Isn’t it vulgar that believers continuously minimise what we believe God in our religion severely censures? How many times must we hear believers say, “We all make mistakes,” as if to say that what has been described is the norm or trivial? Is it because we have made loyalty to men and community our judge, in place of God and His book? How peculiar. A woman who uncovers her hair must immediately feel the full force of the wrath of the digital ummah without relent. But the beloved sage who, it turns out, has abused his position, status and authority to engage in acts which our religion teaches are amongst the worst? How restrained our retort: “Who are we to judge?” Amr bi al-Maruf wa’l-Nahy an al-Munkar, all of a sudden no longer recalled. It is true that God is forgiving and merciful, and we have no idea who of those who return to Him in repentance He will forgive. Yes, none of us is without sin, and all of us seek His aid, desperately hoping for the forgiveness of our Lord. But our failings do not isolate us from the demands of our tradition. Our sins do not change what God praises and proscribes. Even if we ourselves fall short of the ideals we hold to, that is no reason to downplay those ideals. We have to do better than that. Our tradition is infinitely better than us.
Last modified: 16 November 2018