Spiritual Health Learning Community Center
Exploring Life's Horizons
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Shall I not inform you about a better act than fasting, charity and prayer? - making peace
between one another. Enmity and malice tear up heavenly rewards by the roots. - Prophet
Muhammad (Peace be upon him)
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Hatred
On one level, hatred involves ignorance concerning the
nature of God's plan for existence. Generally speaking,
whenever we hate someone or something, we have no use for
the person, thing, or process in question.
We do not see why what is hated should be the way it is. We
tend to believe life and/or the world would be a much better
place if the object of our hatred did not exist.
In effect, we are ignorant of how, for instance, the person we
hate fits into God's plan. We don't know what cosmic or
spiritual purposes that individual has. We don't know how
God is using the person to bring about various effects. We
don't know what the nature of the relationship is between
God and the individual we hate.
During the course of a life time, one person touches the lives
of many other people, both in minor, as well as, in major
ways. To try to calculate how life would be different if a
given person had never lived, is beyond our capacity to
calculate.
Even if a person is a miserable human being, we cannot
conclude, automatically, everybody's life would be
immeasurably better if such a person did not exist.
Sometimes we learn the most about ourselves and the nature
of life through close encounters of the 'worst' kind.
To use certain people as negative role models, is not an
uncommon practice. We tell ourselves or our children:
"Don't be like so and so". Quite frequently, this sort of
lesson sticks in our mind and plays an important role in
shaping our character and behavior.
Maybe one of the reasons why such people exist is because
God wanted other individuals to take heed in their own lives
to avoid turning out like those people. Perhaps, God created
such people as a spiritual challenge or trial or test for
whomever they come into contact with.
If so, then, ironically, we owe such people a debt of gratitude.
This is so because they have been an opportunity for us to
grow spiritually and derive benefit. Conceivably, if not for
these 'people of difficulty', we might not have learned certain
important lessons in life.
There have been movies like Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful
Life, or stories involving time travel, in which this issue is
addressed. How would life be different if so and so never had
existed or such and such an event had never happened?
Sufi masters indicate life is an integrated whole. We are all in
this together, and we are all in this for a purpose.
Ecology is not just about how biological and physical systems
interact and affect one another through dynamic, intricate,
subtle relationships. Ecology also extends into the emotional,
mental and spiritual realms.
According to practitioners of the Sufi path, if something has
been brought into existence by God, then that thing has a role
to play on a variety of levels within the ecology of Being.
Nothing exists by chance or arbitrarily or without serving a
number of roles in the Divine scheme of things.
Consequently, when we hate someone or something, this is
an acknowledgment of our ignorance of how everything fits
together. If we understood existence from a Divine
perspective, we would see the benefits which comes from
everyone and everything in creation, despite the appearances
of life events.
Of course, knowing the spiritual significance of something
may not make that something any less of a problem for us to
have to learn to master. However, at least, things are placed
in their proper perspective, and having a reliable framework
of guidance through which to engage such issues, can be an
extremely important asset.
Death, illness, tragedy, difficulty, struggle, conflict,
antagonism, hostility and hatred all have a reason for being.
We either learn how to use them for our spiritual benefit, or
they will consume and use us. There is no neutral territory in
this matter.
As long as we are entangled in a web of hatred, we cannot
derive spiritual benefit from the situation. We are being
controlled and consumed by the hatred and, therefore, are
damaging ourselves spiritually. If nothing else, we are losing
the opportunity for spiritual growth.
A corollary of the foregoing theme of ignorance (concerning
the Divine reasons why the things we hate exist) is the
following. When we hate something, we, in effect, are
criticizing God.
There generally is a self-righteousness in our hatred. We feel
justified in hating whatever it is we hate.
Nonetheless, our hatred is not justified, no matter what has
happened. This is the case because whatever has happened
has been with the permission of God.
According to the direct mystical experiences of the
practitioners of the Sufi path, God never does the least
injustice to creation. If we don't see it that way, then there is
something wrong with the way we see and understand the
nature of life.
Almost invariably, we speculate about the significance and
meaning of events without having any direct proof of the
validity of any of our speculations. Almost all of our
conclusions are drawn from premises of ignorance
concerning the relationship between Divinity and creation.
Whatever has happened has a spiritual role to play by
becoming a channel for blessings and grace from God, in this
world and/or the next, if one learns how to deal with the
situation properly from a spiritual point of view.
To hate a person or situation or thing, is to say God is doing
something wrong by letting that person, situation or thing be
as she, he, or it is. To hate, carries with it an implicit sense of
justification for wishing whatever we hate to be other than it
is. We are self-righteously condemning God for letting things
unfold as they do.
God is not doing anything wrong. We are the ones who are
wrong for jumping to conclusions before all the facts are in
and before we have any appreciation of what those facts
mean from God's perspective. We are the ones who are
wrong for not discovering how we should respond spiritually
to the situation.
All events demand a response from us. However, not every
way of responding is constructive or spiritually beneficial.
Hatred is an ill-conceived response from beginning to end.
Hatred is a breach of the spiritual etiquette from which
practitioners of the Sufi path draw in order to be able to
respond to life situations in a spiritually constructive manner.
According to Sufi masters, one of the signs hatred is not a
justified response to life events is the way in which it induces,
sooner or later, negative consequences to rebound against
the person who hates. These consequences may come in
many different forms and may seem to have little or nothing
to do with the context of hatred.
One may suffer financially or socially. Difficulties may arise
in one's marriage or family. One may become ill or suffer
emotionally or mentally in some way.
To hate, involves, knowingly or unknowingly, criticism of
God. Criticism of God removes one from the protection of
Mercy and Compassion which God extends to us. As a result,
we become vulnerable to various currents of difficulty and
hardship which permeate this plane of existence. Hatred has
more consequences than we can imagine.
The Sufi masters indicate God has not taken this protection
away. We have removed ourselves through our actions.
The difficulties which have come our way as a result of our
transgression of hatred need not be a permanent condition.
For instance, if we repent and seek God's forgiveness for our
ignorance about, and criticism of, Divinity, then, God willing,
the grace and blessings which protect us from such
difficulties will be extended to us once again.
Repentance, however, is only sincere if we take serious steps
to terminate the kind of attitudes, emotions or behavior
which led to the need for repentance in the first place. In the
present case, this means struggling to overcome, God willing,
our tendency toward hatred.
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