Surah al-Shūrā (Consultation)

The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—said:

I have already written something concerning the words of the Most High:

“What is with Allah is better and more lasting for those who believe and put their trust in their Lord,”

through to His words:

“But whoever is patient and forgives—indeed, that is among the matters requiring firm resolve.”

Thus, He praises them in one instance for defending themselves and in another for patient endurance.

“The point here” is that Allah’s praise of them for these qualities—faith, trust in Him, avoidance of major sins, responding to their Lord, establishing prayer, consulting one another in their affairs, defending themselves when subjected to oppression, forgiveness, patient endurance, and the like—demonstrates that the opposites of these qualities are not praiseworthy but blameworthy. These qualities necessarily entail the absence of their opposites. If their opposites were praiseworthy, then the absence of something praiseworthy would itself be praiseworthy. Yet the absence of something praiseworthy can only be praiseworthy if something else praiseworthy takes its place.

Furthermore, praising and commending these qualities amounts to calling for them and commanding them, even if only by way of recommendation. Commanding something entails forbidding its opposite, whether directly or by necessary implication. The opposite of defending oneself is helplessness, and the opposite of patient endurance is impatient distress. There is therefore no good in either helplessness or impatient distress, as we observe in the condition of many people, including some religious people, when they commit wrongdoing or