Three fundamental traits of Adil Person: Hujjatul Islam Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi

Hujjatul Islam Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi

(Principal Jamia Orwatul Wuthqa – Lahore)

Delivered at: Masjid Baitul ul Ateeq

Lahore – Pakistan

Friday Sermon – 25th August, 2023

In Surah Maida, Allah (s) has ordered believers to establish Adl.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ لِلَّهِ شُهَدَاءَ بِالْقِسْطِ ۖ وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا ۚ اعْدِلُوا هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ ۖ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ {8}

O you who believe! Be upright for Allah, bearers of witness with justice, and let not hatred of a people incite you not to act equitably; act equitably, that is nearer to Taqwa, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah; surely Allah is Aware of what you do

Life outside Taqwa is beastly and we can witness this in our current generation irrespective of whether they are living as Muslims or not. We see lack of humanity and more beastliness and inhumane behavior which is because Taqwa is not the foundation of society. The society spread out; population increased but there was no divine mechanism of protecting it. Hence today we can see the religious segment is more distanced from humanity like what we have seen recently in Jariwala incident where it was all done in the name of Islam. Religion, Education, society are all present but not on the basis of Taqwa. Similarly we can see Satanism, beastliness in politics but not humanity. The political people fail to prove that they are also humans as they become barbaric and tyrannical.

As Allah has presented guidance along with it has also made the system of protection. And Adl has been made as the foundation of this protection system. For Adalat Allah has presented, compiled human life in such a manner that it should become the basis of society. The first stage of Adl should be present in the human self. This has been presented by philosophers very nicely which was then followed by scholars of ethics.

In philosophy human self is based on three power or abilities. One is the power of understanding (Fahima), the second is the power of desires (Jaziba) through which man reaches and acquires his needs and the third is the  power of repulsion (Dafiya) through which man keeps harmful things away from him. These are three basic abilities, power , affairs inside human self. But these three do not remain in one fixed state, there are ups and downs. At times they become less and at times they become extreme. When they fall below a certain required limit in terminology it is termed as Tafreed and when it goes beyond certain limits it is Ifraad. Like when man eats to the extent what he needs, at times he eats more or at times less. If man eats more than need this is Ifraat and if less then Tafreed; and if he eats to the extent required then this Adl. These have been termed as Khulqiyat e Insaan.

At times understanding (Fahm) becomes less and man cannot understand basic things; then this is Tafreed. The scholars consider them as simpleton who cannot understand normal routine things. There are certain persons who develop Ifraad (excessiveness) whereby man tries to understand things which do not have any witness, evidence and thinks that he has understood that. Like if two persons are talking at a distance , he says I have understood what they are speaking. Those people who have suspicions about others they say I know what they are thinking. But how did you come to know? When a person tries to think beyond limits this is Ifraad. In first state he does not understands basics which scholars termed as Ghabi person and the one who goes beyond understanding is termed as Jurbuza. But if the understanding is withing limits whereby man understands everything whch can be understood and that is which cannot be they don’t; such is termed as Hikmah by scholars and a person who stands here is Hakim.

The second power is Jazbiya which ethical Ulama term as Shahwiya, the power of desires. In Arabic Shahwah means the desire of anything which could be of cloth, shoes, mobile or anything. This also has three states. At times the desire of man demands those things which man needs , but at times there is a thing needed by man but there is no desire, like he is hungry but no desire to eat due to sickness or any other reason. This lack of Ishtaha is termed as Khumud by scholars, a state in which his desires have become silent and he is not getting attracted towards these things which are required or essential for him, like his desire for acquiring knowledge ends. Like when some elders say that our age has passed to study, learn but they don’t say that our desire for eating bread or money has ended. This is khumud whereby man for acquiring good traits his desires have ended. But if man starts to look for things that are not essential, like children, youths do not need mobile. They are taught in schools; they have books so why is mobile required by them. The desire for mobile is by everyone though only for some it is a need. This unnecessary desire is termed as Sharr and the demand for essential things is Khair. If man has neither Ifraad nor Tafreed, whereby his desires is only as per needs this in terminology is known as Iffat. The Iffat is the state of Nafs. In understanding the balanced state was Hikmah, similarly in desires it is Iffat.

The third power is of repulsion or also known as Gazabiya. This is the unit of defense inside man whereby he should keep himself away from harmful things. Here also three states develop whereby at times man does not distances from harmful things, this state is known as Jubn. A juboon is that person who cannot distance from any form of harm. Any evil that comes towards him he is prepared to receive this. any evil thought that comes to his mind makes it a residence. But on contrary he repels or stays away from things which are not harmful, this means develops Ifraad and he even distances away from useful things. The Gazab when it goes to extreme the scholars term it as Tahawwur. A person who cannot differentiate whether I can distance from this or not. There are some Gazabnak people who have distanced from brothers, sisters, friends and no one comes near them. If man is in a state whereby he distances from harmful things and those things which are not harmful he does not them, then this is termed by Ulama as Shujaah. The Shujaah is the person who has balanced his Gazab.

