Us vs. Them: An Islamic Reflection on Division - 1

It is one thing for the ego to boast through wealth, ancestry, education, or social power. These forms of superiority, though ugly, are easier to recognize. It is another thing entirely when the ego discovers that it can wear the garments of piety, speak the language of truth, quote revelation, and still remain hungry for self-exaltation. At that point, the danger becomes more subtle and more severe, because the person may begin to imagine that his pride is principle, that his harshness is sincerity, that his contempt is discernment, and that his love of being above others is actually love of Allah and His religion. This is the religious mask of the ego, and few diseases are more difficult to detect because they live so close to things that are, in themselves, true and noble.

 Religion was not sent to decorate the nafs. It was sent to humble it. It was not revealed so that people could use it as a ladder above creation. It was revealed so that they would bow before their Creator in sincerity, fear, gratitude, and submission. But the ego is cunning. If it cannot glorify itself through obvious worldly means, it often turns toward religious means. It realizes that piety commands respect, that knowledge creates authority, that visible devotion can attract admiration, and that strong speech in the name of truth can make a person appear morally serious. Thus the self begins to feed on religion while pretending to serve it. A person may become attached not only to being righteous, but to being seen as righteous. He may become attached not only to truth, but to being known as one who possesses truth. He may become attached not only to warning against falsehood, but to the emotional pleasure of occupying the role of the one who sees clearly while others stumble in darkness.

 This is what makes the religious mask of the ego so frightening. It often does not begin in open hypocrisy. A person may begin with genuine concern, genuine love of the religion, genuine desire to obey Allah, and genuine hatred of falsehood. But if he does not continue purifying his heart, the nafs begins to insert itself into those noble concerns. His love of the truth slowly becomes mixed with love of triumph. His concern for right and wrong becomes mixed with hunger for moral visibility. His attachment to the Sunnah becomes mixed with attachment to his own image as one who follows it. He begins by wanting to please Allah and gradually finds himself also wanting to be recognized, admired, feared, obeyed, or seen as superior. The danger is that he may not notice the shift. Because the outward words remain Islamic, he assumes the inward state must still be sound. But many people speak the language of servitude while quietly serving themselves.

 One of the clearest signs of this corruption is when religion becomes a mirror for self-admiration rather than a means of self-correction. The sincere believer hears revelation and becomes more aware of his deficiencies. He is humbled by command, frightened by warning, and softened by the knowledge that Allah sees what others do not. The diseased believer, however, hears revelation and increasingly uses it to measure others. Verses and narrations become tools with which he confirms that he is different, more serious, more disciplined, more alert, more committed, more pure than those around him. He studies religion and grows not in brokenness, but in confidence about his own spiritual position. He becomes more skilled at naming corruption outside himself than corruption within. That is a terrible sign, because true knowledge of Allah does not usually make a person feel larger. It makes him feel more accountable, more exposed, and more afraid that his own hidden defects may outweigh the visible faults of others.

Excerpt: Us vs. Them: An Islamic Reflection on Division www.amazon.com/dp/B0GYF13P51