Viewing Events Through the Qur’an and Sunnah

Islam is a dynamic force with such uplifting qualities that it can transform a savage Bedouin society into a civilized one. History bears witness to this. From the Bedouin Arab society of the age of ignorance, which recognized no law, rules, discipline, state authority or social order, it brought forth the Ensar and Muhacir, who became cornerstones in carrying Islam across the ages. It brought into being that exemplary generation known as the Companions. When we examine the lives of those distinguished people before Islam, we inevitably encounter scenes that send shivers down the spine.

When Islamic values prevail in all their purity and clarity in a person’s spiritual world and everyday conduct—in short, when one becomes a “person who embodies Islam”—evil will turn to good, hatred to love, envy to admiration, intolerance to forgiveness and forbearance, rudeness to courtesy, and hardship to ease. The crux of the matter, then, is becoming a “person who embodies Islam.” Those who cannot analyze events as Muslims, who cannot resolve their problems within the framework of the Qur’an and Sunnah, who summarily condemn people according to the ignorant, secular value judgments imposed on them by their surroundings, and who confuse apples with oranges have a problem internalizing Islam.

To give concrete form to these observations, which I have tried to present in abstract terms, I would like to offer an episode from the Age of Felicity. We will see examples of the behavior of those who had not yet fully freed themselves from the values of ignorance and properly embraced Islamic values, alongside those who had truly internalized them. 

As is well known, verses 11-21 of Surah Nur in the Holy Qur’an discuss the Ifk (slander) incident. They describe how the slander against our mother, the revered Aişe, was thrown back in the slanderers’ faces. Before the verses were revealed, Medina was in turmoil over this slander for about a month. Leading figures in this slander campaign were the chief of the hypocrites, Abdullah b. Übey b. Selûl, Zeyd b. Rifa, Mistah b. Üsâse, Hassan b. Sabit, and the Messenger of Allah’s sister-in-law, Hamne binti Cahş. The first two were hypocrites, while the remaining three were Muslims who became involved in this evil through misunderstanding and weakness in their Islamic commitment. Among them, Mistah was a Muslim who, being poor, received regular financial support from the revered Ebu Bekir, to whom he was also related. Ebu Bekir stopped the financial assistance he had been giving this Companion, who had followed the hypocrites’ lead and become an instrument of their slander campaign. But Allah was not pleased with this, because those who had participated in the slander campaign had already received the punishment for slander. Those who have served the punishment for their crime have paid its price and are therefore as though they had not committed it. For Islam has no equivalent of the criminal records kept by today’s systems. The following verse was revealed to draw attention to the error of Ebu Bekir’s decision and to state that, as long as they retain their Islamic identity, Muslims who act wrongly/commit sins out of ignorance and under the influence of certain weaknesses, and who have paid the price for their wrongdoing, should be treated with forgiveness and forbearance: “Let those among you who possess virtue and wealth not reduce what they give to relatives, the poor, and those who have emigrated in the path of Allah. Let them forgive and show forbearance. Would you not love Allah to forgive you? Allah is forgiving, merciful.” (24/Nur: 22).

According to the hadith narrated by the revered Aişe, after verses 11-21 of Surah Nur were revealed exonerating her, Ebu Bekir swore never again to help Mistah, because he had taken part in the slander campaign despite their family ties and the assistance he had received. When this verse was revealed, in response to its words, “WOULD YOU NOT LOVE ALLAH TO FORGIVE YOU?” he said, “By Allah, we do wish Allah to forgive us.” He then resumed helping Mistah, more generously than before. According to Abdullah b. Abbas, some other Companions besides Ebu Bekir had also sworn not to help those who had played an active role in the slander. After this verse was revealed, they all made expiation, released themselves from their oaths, and continued to provide assistance. (Tefhim, III/501-511).

