Ways
of
Blame

You know

human children when they are newly born

don't have to think of anyone except themselves,

as their parents feed them

and keep them comfortable.

Then later, as they grow, they find out

that life doesn't go on like that forever.

They have to learn that the world doesn't always do what they want.

They have to learn

that there is such a thing as other people,

and learn to share the world with those people.

They need to learn

that they can never have all that it is possible to have,

all the stuff you could possibly want.

The Self,

the Nafs,

the Soul,

can never be satisfied with material stuff.

The Self is always selfish by nature,

that's what it is.

The Self thinks of itself

regardless of the wishes of others,

and has to be trained to fit in with

a world full of people other than itself.

Human children have to learn self-control,

because the Self will always find ways to justify harmful acts

and bad behaviour,

following the voice that whispers inside them

saying that this time doing harm is OK.

And if the Self decides they are OK,

there are so many different kinds of harmful acts,

causing hurt,

that can be imagined,

but they all come from the same place,

the same feelings,

the same qualities in the human personality

that have to be controlled.

Selfishness is at the root of lying, cheating and stealing,

and think of how many different ways there are to cheat and steal,

but they all come from that same self.

When the uncontrolled self sees someone else have good fortune,

rather than be happy for them

it feels jealous that it hasn't had such good luck for itself.

And why would the self want good fortune for other people?

It is more likely to enjoy someone else's misfortune,

as that makes it's own luck seem better in comparison.

So selfishness is not just seen in cheating and stealing,

but in all the different forms of Greed.

And the selfishness of Greed can be seen

in the way that people act with regard to food and drink,

or money and possessions,

or power over other people.

All different things,

but all things that Greed tells people

they should have all to themselves.

But greed for food goes back to when we first realised

that food isn't always there the minute that we ask for it,

after which we always want to take extra

just in case we don't get the next food that we want

immediately we feel hungry.

We forget that God fed us when we were infants,

and no longer trust that God will feed us

just because we have to make the effort to feed ourselves.

So greed for food makes us fill our bellies,

but only because we are always afraid of hunger.

And it works the same way with

our yearning for money and possessions.

Greed doesn't make us happy with what we have,

but always jealous of all those others who have what we want.

If we think that the material things that we own have real value

we will always be afraid that someone else will steal them away.

Especially if we got them by

stealing them in the first place.

In the same way, being greedy for power will never satisfy a greedy self,

as it has to live with the fear of knowing that eventually that power will be taken away

by someone prepared to treat the one who has it

in the way that they treated other people when taking power for themselves.

Deep down, the greedy self always knows

that no matter how mighty our achievements in this world,

no matter how much money and possesions we own,

no matter how full our bellies,

life will end and we will be able to take nothing to the grave,

where we will turn to dust.

And all that greed brings no more than jealousy,

fear, dissatisfaction, and self-obsession

rather than friends

and a family of people sharing love and care.

That is why we practice the Way of Life we call the Deen,

learning to be happy and satisfied with our lives,

always remembering that whatever we do

we depend on God the Provider for all we need,

and Allah is the One upon Whom we all depend.