Why humans should not be feared

[noman waseem]

Salam Aleikum,

In context to the fear of other humans, our actions lie within a domain that is defined on one end by an environment that we can control through action and on the other end by an environment that persists without regard to exerted action (i.e. slavery or oppression in general). For the first condition, an example may be when we fail to do something and then fear the authority figure that will lay forward the negative consequences. This fear, however, is only an illusion of our minds. In fact, since in such an environment we had the capacity to change our situation via our actions, our own Self is the sole bearer of responsibility for the consequences of our actions. Thus, we “source” our fear of the consequences of our actions to the authority figure, just as we may “source” our fear of getting burned to a lighted fire. However, in context to the environment under consideration, the authority figure is no more responsible for causing pain than is the fire for burning our hands. In both situations, it is behaving in contradiction to Quranic Teachings and remaining ignorant of the Devine Laws as espoused in the Quran that causes the negative results. As defined by the Devine Law of Cause and Effect, fire burns and behaving in contradiction to Quranic Teachings will eventually relieve us from the high station of humanity to be demoted to sub human levels of existence. It is while existing in these lower levels that one may fear men which in fact they fear only an illusion cast upon their eyes as a result of ignoring reality. A reality pristine in nature and defined such that illusory fear in general is nothing more that a warning of a greater suffering. And so for a believer, illusory fear from all quarters should be cause for the real fear: the fear of living a life in contradiction to Quranic Teachings, a life unfulfilled. This is because unlike the illusory fear that results from ignorance of the Devine Laws, the real fear has real consequences in the hereafter.

With regards to the other end of the spectrum, while the environment may change, the Quranic Teachings and Devine Laws remain firmly intact. In such an environment, we may fear a person because they can genuinely cause physical pain to us through action. But again, this is a baseless fear founded on nothing but illusions of the mind. This is so since we are responsible for improving our environmental situation only up to the point where it is deemed possible. When another blocks our way forward, then we have the responsibility of remaining firm in resolve and maximizing our productive output, or to change our environment all together by moving. Consequently, people who have the capacity (or rather disability) to cause harm onto others are but wanderers within Allah’s Domain, lost, blind and deaf to reason. And so to fear such people is to assign them a status above that which is decreed for them by Allah. Consider this: Allah considers such people to exist on a plane below that of cattle. Would you fear cattle in a similar situation?

Of course, ultimately we cannot fear our fellow humans because Allah has taught us as such. But then, Allah does not make rulings arbitrarily and there is room for exploring certain rulings from different perspectives using the Quran as a guide.