In the name of God the compassionate, ever merciful
It is not one’s judgment or decision that makes them successful or a failure, but the standard by which the judgment or decision is made. All judgments, whether right or wrong, are made based on a given criterion. The criterion is derived based on factual or fictional, logical or emotional basis.
From an Islamic point of view those who live a successful life in this world are those who use a criterion that allows them to make decisions that will earn them a good and honorable position at the day of resurrection.
Ultimately the only one who has all the information about everything and has the absolute criterion to make the perfect judgment is none but our Creator God almighty.
Why do some people when given the ability to think by our Creator still fail? It is because they don’t have the proper standard of judgment and that is something we humans have to acquire by ourselves.
It was one afternoon in Tehran where my Father and I sat in a taxicab going back to the house. The cab driver inquired our address and we proceeded. A while later, the driver started talking and said that he also lives in our neighborhood and was looking for a mosque closeby. When my father started a conversation with him, what he said truly surprised both of us!
He said that he was really not a good person and he had wronged, abused and mistreated people and that had now begun to feel very guilty. He said that he wanted to investigate religion so that maybe perhaps he could be guided and be a better person.When asked him about his decision, his answer was that he could not clearly tell the difference between right and wrong and no one else could help him in that regard either, so maybe religion will be of help!
Clearly this individual, the cab driver had tried all the channels that he had available to him before and they turned out to be dead-end and his last hope was his religion, which seemed like that he had never known much about it before.This individual was now looking for new criterion to alter his life for the better.
He had a long healing spiritual journey ahead of him. I gave him the address to the mosque and wished him well.
But what about we the believers (Moslems), what is our criterion to make a good judgment? Fortunately that has been given to us as a favor from our Creator and it is no other but the perfect divine book, the holy Quran.
Sureh Al-Furqhan, Verse 1:
Blessed is He (GOD), Who sent down the criterion (i.e. this Quran) to His servant (Muhammad SAWW) so that he may be a warner to all that exists.
Another favor of our Creator to the believers is His appointed Imams to guide the believers by clarifying, dispensing and implementing the correct Quranic criterion provided by his Messenger (SAWW).
A Perfect example of such Imam is none other but the Leader of the Believers, Imam Ali (AS). After the Prophet of Islam (SAWW) passed away, it was only he who possessed the best criterion to pass along to the believers. It is not just the Hadith which some dispute that point to fact that he was the first, but Imam Ali’s (AS) decisions, judgments and his words are evidence to the fact that he was the most knowledgeable and the best follower of Quran after the Prophet. That was the case, even though there were some believers who disliked him and other Imams too and falsely argued and planned against them.
Those providing guidance may not be have been appreciated nor followed by some believers. Regardless, they were responsible for providing specific and general guidance to all believers. They helped and prayed for all believers and struggled on their side in the way of God as our Creator wills it.
Those sent to guide, appreciated the support of the believers, but preferred if they had not been glorified nor praised by them at the time of their worldly existence.
Further analysis of divinely ordained criterion indicates that a believer’s best chance is with another believer. It has been indicated in the holy Quran that a believer must only marry or befriend another believer. This should not be questioned for there is always at least one good reason for an injunction such as this to appear in the Quran.
We must remember that non-believers also have their own criterion and they don’t want a believer to come and change that for them. So if a non-believer is good and respects the believers, then we as believers (Moslems) must treat them with the same goodness and respect. But to marry or befriend a non-believer will neither benefit the believer nor the non-believer.
There are many reasons for the above injunction, but one of the related reasons here is that it will help the believers to continue maintaining the proper standard of judgment and decision making in their lives. If one believer fails, then the other friend or spouse who is a believer can support them and guide them out of error and help them restore the right criterion.
Years ago while visiting a Bazar in an Iranian city, yours truly stopped at a shop and bought a few small frames that contained names of Allah, Ali and other holy names and writings for myself and as souvenir for friends and family. I paid the seller and then went to a bookstore that was in the vicinity of that particular shop.
While browsing through books of interest, suddenly the door of the bookstore opened and the seller who sold me the frames came running in, nearly out of breath. He approached and handed me some money in form of bills. I inquired the reason why and he said that it was the overpayment for my purchase.Impressed with his action, I had already figured out the reason why, but did not want to make him feel bad for his good deed, so I just told him “You must be a good Moslem”. He smiled, glanced down for a second, and said “No sir, but my wife is!”
Here we can see one perfect example of why believers should marry other believers. Because if one of them, in this case the husband, failed in maintaining the proper Islamic criterion, it was his wife who came forward and protected him from sin and made the correct decision by suggesting to him to return the money that he overcharged, especially for being greedy on the sale of such religious items!
As Imam Ali (AS) who was the most expert after the Prophet of Islam (SAWW) on the subject of valid criterion had said most fittingly:
“Avarice dulls the faculties of (correct) judgment and wisdom!”
Thank you for reading this.