Turning to the present, when a Muslim commits a sin arising from weakness and ambition, and the whole pack of unbelievers—secularists, Kemalists, deists and atheists—launches a campaign to publicly pillory that Muslim, other Muslims get swept up in their fervor and help build the pyramids of that very same campaign. This secular, Islam-hating crowd stands by Ekrem the thief, who has stripped Istanbul bare, saying, “This is Tayyip’s setup. It is a trap he laid to eliminate his political rival.” Yet they seized upon Fatma Betül Kaya Sayan’s sin of fraud involving a fund, forgot the filth dripping from Ekrem, and joined together to pillory Fatma Betül Kaya. These shameless, immoral people who try to lecture others on morality shout at the top of their lungs, when they should be ashamed to say a word. We are not exonerating Fatma Betül here. Just like the Muslims who slandered Aişe, she should serve her punishment; she has been arrested and will do so… After serving her punishment, she remains a member of this society. A person cannot be blamed and ostracized for life for a crime whose price they have paid. That has no place in a society governed by Islamic values. For there is no criminal record in Islam. A Muslim who has committed a crime, served the punishment for it, and repented is as though they had not committed that crime. “Ettâibü mine’z-zenbi kemen lâ zenbe leh”/“Whoever repents of a sin is as though they had never committed that sin.” (İbn Mâce, Zühd, 30, Hadith No: 4250; Taberânî, el-Mu‘cemü’l-Kebîr, 10/150).

Because those who slandered Aişe had served their punishment, other Muslims did not despise them, ostracize them, or abandon them to their fate. All their relationships continued on even better terms. Indeed, although he had played an important role in the slander campaign against her, Aişe continued to show Hassan b. Sabit due regard and respect. On one occasion, when she was reminded that Hassan was “the person who had spread the slander,” Aişe replied, “No, Hassan was the person who answered the poets hostile to Islam on behalf of the Prophet and Islam.” Acting in accordance with the values she believed in, Aişe regarded Hassan b. Sabit’s slander as nullified by the punishment of 80 lashes he had received for it.

Theft and corruption violate another person’s material rights. But slander against someone’s honor and chastity is a grave violation of their personal rights. This is a greater violation than an infringement of material rights. If everything returns to normal after the punishment for slandering a Prophet’s wife has been served, why, after someone has served a sentence for violating a material right, do people seek to pillory that person for life over that sin? We cannot disavow those who have sinned; we disavow what they have done. Our Book of Life says of those who rebel against the Prophet: “If they disobey you, say, ‘I disavow/am far removed from what you do.’” (26/Şuarâ:216) Almighty Allah commands us to distance ourselves not from people but from their deeds, and to maintain our relationships with them rather than exclude them.

On the basis of these truths, we say that Muslims’ view of things and events must differ from that of non-Muslim enemies of Islam. While their points of reference are the value judgments of ignorance and secular values detached from Revelation, Muslims’ points of reference are the Qur’an and Sunnah. It means viewing events from the perspective Allah tells us to adopt. Please, let Muslims approach one another by these standards. We are flawed human beings. Let us not base our sense of superiority on other people’s mistakes. Let us not be merciless toward our people, who have already been mercilessly battered by polytheistic systems. Let us show mercy to the following three kinds of people, as a saying attributed to our elders urges: “Those who fall into poverty after wealth, those who lose their standing and are humiliated after being respected, and scholars left among the ignorant.”

What we have said also applies to İmamoğlu. If he returned what he stole, felt remorse, repented and mended his ways, he too would fall within this scope. But he puts on a show, saying, “I wonder what madman would put me in chains,” and is pleased with what he has done… He seems to be in a frame of mind that says, “If I got out and were elected again, I would do the same things.”

Let us conclude our article with these words that İmam Şafi spoke to his student Yunus: “O Yunus! Hate the mistake, but do not hate the person who makes it. Be angry at the sin with all your heart, but have pity on the sinner and show them mercy! Our duty is to treat the disease, not destroy the patient!” Let us reflect on this.

Musab Seyithan

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