Is the Lesser of Two Evils a Lesser Evil?

By Abul Miqdad

People’s perceptions of things play a huge impact on how they react to them. When you take this into account and you look at each case objectively and you study all its dimensions, you realize that the “lesser of the two evils” is actually the greatest of all evils.

When people view a certain evil as a lesser of two, they feel less threatened by it, they begin to settle for it, and after settling for it they become used to that evil until in their minds it is no longer an evil. In the long run, the evil that initially seemed to be the most harmless actually does the most harm because people let their guards down and are therefore more vulnerable to its effects. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“The thing I fear from the most for this Ummah is the minor shirk.” (Narrated by Imam Ahmad. Also Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahab uses this hadith in chapter 2 of his kitab ul tawheed)

He compared minor shirk to a spider walking on a black stone on a dark night – people do not even see it as evil and that evil takes advantage of people being unaware and vulnerable.

But when it comes to the so-called greater evil or the evil that appears to be the worst, people are always cautious of it and naturally they are on the defensive and their survival instinct kicks in. So no matter how big a blow it can land, the people are always aware of it and ready to confront it, not necessarily out of choice but simply from fear that if they don’t take a stand they will be ruined, and in the world in which we live today, one of the worst mistakes a Muslim could make is to feel safe.

Bush and Obama – A Comparison

If we compare Bush and Obama, put them on the scale and compare their actions and their rhetoric and the effects they have had on the Muslim Ummah, we can see that what Muslims perceived as the lesser evil was in fact the most destructive.

Bush chose brute force and made his intentions very clear, from naming his campaign a “crusade” to the ultimatum he gave the world and his claims that he was on a mission sent by God – this kind of Zionist-Crusader rhetoric used by Bush had a huge effect on the Muslims worldwide, waking them from their slumber and giving a huge boost to the Islamic revival and Jihadi movements. Muslims felt threatened and they felt they were fighting for survival. Not just that, but they were also waking up to the reality of the West and they were beginning to see for themselves the true hatred of the Kuffar for the Deen of Islam.

America learnt its lesson. Obama came in and changed the rhetoric. But the actions more or less remained the same. But that was no longer a problem, because as long as you are telling Muslims that you love them, you can launch drone strikes in as many countries as you like and most people will turn a blind eye to what you are doing. Why? Because Obama had mastered the art of sweet-talking the Muslims. We love to feel safe and secure even if that feeling is just an illusion, and as long as Obama is telling the Muslims he likes them, he can kill as many people as he wants because he is the “lesser of the two evils” and “at least he is not as bad as Bush.” And after four years of getting used to Obama, he doesn’t seem to be that evil any more.

It’s safe to say that America has failed militarily in the Muslim world, but sadly she has somewhat succeeded in blurring the lines of al-wala wal-bara (loving and hating for the sake of Allah) and diluting the aqeedah of Islam. Bush can claim he killed more Muslims than Obama, but Obama can claim that he put more Muslims back to sleep. So who is the greater evil?