To Err Is Human…
Salamun alaykum!
It’s been a while. I stopped writing for some time, and it has been difficult getting back to the keyboard. However, getting started is always the hard part, and here we are – back to the keyboard!
So let’s talk about sinning or falling short of the injunctions of Allah. To appreciate the importance of this conversation, let’s start with a couple of questions to reflect on. Knowing what is right and expected of us as Muslims and what is not, have you ever found yourself doing what you know and have the conviction that you’re not supposed to be doing? How about not doing what you know you’re supposed to be doing? If yes, have you ever asked yourself; “why did I do that?” Think about it now, was it because you didn’t have the fear of Allah? Was it because of the condition/situation you found yourself in? Perhaps, you didn’t think about the consequences then?
Whatever your answers are, a universal truth is that we are human, and even the best of us make mistakes. There are times where we find ourselves doing things we know we are not supposed to be doing. It might even be the things we’ve promised ourselves we were never going to do again. But then, they happen, again. And you wonder why. There are a few explanations I’ll say.
It all started with our creation. While the angels were created from light and the jinns from fire, mankind was created from clay - the lowest of substances. However, Allah breathed His Divine Spirit into the clay. Thus, mankind has been described as a bi-dimensional being who inclines towards both the clay - and its lowliness, stagnation and immobility as well as the divine spirit- aspiring to ascend to the highest summit conceivable towards Allah.
This creates a struggle in our soul that will continue over our lifetime until we choose one of the two dimensions as the determinant of our character. However, both dimensions will be inherent in us and occasionally, we will switch between the two. When you add that to the fact that we all have two companions, one urging us to do good and the other to do evil, then you appreciate the struggle better.
Furthermore, unlike angels again, we are not infallible. Angels do not have the ability to disobey Allah, whereas, we have the free will to choose between obeying and disobeying Allah as we deem fit. Our level of iman also rises and falls, and that implies that at some times, we can be at our lowest due to certain factors and this makes it easy for us to fall into disobedience.
When you also consider the nature of our heart, you find out that it is central to our life. The Prophet said of it that if it is good, the whole being will be good and vice versa. However, as central as it is, it is also the most vulnerable. It is easily influenced by what we allow into it – good or evil. It turns according to the wishes of Allah, and that is why we pray to Him, the Turner of hearts, to make our hearts firm on the path of guidance.
I guess you’re starting to appreciate how great the forces at play are. But that’s not all. Shaytan too is always at your back. Remember his promise after he was humiliated when he refused to prostrate to Adam;
“Because You (Allah) have sent me astray, surely I will sit in wait against them on Your Straight Path. Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them as thankful ones – who will be dutiful to You” (Al Qur’an, 7:16-17)
That is who we are up against at every point in our life - the one whose sole mission is to deter us from our main purpose on earth. The ultimate goal is paradise, and this itself is not easy to achieve. We’ve learnt from the Prophet that Paradise is surrounded by hardships and Hell-Fire is surrounded by temptations. Thus, it is easier to fall astray than to stay on the path of guidance. And it even gets harder in the times we find ourselves.
The question probably on your mind now is, do all these mean we are set up to fail? Definitely NO! Neither does it means all of these should be used as excuses for our shortcomings. The point here is that we should recognize these forces at play against us and understand them so that we can be proactive in putting countermeasures to manage them. And when we do find ourselves falling short of the injunctions of Allah, we should not give all hope but know that Allah forgives all sins, and He is the Most Merciful.
Indeed, to err is human, but to forgive is divine. In sha Allah, in the next edition of this newsletter, we will explore how forgiving Allah is, and how we are to relate to him based on this.
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