THE ETHICS OF A BELIEVER

Unilateral Good Character

IT has been narrated on the authority of Anas ibn Malik that at the moment when the Prophet was wounded at the Battle of Uhud, he uttered these words: “How will those people attain salvation who inflict pain on their Prophet?” In response to this, God revealed the following verse: “You have no say in this affair.” (3: 128)

This Hadith teaches us about the ethics of a believer, or of one who calls others to God. A believer must adopt unilateral ethics. That is, he must not complain about the actions of others. He must completely rise above complaint and protest and be free from the psyche of reaction. A believer is a well wisher of mankind in the truest sense of the word. It is this spirit of well-wishing that produces in the believer the virtues that make him a completely non-complaining person. This quality of unilateral ethics is indispensable for him. If he lacks this character, he can never engage in the work of calling people to God.

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It is God’s desire that through His message, people are made aware of the realities of life so that they are in no position to say in the Hereafter that they were unaware.

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The believer does his work for God’s sake. He rests his hope for reward in God alone. No matter how others might behave, the believer relates every experience to God. If he falls prey to a psyche of reaction and begins to quarrel and clash with others, his efforts would not be desirable to God. It is God’s desire that through His message, people are made aware of the realities of life so that they are in no position to say in the Hereafter that they were unaware of the truth. The purpose of the unilateral ethics of a believer is that others should no longer have any excuse for turning away from the Truth and that in the Hereafter, the manner in which man is dealt with would be a perfectly legitimate one in every respect.