The lesson of oppression,
torture, mass killings, flagration and devastation goes beyond the mere
question of ends and means and allows us to grasp the basic question of the
nature of criminality. Hasan bin Sabah (d.
1124 A.D.), known as ‘sheikh-ul-jabal’ and pious men like him, the Kharjites of
early Muslim history, were by any definition Right Men. But their religious sincerity
is not in question here; they placed their grimly obsessed ego at the service
of their religion, is the question. They were personally convinced that they
were right; everything else followed. Those who opposed them were wrong and
deserved to die. The same perspective was true with Osama bin Laden and his
al-Qaeda. It is a moot point whether it
makes the slightest difference in a believer who refers to his deity as
Jehovah, God, Allah or Ahura Mazda. This is not the issue even. The issue is
that man is capable of reaching out towards a freedom that transcends his
everyday societal limitations, and that saints and prophets, poets and artists,
scientists and philosophers all share this aim to a greater or lesser degree.
The greatest enemy of this transcendence is the ego with its petty aims and
convictions. It is true that we cannot live without the ego; a person without
an ego would be little more than an idiot.
The literal meaning of ego or
egoism, according Merriam Webster, is ‘the feeling or belief that you are
better, more important, more talented, etc. than others’. But in applications
and practices it is varied and mostly damaging to human society. And this ego or egoism, as we can see, is the
basic theme of history, its most constant pattern; and this is the theme of my
discussion here.
Civilization was the outcome
of man’s religious urge – for the first cities grew up around temples. Religion
has continued to be perhaps the most dominant theme in human history. Yet
practically every major religious movement has changed its nature as and when its
followers have fought amongst themselves. Why could those early city-dwellers
not have lived in peace and prosperity, tilling the ground and worshipping
their gods? They had what all animals
crave most – security. But sooner or
later, some minor squabble would blow up between small groups of rival
citizens, and then all their fellow citizens would feel outraged to hear about
the affront; every ego would rise up on its legs and cry out for revenge. The
human ability for sympathy and communication instantly becomes a disadvantage
as everyone feels that he himself has personally received the insult. Nothing heals more slowly or festers more
persistently than a bruised ego. New resentments supplement the old ones, and
soon both sides are convinced that the only answer lies in the total humiliation
of the other.
The history of world
organized religions furnish typical examples of egoism displayed in the tussles
between churches and emperors, between ulama, fuqaha and theologians, between
caliphs and their courtiers, between soldiers of sword and warriors of pen.
The history of Christianity could offer a
thousand such instances of self-egoism. As soon as Pepin The Great (d. 768 as king of the Franks) gave the
popes a basis of power by making them a present of the first Papal States, the
popes became as violent and predatory as any emperor. When the German emperor Otto-I (d.973) set
out to create the Holy Roman Empire, the pope and emperor instantly came into
head-on collision; the pope lost and Otto-I became Holy Roman Emperor. A dispute
arose when the Church annulled the
marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon, the Church of England separated from the Roman
Catholic Church in 1534 and became the established church, Church of
England, by an Act of Parliament. This
caused a series of events known as the English Reformation.
There are hundreds of such instances in
the history of medieval Europe. For recent episodes, we can see the tussles
between Bush and Saddam, between Shah Iran’s ouster and Iranian’s clergy.
Almost parallel stories are repeated in Egypt, Libya, Sudan, and the cold war
situation now going on between Russian President Putin and President Barrack
Obama of USA on the issue of Ukraine.
Almost identical scenario of egoism
appeared in the Muslim history. Just
after the demise of the Prophet Muhammad (Blessings of God be upon him), the
Muslim community was split into Sunni and Shia factions. The whole family of
the house of Ali and Fatima was massacred, excepting few, in the barren field
of Karbala in Iraq by the governor of usurper caliph of Bani Umayyad tribe, named
Muawiya bin Abu Sufyan. The Muslim history is full of such squabbles mainly due
to display of egoism by caliphs, governors, their generals and courtiers.
In 767 Imam Abu Hanifah, the founder of Hanafi School of Theology in Muslim history
had died in prison when he refused to
support the Abbasid ruler Al-Mansur.
When the governor of Madinah demanded and forced
people to take oath of allegiance to Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, Imam Malik issued a fatwa that such an oath
was not binding because it was given under coercion. This resulted in many
people finding courage to express their opposition. Consequently, the Imam was arrested, found guilty of
defiance, publicly flogged and put in prison and died of torture.
If we look past for a moment the endless
complications of loyalties and territorial claims and go straight to the heart
of the matter, we can see that this was not really an ideological struggle
between spiritual authority and the ambition of emperors, kings, and caliphs. The underlying reality of the quarrel is also
the underlying reality of the rise and fall of such persons who were grimly
inflated by their egos and were convinced that they are arguing about spiritual
issues or matters of justice and principle when they are simply dominated by their
own emotions.
When one of the sages was asked, ‘What is the
most wicked truth’? he replied, ‘A man’s passion for himself.’ So beware of falling into the habit of doing
that. Such conduct assuredly lowers one
in people’s estimation, and leads to hatred of oneself in God’s eye. If we want
to appreciate the fact that praise of ourselves does not raise us in other
men’s estimation, let us consider what happens when our acquaintances make much
of their own virtue, influence and wealth.
Our heart refuses to acknowledge what they claim, and our nature finds
it excessive; when we leave their company, we blame them. Assuredly when we justify ourselves, they
likewise blame us in their hearts while we are present, and after we have left
their company they give tongue to their thoughts. God says, ‘So do not justify
yourselves, He best knoweth those who show piety’ (Q.53:33). ‘Pride goeth before destruction, and a
haughty spirit before a fall’(Bible: Proverb 16:18).
Invoking evil: Guard your tongue from invoking evil on
anyone whom God most high has created. “Every morning when a person wakes up the
whole body begs the tongue, ‘Fear God for our sake, for our salvation depends
upon you! If you are true, we will be truthful. If you are false, we are
doomed.’” (A Prophetic Tradition, related by Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, described in
Tirmidhi). Guard your tongue from
jesting, ridiculing and scoffing at people whether in earnest or in play. It disturbs our reputation, as water in a
pool is disturbed by a stone; it destroys respect, induces isolation and harms
the heart. It is the source of contumacy, anger and estrangement, and implants
rancor in men’s hearts. This much is
about the various defects of the tongue.
Nothing helps us against it except our reservations in speaking with
others and the preservation of silence wherever possible.
The nature of egoism changes with the
changing concept of human society. During
the movement for socialism and communism, the writings of the socialists seemed
to justify the depravity feeling of the mass.
They diffused the vague idea that the majority were under-privileged
because a small minority had seized all the riches of society for themselves.
This notion convinced the writers and the artists of the time that they should
be stabbing people in the back rather than making any effort, and that anybody
who had achieved anything through effort must be a crook who deserved to be
murdered and robbed. So although
socialism began as a doctrine of compassion and concern, it soon degenerated
into a ‘magical’ justification of criminality.
Marx and Engels (the founding fathers of Leninism) discussed of a
society of strong and self-sufficient individuals; in fact, they did more than
all the politicians to create a society of self-pitying egoists.
American society had always believed in the
importance of individual enterprise; it is therefore no surprise that American crime
began to exhibit this individualistic tendencies generated by individual ego long
before crime in Europe.
ISRAR HASAN
MAR. 15, 2014
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