matters, if you don’t ask for goalie charge the computer might do it any way.
• You are allowed to declare what attack and defense strategies your team will use. But as far as any of us can tell that has very little effect on the actual game play.

And these are just the features you can figure out immediately as you start playing. As you continue to play more you discover:

• The computer has favorites that don’t seem to make any sense and are completely undeclared. For example, Argentina is ranked higher than Germany. And even though they are ranked higher than both France and Spain, Brazil will tend to under-perform when playing those two teams.
• There seems to be a strong luck factor determined by the computer. So the same player using the same team against the computer or another player will have things relatively easy one game and very difficult the next.
• These undeclared luck factors (game-wide and per-play) seem to play a very large role in whether a play makes it into the net. So again, the exact same cross by the exact same player followed by the exact same header will go in or not with seemingly total randomness.

So why does any of this matter?

Well, without really going into the reactions of the boys as their fortunes changed over time, let’s just say it can get very frustrating when to everyone’s eyes (players as well as audience) it seems that you hit the button to pass and the computer then delayed the pass until it managed to send one of your players offside; or when you hit the cross bar three times in a row knowing that the computer simply doesn’t give you that kind of fine control over ball direction so hitting the cross bar is completely a matter of dramatization by the computer once it rolls the dice and decides you ain’t scoring! Etcetera.

And then one has to sit back, really chill, and ask some relevant questions.

How do we cope with situations in life (I would argue the majority of situations) when much of what happens to us is determined by the actions of others?

How do we cope with the disparity in opportunities available to people?

Much of the constraints imposed on us are the product of many interlocking pieces that we pseudo-mystically anoint “The System”. What part of “The System” must one accept? What part can one change? How?

What does it say about us as individuals that we can feel genuine frustration over trivia? Then can we understand that frustration over matters considerably more real and considerably more important is no less futile? Can we experience rida (~ contentment) with the decree that has come to pass and the decree that is yet to pass without abdicating the responsibility to act or losing passion along with hope?

And finally, a question that for me is most important. When all the thoughts have been shared, and all the words have been spoken, and the mind knows, and the body acts either through submission, or constraint, or just giving up, how, pray tell, may the heart understand? Or how may it nurture and be nurtured, and grow and allow growth, and how may it change so that it can be given light?

Jazaakumullahu khayran and thank YOU to all those that have been visiting the blog and leaving comments. It is indeed much appreciated.

A few quick responses are in order.

Abeer: thank you so much for the links. The pictures and the drawings are beautiful. Now I have to decide how to use them

Farah: thank you for looking for photos. For me to come up with the same photo you would have picked is a great compliment indeed

Suleiman: jazaakallahu khayran for all the work you’re doing to keep us all going and for your friendship and encouragement. In particular, thank you for fixing the broken links

Jaffer: thanks for the pointers. As I mentioned tonight I did try to apply them but it sounds like you would have a much easier time than me, so I’m gonna hold you to your offer :> Oh, and the EANACS reference? Inspired. Definitely Stanford!

Sha: It’s wonderful to reconnect with old friends. And how appropriate that it would be over LMotP I will email soon inshaa Allah.

Ayman, Nazir, and Yusuf: Thank you for thoughtful analyses and discussion. I really appreciated the diverse thoughts on this. I’ll wait a bit to see what others may have to say inshaa Allah. I’ll probably weigh in again after the 3rd episode. It airs up here on Wednesday, but I may have to wait again till Monday to watch it. We’ll see inshaa Allah.

One important thing I do want to bring up right now. We should not doubt other people’s intentions. It’s one thing to disagree with the show, its contents, style, crossing the boundaries, etc. It’s another thing altogether to assume that there are “secular Muslims” behind it trying to undermine the rest of the community. Zarqa is well-known in the community. She has been part of the community her entire life. She is respected and she has contributed significantly over the years. Disagreeing with her on the content or style or even the message of the show is not an excuse to doubt her intentions or her “hidden agenda”.

Today’s quote was from Shakespeare, “Temptation is the fire that brings up the scum of the heart.” Not sure what he meant by that, but I do know the Quran has something to say about the multiple images contained in that sentence. The notion of fitna in the Arabic language and in Islamic usage is of separating gold from the scum in the ore. Depending on context, fitna is translated as trial or purification, pain or punishment, or events and circumstances creating great confusion and in the process testing people’s mettle.

In the last sense, our scholars have described fitna as something that “when it is approaching, every person of knowledge recognizes it; when it is over, every person of ignorance can recognize it.” Times of chaos and great confusion have to be anticipated by the cultivation of wisdom, integrity, and discipline. When the chaos is upon us, it is too late to acquire any of that and we get lost, sometimes taking many with us. But even those times can serve, as Shakespeare describes temptation, to light a fire that tests the heart.

The Quran uses both fire and water to describe fitna. In soorat al-Ra’d (13:17) God gives the parable of the rain flooding the valley and fire purifying the ore. The first is the parable for testing the heart with knoweldge and wisdom. The second is the parable for testing the heart with experience, be it temptation or peril, pleasure or pain. In both parables, and in all tests, contrast is set up between the pure and the impure, certainty and doubt, insight and ignorance. The Quran articulates the contrast as between that which is of benefit to people and that which is the scum. In Shakespear’s words, the scum of the heart is brought up. In the words of the Quran, the scum rises, but then goes away. What remains is what we need!