Pride and deception

Pride and deception  Man was created pure and was endowed with the knowledge that there is a Creator. This Creator is the one who taught man the nature of all things. Man knows and always knew that life was we know it is temporary and that the real life will be after this life. While atheist will have us believe differently, that discussion we will leave for another time. The three Abrahamic religions are all in agreement that Adam (peace be upon him) was the first human being. There is a difference of understanding to what happened next – that too we can discuss further another time. I would like to rather elaborate on two aspects which resulted in man, Adam and his wife, Eve, being evicted from “paradise”.  All creation was created for no other purpose but to worship their Lord and Created, Allaah. Two creations though were granted an ability not given to others, viz the ability to sin, to be disobedient and to act on the differentiation of good and evil,viz man and jinn(i)/genie. So the Almighty Allaah creates man, Adam – peace be upon him. He teaches him the nature of all things. He calls the angels and asks them the names of these things. They cannot answer simply because they were not taught it. Allaah Almighty, in His infinite wisdom, lets Adam tell them. Then he commands the angels present to prostrate before Adam. Amongst them were jinni (genie) One such jinn was Iblees who refused and was haughty. Aah .. he felt superior. So this attribute/characteristic is not one of subservience and obedience but rather is one such that the being, with the feeling of superiority, will do much to protect this superiority. This being will sin and challenge even his Creator. So this lack of superiority is then transformed into that evil called envy. Wikipedia: Envy (also called invidiousness) is best defined as an emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's (perceived) superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it." Iblees, shaytaan, satan – is given a reprieve till the end (the day of Judgment) during which time he vows to mislead humans. Thus, it is evident that this trait called envy, is a trait of Satan. He is the one, with his cohorts. He toys with man and offers his services whereby he can do things which may seem nigh impossible and which will seemingly elevate the person using his services. He dupes this person to believe that he, satan, has knowledge beyond the realm of possibility (something simply called the “unseen”). So man falls for it and removes himself from the obedience of Allaah, his creator. He, man, now is so confused that he believes evil is good and mocks the real good. He slanders, maligns and uses the deception that satan taught him, to break what is good. He drives families apart through this deception, lies upon lies, and backbiting. We find this too often that in some communities people pay lots of money for their involvement in this. These evils range from anything from fortune-telling to séance to witchcraft. Satan is evil and he trains his “users” well. They really being high on him. They are masters at deception and for most hard to detect. They lie so well that even the listener may be duped into believing it’s the truth. So this arrangement between man and the evil one, satan, is such that the man believes he is in control, when in fact satan cannot be controlled by man.. at best he can be repelled. These devious people in turn manipulate events and situations such that innocent parties are impacted. They whisper untruths or near-truths to one party and thus create suspicion of a third party. They ask leading questions such that may create suspicion or lead one to say something which can be deliberately misquoted. they egg people on to argue a point or to raise an issue such that there will be bad blood They contrive situations such that one party feels cornered to the degree that this second party looks to have done a wrong. Pride, Superiority and envy are three most dangerous characteristics. We often hear and see these acts of deception in spy sagas. These acts of deception are also often prevalent in personal situations. O you who believe! If a Fasiq (liar — evil person) comes to you with any news, verify it, lest you should harm people in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful for what you have done. Quran 49:6 O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, indeed some suspicions are sins. And spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting)[] . And fear Allâh. Verily, Allâh is the One Who forgives and accepts repentance, Most Merciful.  O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allâh is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa [i.e. he is one of the Muttaqûn (pious - see V.2:2). Verily, Allâh is All-Knowing, All-Aware. Quran 49:12-13 Devious people destroy families and friendships and care not for their own lives are in a mess (and then even that they don’t understand). Their joy is in their evil and seeing others fight and suffer. But truth will always surface and trust is always superior. These people may see truth in their lives and still not understand But, no doubt, on that great day, the day of accountability and reckoning, the truth will be apparent for all to see. May the Almighty protect from such evil.

Thoughts

My thoughts are mine, it’s who I am, it’s me and It’s all I have – a wise man recently told me.

That certainly holds true even in the face of confusion, accusations and manipulation. How one reacts is certainly a rather good indication of one’s strength (or otherwise) of character.

This world is filled with a level of negativity that even so-called positive people don’t realize when their comments are having the wrong, the negative impact on people. Sometimes people’s humour may be too extreme. This is often prevalent where profanity is used even seemingly innocently. Another time is when people mock others and claim a right to this for various reasons from the person being mocked is a public person or “no harm” is intended. Yet, the mind absorbs much and unless you have a super filter, those negative, immoral thoughts sit right there. These thoughts become the seed for a character building. What can one do with these thoughts; nothing but the continuation of more mockery or further ill-thoughts of others. This is where society is at large; a really disheartening thought.

So lets turn it positive. Share a thought a day in how you can and are making a difference in someone’s life. Be enquiring, without being nosy, as to the well-being of your family members, neighbours, colleagues, the “Argus” boy, etc.

We live in a so-called rainbow nation but we know little of each other. This leads us to comment on issues without understanding. So let us learn from each other and build a community.

Reach out and build. Build something positive for we will be party to the ruins of ourselves if we don’t build something real.

Make your thought count for something good!!!

#abutameem