So all these three powers of Fahmiya, Jaazbiya and Gazabiya have three different states. At times they become scarce (Tafreed), at times they go to extreme (Ifraad) but when these two states are not present the scholars term it as Adl. So as per philosophical and ethical scholars, an Adil person is one who is Hakim in Fahm, Afeef (Iffat) in Jaziba and Shujaa in Dafiya. If these three states develop inside man then he is having developed the foundation of Adil.

Tafreed (Scarcity)Ifraad (Excess)Adl (Balanced)

Quwa e Fahmiya

(Power of intellect) Ghabi Jurbuza Hikmah

Quwa e Jazbiya

(Power of desires) Khumud Sharr Iffat

Quwa e Ghazabiya

(Power of repulsion) Jubn Tahawwur Shujaah

In Fiqh the Adil is one who does not eat Haram openly even though he might eat in secret. In Fiqh he should not be committing sins openly but if he does secretly then his Adl is preserved. In Fiqh with small sins the Adalat does not end. If man openly commits greater sins that too repeatedly then his Adalat ends. In ethical science irrespective of whether he does sins openly or not, but if his three powers are not in balanced state then he is not Adil person. Those who do not understand correctly they are out of Adl. In human personality the biggest role is of Fahm (understanding). If someone does understand the things to be or understands things which are not required to be then he is not Adl. And such a person would not be burdened with any social responsibilities. This person would be insane which could be on either side. He is only responsible for individual affairs and in other words he is ineligible. Similarly if a person has n Adl, is not Afeef in the power of desires. If he has not desire for knowledge, nurturing himself, acquiring good traits, to understand realities, cognizance of Allah, his religion then such a person is victim of Khumood and is not Adil. The Adil is one who is Afeef which means everything that is required by man he has desire and he is in pursuit of that always. He is in pursuit of knowledge all the time. Similarly if he is desirous of things that are not required by him specifically that would aid in hereafter then such a person is not Adil. Similarly in Gazab if he does not feel ashamed from getting into harmful things or is too extra cautious and refrains from good things as well then he is not Adil. The one who is Shujaa is Adil, which means he will defend from things which are to be defended from and will not from others.

Thus in ethics an Adil person is one who has Taadul (balance) in Fahm (understanding), Shahwah (desires) and Ghazab (repulsion). An Adil person thus has three traits, Hikmat, Iffat and Shujaat which are the three foundations. If these three states are not present in him then he is not Adil and he cannot be made Imam e Jamaat, Imam e Jumah, Hakim, Judge, do not give trust to him and do not rely on him at all. If you cannot hand over ordinary trusts to such person then how can you hand over country, nation, community to them because they are just burden on earth. When a person acquires these trusts now the work of building starts. Those persons who are being nurtured by their parents, teachers with these traits then they are capable of building a society. The society is built by the blocks of such persons. When an Adil society is built then all persons in that society should be Adil.

When Allah says rise for the sake of establishing  Kist and Adl which also has been ordained as the purpose of arousing prophethood. In today’s world people talk about social justice though in religious segment they not even come near to even discuss social justice. In sociology and political sciences there is social justice and Quran refers entirely to Adl e Ijtemai. In sociology as well when they discuss about Adl they refer to just and fair distribution of wealth and opportunities. This means they reach equality. The current era scholars some of them discuss this and one forward on this is Sayyed Qutb who is referred by Western elements as pioneer of developing extremism in Islam. The West even blames Allama Iqbal for extremism but for Sir Syed Ahmad khan they say was moderate. This is their analysis as we don’t need to study Allama Iqbal or Syed Qutb or Abdo as we are too busy in our affairs. Maulana Maudoodi is also an ideological student of Mohammad Abdo and Sayyed Qutb. Then some other Shia scholars also discussed about social justice and we were expecting that this subject would be discussed more after Islamic revolution. In Adalat e Ijtemai they do not discuss the arguments presented by Quran but immediately jump to what sociology has presented. The Quran has presented the foundation of Adalat e Ijtemai as establishing of Adil building blocks of society. When you have Adil persons as blocks of society then the next discussion would come about on how to distribute resources in a fair manner. When Adalat is not present in the existence and nature of society then we cannot expect society should have all affairs on the basis of Adl. Today we are in dire need of this in Pakistan. We are living in an unjust, unbalanced society and hence individuals living in such society cannot claim to be Adil. Neither their understanding, desires would be balanced which you can witness daily around you. Today the Pakistani society needs this discussion more than other societies.

In saying no 114

وَ قَالَ عليه السلام: إِذَا اسْتَوْلَى الصَّلَاحُ عَلَى الزَّمَانِ وَ أَهْلِهِ ثُمَّ أَسَاءَ رَجُلٌ الظَّنَّ بِرَجُلٍ لَمْ تَظْهَرْ مِنْهُ حَوْبَةٌ فَقَدْ ظَلَمَ وَ إِذَا اسْتَوْلَى الْفَسَادُ عَلَى الزَّمَانِ وَ أَهْلِهِ فَأَحْسَنَ رَجُلٌ الظَّنَّ بِرَجُلٍ فَقَدْ غَرَّرَ

At a time when virtue is in trend in the world and among people, if a person entertains an evil suspicion about another person from whom nothing evil has ever been seen, then he has been unjust. And at a time when vice is in trend in the world and among people, if a man entertains a good idea about another person he has flung himself in peril.

