A HIGHER FORM OF WORSHIP
True Well Wishing
A believer who engages with people and is patient when he faces
annoyance from them shall have greater reward than him who
neither interacts with others nor remains patient over the troubles
caused by them.
—Prophet of Islam, reported by IbnMajah, at-Tirmidhi
THE interaction that this Hadith refers to is not interaction in the ordinary sense of the term. Rather, it refers to that interaction as a result of which one experiences annoyances at the hand of others.
You are likely to face annoyances from others especially when you act according to the principle of enjoining good and forbidding evil, which is a cardinal teaching of Islam.
Interaction in itself is not the cause for experiencing annoyance at the hands of others. If you interact with people by speaking sugary words, if you compromise with them, if you entertain them and say only those things that people want to hear, you will become the apple of their eye. And then, people will behave very nicely with you.
For instance, if whenever your community has a problem with another community you support your own community and always say bad things about the other community, then your community is bound to make you into their hero. If you tell people things that will inflate their sense of pride, why would anyone trouble you? If you narrate such stories to people that promise them entry into Paradise for a very low price, there is no reason why they would harass you. If you support people’s economic demands, their communal complaints and their political agendas and talk in a manner that appears to legitimize their every stance, they are not going to cause you any annoyance.
Interaction in the Hadith cited above is no interaction in the ordinary sense of the term as explained above. Rather, it is that sort of interaction in which you speak things that are against the people’s mind-set and that indicate their errors. It refers to that sort of interaction in which you show people where they have gone wrong and suggest appropriate reform or change. When this happens, you are likely to face annoyances from others.
Your critique is likely to provoke them to oppose you. In order to insist that they are right, they might malign you.
You are likely to face annoyances from others especially when you act according to the principle of enjoining good and forbidding evil, which is a cardinal teaching of Islam. You criticize others when you find they are doing wrong. When you do this, people are compelled to introspect. If, for instance, you see people fomenting violence in the name of jihad, you have to criticize them. If in the name of their leaders they project as ‘right’ something that is clearly wrong, you have to tell them what is really right and wrong. If they are exploiting religion for their perceived communal interests, you have to openly speak out against this.
These are the instances of interaction that make interactions synonymous with facing annoyances. In addition, when someone who calls others to God, interacts with others, he has to bear with different kinds of hardships and inconveniences. These things may be a source of concern for him, but it is a necessary price for conveying the message.
When a man is beset by defeat his inner forces are
released. His senses are aroused. His concealed
strength comes to the fore and he sets about
redressing his setback. Spurred on with new
resolve and determination, he devotes himself
to the task of regaining what has been lost. An
irresistible spirit arises within him. Nothing can
arrest his advance. Like a river flowing to the sea,
he surmounts every obstacle in relentless pursuit
of his goal.