The Paradoxical Contempt

The Paradoxical Contempt was first published by  Eisa Rene Saturno Batallones on Sunday, December 5, 2010 at 8:12am through FB.

“O you who believe! Men shall not scoff (mock) at other men. For those whom they scoff at may be better than them. Nor shall women scoff at other women. For those whom they scoff at may be better than them. Nor shall you slander each other. Nor shall you revile each other by way of abhorrent nicknames. Woeful is the ungodly name after attaining faith. Thus whoever does not repent for this, it is these who are wrongdoers [G odless in hearth] (49:11)

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Alarming! The present generation of Filipino Muslim Ummah glorifying the intense of flamboyant, flashy conversation, never instigated the true essence of communicating with brothers and sisters Muslim with HIKMA but acrimony hails even yell for in it, triggers and awakens my desire of condemning with forceful attack par beyond with the havoc catastrophe of faith by convincing my self and the rest of the readers to contemplate to this short epistle that can eradicate the mayhem of the dying legacy of the entire Filipino Muslim community.

I cried for reform and inculcate within ourselves that this paradoxical contempt in every actions, predominantly shackle our heart and it must be petered out for the sake of Islamic Creed. Thus, in deliberation of thoughts HUMILITY is hard to achieve because arrogance is one of SATAN’S prime weapons against humanity ( it worked from him right?) It takes a tremendous amount of inner strength and self confidence. To be HUMBLE you simple cannot rely on other people or outside forces. It must come from within. It is truly a personal feat. And we do not like doing things on our own. But it becomes easier to conquer our inclinations to ARROGANCE when we internalize reliance on GOD, and we allow ourselves to truly love those around us. For their sakes, for the sake of GOD, we will lower ourselves. To treat people with kindness and respect we need HUMILITY. In this way, each attempt of goodness of character plays into and augments the other.

Hence, we must discover the egalitarianism   (cleanliness, equality, classlessness), social justice and inclusiveness that defined Prophetic community of Muslims (Mu’minin) would alleviate much of the discord that plagues Filipino DU’AT and the entire Filipino Muslim communities today.

Before we look at the wisdom behind Islam’s strong emphasis on human relations, we ought to realize ourselves that we live in a society that is very much of odds, on a popular level, with these exhortations. Our corrupt culture icons virtually fees us intravenously from our youth the message that civility is out of fashion, politeness in unhip, manners are not in. We are trained to admire characters with flippant, devil may care attitudes. SARCASM is conflated with wit. MODESTY is a virtue to be derided with outrage. COURTESY is viewed as social backward. SHYNESS is considered a defect that probably needs drug to remedy it. If you do not believe me and someone say this is PALPAK or SABLAY, just take any of these character descriptions and imagine for a minute in your mind, you will find, no doubt, a whole series of ways the Islamic attitudes have been mocked by our own selves and a legion of style in which Qur’an condemned attitudes have been made glamorous, because we were influenced by the flash of television and movie scenes.

The Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said: “The believer with the most complete faith is the one with best behavior” (Ahmad and Abu Dawud)

Shinning example for the SEERAH and Muslim history demonstrate Islamic models of pluralism evoking every individual Muslim not to harm his brothers, his sisters by much of unflattering concoctions lexis and we must observed and respect the so called cultural indifferences (Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao) the different dialects and call into question the contemporary segregationist and negative attitude towards the one who is seeking an INTELLECTUAL PROPETY RIGHTS not to void  but at least to listen in his plea and investigate with the spirit of tolerance  and inclusiveness that defined much in uniting our communities  and contracting the solid vision for the future.

This is what makes every one of us worthy of the goodness and dignity that Allah, subhanahu wa ta’allah, has honored us with, and it was qualifies us to bear the weighty responsibility of freedom and vicegerency   that HE has bestowed and burdened us with.

Allah says: “O humankind! Have a conscious fear of your Lord, the one who is created you from a single sole, and created from it its mate, and from them both spread  abroad a multitude of men and women” (4:1)

Just imagine a community of Muslims in Philippines full of people who support one another, human beings who strive to maintain the dignity of their fellows, creatures with soft hearts, men and women who humble themselves before GOD and men, men and women who care enough to listen, who really care. We can make that country. It begins with you and me. 

LET’S  MIND OUR MANNERS,  SHALL WE?