In the Name Of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace.
This entry is a copy of part of a chapter in the book 'The Search for Beauty in Islam' by Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl. The chapter, Chapter 56 (pp190-192), is entitled 'When the Devil Speaks'.
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When the Devil Speaks
(Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Search for Beauty in Islam, 2006)
God praises the nation that speaks without fear. The only chosen people are those who command the good and condemn the evil (3:110). Such is the true covenant of God, that the chosen are a people of principle, not the by-product of lineage or the inheritors of some past glory. The covenant is a covenant of words - discharged through words. To paraphrase the Prophet, whoever is silent before an injustice becomes as if a demon. The beauty of God is pure goodness, and the abyss of ugliness is fear, for what other than fear can silence the soul and give the word to Satan? God commands that we speak the truth even against those we hold most dear. Lineage, blood, or love is not supreme - supremacy is to the word that must be spoken truthfully.
Our Exalted and Merciful God has set the unwavering word for all those who believe. The Lord has commanded that we stand firmly for justice as witnesses for God. If others will testify on behalf of blood or tribe, the chosen will testify only on behalf of God. "Bear witness for God, even as against yourselves, or your parents or your kin, and whether it be against rich or poor for [whomever it may be] God has a greater entitlement over you. Follow not the whims of your hearts, lest you swerve. If you distort justice or fail to testify, beware that God knows all that you do." (4:135)
How can we testify if the walls of dungeons are all we can see? How can we testify if we are not free? How can the believers testify if they live in fear? Are they supposed to sacrifice themselves on the alters of freedom when the altars are now in the control of demons? What truly breaks the heart and chokes the throat is that today, the demons are humans who call themselves Muslim believers. Yet, it does not matter what they call themselves, a name never discharged a covenant or commended anyone to the Lord. What matters is the truth of the word, and that when the pious fall silent only the devil speaks.
I sit in the Conference, testifying to the truth of the word. In my hand is Risalat Iblis ila Ikhwanihi al-Manahis (Satan's Epistle to His Miserable Brothers) by al-Hakim al-Jishumiyya al-Bayhaqi (d. 494/1100-1)/ The author was a Hanafi Mu'tazili jurist most of his life, and then the burdens of testimony called upon him to become a Zaydi. He was killed and silenced in Mecca because of his book, and now he joined the Conference, and now he speaks freely. His book, Satan's Epistle, was buried among the millions of manuscripts suppressed by the persecutors of the word until my mentor and teacher Hossein Modarresi published and liberated the work. Al-Bayhaqi asked in his book, if Satan on the Final Day would speak, what and whom would he praise? Satan ends up praising and thanking every Muslim who adopted a creed that attributed to God things that are irrational, unjust, or ugly. All those who make Islam the religion of the ugly and stupid lead themselves and others astray, and Satan feels nothing but gratitude and elation for this miserable company.
I start to wonder if Satan would speak about us today, what would he say? Which of our numerous vanities would he choose to praise? I think Satan would have to express his profuse gratitude for our emotions, whims and fears that induce us to submit to ourselves rather than to our Lord. Satan would be jubilant that our Lord told us to "read," and instead, we excelled in the hysteria of activism and irrationality. In the eyes of the devil, is there a better nation than that which celebrates stupidity, and declares the use of reason to be sophistry and heresy? Is there a better gift to depravity than a nation that treats knowledge as if it is an ornament or decoration, and not the gateway to the truth of our being? Isn't Satan ecstatic when he finds a nation that refuses to learn from its past and constantly tries to reinvent wisdom's wheel? Is there a greater evil than a people who testify against a knowledge they don't know, and excel at testifying on the basis of hearsay? Isn't speaking and testifying without knowledge an act of lying and an act of deceit and perjury? What would the devil say about a people who stuff their pulpits with despots and nominate the most ignorant to lead? How would the devil praise a people who treat their religion as an extra-curricular activity and a "feel-good" hobby? Isn't the devil simply elated with our esteemed sages, puerile kids who think Islam is a fashion show, and whose egos are their reference points? They have no need for books or knowledge - they simply act the role of the wise and pious as soon as they grow the sprucely beard and find the dapper wardrobe?