This saying no 114 is the foundation and guidance for a most important segment of life.

Ali (s) says that in some era where people are living and their era is of good virtues, which means the culture, society, environment has goodness. In such a good virtuous era a person develops suspicion, mistrust about another person though majority in general people are good and not evil. In such situation if you develop doubts about believers in this era then such a person is an oppressor. In contrary if there is an era of corruption where society, culture, atmosphere is such that people are indulged in corrupt, evil vices then in such an era a person carries good doubts about someone that this person might be good only, then this person has deceived himself.

This a point which Amirul Momineen  (a) has taught us and through which you can establish Taadul and Taqwa. If you are living in a society then you have to understand the general state of society. What should you term it? As secure society, just, Aadil or corrupt, transgressing, Faasik, oppressive society? In corrupt societies there are unique cases of righteous people as well. We cannot say that when a society is corrupt then there not even seeds of righteous people are left in the society. But such few persons are not considered as identity of society. As mentioned in proverbs that if in Autumn you see a flower then don’t say that it is spring or in spring if you see one tree dried then don’t say this is autumn. The spring is where most of the trees are blossoming and autumn is when most of the trees have shed their leaves and are dry. Today we are living in a society as blind, deaf and dumb which Allah dislikes the most. We don’t know even know in which category our society falls. When you select a society to live then at least ponder to see what type of live in such society. You just look at benefits, business gains and move there. You build your homes and get settled anywhere you see gains. First see who are living around and what kind of society it is. It is not that you just have to live in fact you should build society of righteous people yourself. You should learn to live with realities.

Amirul Momineen  (a) is teaching us to open our eyes and live. You should adopt your life style based on the type of society around you. You should not close your eyes like the pigeon under attack by cat and they get killed. The pigeons are easy target of cat but if you see crow it never becomes victim of anyone. It has this much sense to assess who is planning what for him. The pigeons come down moment they see grains. This is not security. If you are living in a society with your family, children and generation then open your eyes. If you don’t then your children, women, family would become the same like others in the society. If you have gone to corrupt society then corruption would become your destiny and you won’t be able to secure yourself. Here you have to learn the way of living in case you are trapped in such a society.

The first principle which Ali (a) is teaching us to open our eyes is on the state around us. There is a difference between reality and the current state present around. The current state could be anything; right or wrong. The reality means this land is owned by someone and current state is that it has been usurped by someone else who is now residing there. You should always keep the current state in mind. There are successful and failed businessman. Some had everything which they lost and some had nothing but they earned a lot. What is the difference between the two? The one who has lost everything had closed his eyes on current state and got deceived by something. To close eyes on current state in religion, family, politics, education we should not close our eyes on current state. You should also not present the current state in distorted way , like what our politicians do and never speak the truth. You can see the state of religion which has extremism, sectarianism, terrorism and the passions of sects are to destroy each other. So will you close your eyes on this state, on politics, economics? The one who presents corrupt society as righteous is your enemy. Amirul Momineen  (a) also had the ability to present current state as something else but he never did that. The Banu Umayyah presented the killing of third Caliph completely differently. To close the eyes on current situation is destruction. Learn the wisdom which Amirul Momineen  (a) is teaching us and live your lives by opening the windows of your mind. At times we are told the corruption is ground reality, so should we submit to it? We are not delegated to accept, submit to current state what we have to accept is reality but not the current situation. If there is oppression in current situation then it does not mean to submit to oppression. In the era of Imam Hussain (a) everyone accepted Yazidiat as ground reality. Imam Hussain (a) said even though this is ground reality but it does not mean we can submit to it; we need to change it. We have to live in absolute reality.

The first law of social life from Ali (a) is to live your life by opening your eyes. We should witness the current state and not like or accept what is going around us. The status quo means continue what is going on and you make room in corruption. You should also try to take part in corruption is not the guidance of Quran and Ahlulbayt (a).

He says first see what kind of society it is? If it is righteous society then the principle of living is different , if it is corrupt then also it is different. In righteous society you cannot have evil suspicions on believers, and do not do propaganda. If it is corrupt society then you should witness such corruption and in this state to have good doubts , trusts on someone blindly is not permitted. We then cry that I gave money to someone and he cheated me, I married my daughter to someone and got deceived. I have read this tradition of Imam Sajjad (a) several  times that do not look at Salaat, worships and outwardly things, but see the values. Then eventually Imam (a) says see how much desirous they are for power. It is possible a highly worshipping person from inside would be lustful for power and self praises. These are beasts who are after desires, power and leadership. They are dangerous for humanity. The Prophet (S) says such persons are more dangerous then hungry, starving wolves attacking a flock of sheep. We need to keep these realities in mind and set the affairs of lives based on this. These principles are required today by us. We have to assess what kind of society we are living our lives.