Talk Islam

Andrea Useem

  • 10:09:19 am on July 14, 2008 | # | |
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    While writing a post on why forgiveness is good for you, I got thinking about Muslim traditions about forgiveness. I’m wondering: Do you think hadiths and teachings about forgiveness are not emphasized enough by Muslim leaders? Should we be talking about forgiving, say, Muslim-haters?

     

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Comments

  • aziz 2:46 pm on July 14, 2008 | #

    I don’t think I am qualified to comment on hadith, but as far as personal forgiveness goes, I think that there’s an inerent strength in forgiveness, because it innoculates you from the reaction that your enemies are trying to provoke. For example, I hold no real personal animus against Robert Spencer or Daniel Pipes or Charles Johnson, and this makes it possible for me to live my life relatively unconcerned with whatever happens to be on their blogs at any given moment (and I do subscribe to all three of their feeds). We are ennobled by forgiveness, because it lets us keep an emotional distance.

    Forgiveness against those who attack us with mroe than just words is another matter. The attack on our masjid in Houston last year, for example, is not something I am yet able to forgive, especially since it was directed at the children’s madrasah rather than the masjid proper.

  • Andrea Useem 3:00 pm on July 14, 2008 | #

    Question for you Aziz: Do you wish Muslim leaders (i’m thinking folks like Hamza Yusuf, say) put more emphasis on forgiveness? For example, as a way to confront prejudice and discrimination against Muslims in the US?

  • aziz 3:47 pm on July 14, 2008 | #

    well, i dont follow most muslim leaders in the us, at least as far as theology-wise, so im not really qualified to answer. however, i think that the theme of forgiveness should be a theme in our muslim american political discourse, if it isnt already. im just not plugged in enough to comment on the reality.

  • Willow 6:12 pm on July 14, 2008 | #

    Is forgiveness the way it’s characterized in Christianity really a theme in Islam? Certainly the example of the Prophet and the sahaba would suggest being tolerant of insult and fair to one’s enemies is part of being a good Muslim, but forgiveness at all costs–the ‘turn the other cheek’ philosophy–is nowhere that I’ve seen, personally. Like Aziz I am not a scholar so of course I can’t say that with all certainty.

    My counter-question, then, is this: is it healthy for Muslims to be continually comparing themselves to Christians? That’s what this is, at its heart of hearts, and the way you can tell is because asking “Does Hinduism/Buddhism/Judaism have a tradition of forgiveness?” sounds either a) odd and superfluous or b) the set-up for some kind of evangelical speech. The only reason it doesn’t sound odd when asked of Islam is because we’ve been culturally indoctrinated with the idea that Islam specifically falls short of Christianity.

  • Tariq Nelson 5:46 am on July 15, 2008 | #

    I don’t think forgiveness is emphasized nearly enough

  • Andrea Useem 8:12 am on July 15, 2008 | #

    Good questions Willow, but I think your comment proves the point that Christians have succeeded in putting a copyright on the concept of forgiveness, when in fact it is also a big part of many other traditions. You’re right, “turn the other cheek” is not a phrase in Islam. But there is the hadith qudsi about Allah forgiving you even if your sins reach the sky (bad paraphrase on my part) and many hadith from the prophet about finding excuses for those who do wrong. Seems me to that we as muslims are losing something if we can’t claim the forgivesss tradition in our own religion.

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