This entry is a copy of part of a chapter in the book 'The Search for Beauty in Islam' by Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl. The chapter, Chapter 56 (pp190-192), is entitled 'When the Devil Speaks'.
-------------------------
When the Devil Speaks
(Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Search for Beauty in Islam, 2006)
God praises the nation that speaks without fear. The only chosen people are those who command the good and condemn the evil (3:110). Such is the true covenant of God, that the chosen are a people of principle, not the by-product of lineage or the inheritors of some past glory. The covenant is a covenant of words - discharged through words. To paraphrase the Prophet, whoever is silent before an injustice becomes as if a demon. The beauty of God is pure goodness, and the abyss of ugliness is fear, for what other than fear can silence the soul and give the word to Satan? God commands that we speak the truth even against those we hold most dear. Lineage, blood, or love is not supreme - supremacy is to the word that must be spoken truthfully.
Our Exalted and Merciful God has set the unwavering word for all those who believe. The Lord has commanded that we stand firmly for justice as witnesses for God. If others will testify on behalf of blood or tribe, the chosen will testify only on behalf of God. "Bear witness for God, even as against yourselves, or your parents or your kin, and whether it be against rich or poor for [whomever it may be] God has a greater entitlement over you. Follow not the whims of your hearts, lest you swerve. If you distort justice or fail to testify, beware that God knows all that you do." (4:135)
How can we testify if the walls of dungeons are all we can see? How can we testify if we are not free? How can the believers testify if they live in fear? Are they supposed to sacrifice themselves on the alters of freedom when the altars are now in the control of demons? What truly breaks the heart and chokes the throat is that today, the demons are humans who call themselves Muslim believers. Yet, it does not matter what they call themselves, a name never discharged a covenant or commended anyone to the Lord. What matters is the truth of the word, and that when the pious fall silent only the devil speaks.
I sit in the Conference, testifying to the truth of the word. In my hand is Risalat Iblis ila Ikhwanihi al-Manahis (Satan's Epistle to His Miserable Brothers) by al-Hakim al-Jishumiyya al-Bayhaqi (d. 494/1100-1)/ The author was a Hanafi Mu'tazili jurist most of his life, and then the burdens of testimony called upon him to become a Zaydi. He was killed and silenced in Mecca because of his book, and now he joined the Conference, and now he speaks freely. His book, Satan's Epistle, was buried among the millions of manuscripts suppressed by the persecutors of the word until my mentor and teacher Hossein Modarresi published and liberated the work. Al-Bayhaqi asked in his book, if Satan on the Final Day would speak, what and whom would he praise? Satan ends up praising and thanking every Muslim who adopted a creed that attributed to God things that are irrational, unjust, or ugly. All those who make Islam the religion of the ugly and stupid lead themselves and others astray, and Satan feels nothing but gratitude and elation for this miserable company.
I start to wonder if Satan would speak about us today, what would he say? Which of our numerous vanities would he choose to praise? I think Satan would have to express his profuse gratitude for our emotions, whims and fears that induce us to submit to ourselves rather than to our Lord. Satan would be jubilant that our Lord told us to "read," and instead, we excelled in the hysteria of activism and irrationality. In the eyes of the devil, is there a better nation than that which celebrates stupidity, and declares the use of reason to be sophistry and heresy? Is there a better gift to depravity than a nation that treats knowledge as if it is an ornament or decoration, and not the gateway to the truth of our being? Isn't Satan ecstatic when he finds a nation that refuses to learn from its past and constantly tries to reinvent wisdom's wheel? Is there a greater evil than a people who testify against a knowledge they don't know, and excel at testifying on the basis of hearsay? Isn't speaking and testifying without knowledge an act of lying and an act of deceit and perjury? What would the devil say about a people who stuff their pulpits with despots and nominate the most ignorant to lead? How would the devil praise a people who treat their religion as an extra-curricular activity and a "feel-good" hobby? Isn't the devil simply elated with our esteemed sages, puerile kids who think Islam is a fashion show, and whose egos are their reference points? They have no need for books or knowledge - they simply act the role of the wise and pious as soon as they grow the sprucely beard and find the dapper wardrobe?
