Who
among us does not make mistakes? Who among us can dare claim that he
is infallible? Every human is expected to make mistakes, and this is
not in itself a defect, for the Prophet (saws) said: “All
the sons of Aadam constantly commit sins, but the best of those who
constantly commit sins are those who are constantly repentant.”
[Ibn Maajah] The real defect lies in insisting on making the mistake
and adhering to falsehood. The mistake becomes even graver when its
doer endeavors to justify it in order to make himself and those
around him believe that he did not make a mistake at all.
Justification,
in the false sense, is the process of fabricating excuses for one's
behavior, thoughts or views, in order to replace the real motives and
reasons. It is the process of concealing the reality and truth with a
justification that one would accept and approve of, without any
reaction or feeling any guilt.
Justification
is an incurable disease that leads to a tragic end, which results in
bitter consequences for the doer, as his continuous justification
distracts him from correcting himself and reflecting on his defects.
Accordingly, he always thinks that he is doing well. If a slave of
Allah reaches this state, it becomes difficult to reform him and he
loses his self-harmony because he is living in a state of internal
psychological warfare in which he is both the executioner and the
victim. The one who suffers from this disease is a curse on himself
and others, as he is extreme in enmity and frequently argues with
others. At this point, he is the most detested of creatures in the
sight of Allah. In this respect the Prophet (saws) said: “The
most hated person in the sight of Allah is the extremely quarrelsome
person.”
[Al-Bukhari]
Such
people have existed throughout history. The Quran relates to us the
stories of some of them; for instance, Allah Says: “And
among them is he who says: “Permit me [to remain at home] and do
not put me to Fitnah.” Unquestionably, into Fitnah they have
fallen. And indeed, Hell will encompass the disbelievers.” [9:49]
Commenting
on this verse, Al-Qurtubi said, Muhammad ibn Is’haaq said: “The
Messenger of Allah (saws) said to Al-Jadd ibn Qays, when he wanted to
set out for the Battle of Tabook: “O Jadd, would you like to fight
the yellow people [the Romans], so that you could take female
captives and servants from them?” Al-Jadd replied, “My people
know that I am besotted by women, and I fear that if I see the women
of the yellow people, I would fall into Fitnah. So, do not put me in
Fitnah but permit me to remain behind, and I will support you with my
money.” Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah turned away from him, and
said: “I permit you.”
Just look at this man, who, when knowing the hardship of traveling to
Tabook and the difficulty of confronting and fighting the Romans,
wanted to justify his situation and protect himself! He therefore
invented a fabricated excuse which was his infatuation by women and
his fear that he may be tempted upon seeing them and would then be
forced to leave the Muslim army because he would not have the
self-restraint to keep himself from them.
Shaykh-ul-Islam
Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah commented on this incident, saying, “Since
enjoining good, forbidding evil, and Jihaad are some of the tests and
trials that subject a person to Fitnah, some people began justifying
their abandonment of these obligations by seeking safety from Fitnah.
Allah Says with regard to the hypocrites: “And
among them is he who says: “Permit me [to remain at home] and do
not put me to Fitnah.” Unquestionably, into Fitnah they have
fallen. And indeed, Hell will encompass the disbelievers.”[9:49]”
Similarly,
another group of people justified their abandonment of Jihaad by
saying that they could not set out for Jihaad in the heat. Therefore,
Allah Says about them: “And
(they) said: “Do not go forth in the heat.” Say: “The fire of
Hell is more intensive in heat” - if they would but understand.”
[9:81] Sayyid
Qutb said in this regard, “It is therefore either fighting in the
cause of Allah in the heat for a limited period, or being cast into
Hell for a duration that no one knows the length of but Allah.”
In
the previous examples there were some cases which might not be stated
by those who form the cream of Muslim society. However, reality
proves that even some truthful believers might be afflicted by
justification, as Allah Says: “And
We have certainly diversified in this Quran for the people from every
[kind of] example; but man has ever been, most of anything, [prone
to] dispute.” [18:54] Some
scholars of Tafseer commented on this verse by mentioning what was
narrated in Sahih Muslim, that ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib narrated that
the Messenger
of Allah (saws) came one night to him and his wife Fatimah and said:
“Do you not observe [late-night Tahajjud] prayer?” ‘Ali
replied, “O Messenger of Allah, indeed our souls are in the Hands
of Allah and when He wants to awaken us, He does so.” The Messenger
of Allah (saws) set off when he said this to him. He was slapping his
hand on his thigh while going while saying: “but man has ever been,
most of anything, (prone to) dispute”.
Ibn ‘Aashoor said, What the Prophet (saws) meant here was that it
would have been more appropriate for ‘Ali to praise Allah and thank
the Messenger of Allah (saws) for waking him up to pray Tahajjud, be
keen on repeating this act, be pleased with the rebuke of the Prophet
(saws) and not counter these words with others in order to justify
his sleeping! This is the cause of the Prophet’s astonishment at
the words of ‘Ali.
The
main obstacle in justification is the absence of frankness with one's
self, as we fail to talk to ourselves about our own reality. This is
because, from a very early age, we were taught to elevate ourselves
to high moral levels and sublime traits that are often difficult to
attain. Therefore, we try to conceal our reality in a framework of
lies about oneself that were set by the methods of our early
upbringing. [Qiraa’ah fi mushkilaat at-tufoolah]
Justification
might also be due to arrogance that has affected the heart, and this
results in making it difficult to apologize or appearing to be in a
state of weakness according to the thoughts of such an arrogant
person. Love and inclination to this worldly life is another cause of
justification, and perhaps this reason specifically is what leads
many people to do what Allah has prohibited, and people then justify
their actions with false excuses. For instance, the person who
consumes Riba, claims that he is compelled to do so; however, if one
looks at his case, he would not find him compelled at all. He might
not even be in any kind of a need. There are many similar violations
of the Shari‘ah nowadays, and those who commit such violations try
to justify them.
Undoubtedly,
truthfulness with one's self is the clear and easy way in order not
to indulge in the confusion that comes about due to justification.
Reckoning one's self for negligence and acknowledging its mistakes
protects it from a foul final stage of life and leads us to not
accumulate our mistakes. In fact, being truthful with one's self is
one of the highest and hardest degrees of truthfulness.
Let
us contemplate the story of the great Companion, Ka‘b ibn Malik
when Allah saved him by virtue of his truthfulness. He sat before the
Prophet (saws) and said, “O
Messenger of Allah, if I had been in front of anyone other than you
of the people of the worldly life, I would have thought of an excuse
to avoid his dissatisfaction. But by Allah, I had no excuse.”
Consequently, Allah accepted his repentance, excused him and turned
to him. On the other hand, those who lie and invent weak and false
excuses, are exposed by Allah.
One
of the most important means of treatment is the reading of the
biographies of the people who fell into this malady. When
justification dominated the Children of Isra’eel, they used
trickery and various methods to violate the ruling of Allah and
caught fish on the Sabbath. Consequently, Allah transformed them into
apes and pigs. Allah Says: “And
you had already known about those who transgressed among you
concerning the Sabbath, and We said to them: Be apes, despised.”
[2:65]
When one contemplates this punishment for the one who dares to
violate the limits that Allah has set, undoubtedly, he will think
many times before doing such an act when knowing its evil end.
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