As representatives of a divine message, of the final Din, to all of mankind, we/ourselves can either distort it or beautify and represent it and play part in its preservation.
Our ultimate goal is to strive (search for 'ilm) and align our wills with the divine will of Allah and not with the will of our nafs (our self). This is a constant Jihad/a constant struggle.
Our behaviour/attitudes in treaties is so important and we need to read and see exactly what Allah (T) says in the Quran and what Allah tries to emphasise to us as what is important and what a human being ought to be and ought to represent
Surah Anfal 61
وَإِن جَنَحُواْ لِلسَّلْمِ فَاجْنَحْ لَهَا وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ
﴿وَإِن جَنَحُواْ﴾
(But if they [the enemy] incline), and seek,
﴿لِلسَّلْمِ﴾
(to peace), if they resort to reconciliation, and seek a treaty of non-hostility,
﴿فَاجْنَحْ لَهَا﴾
(you also incline to it), and accept offers of peace from them.
This is why when the pagans inclined to peace in the year of Hudaybiyah and sought termination of hostilities for nine years, between them and the Messenger of Allah, he accepted this from them, as well as, accepting other terms of peace they brought forth.
`Abdullah bin Al-Imam Ahmad recorded that `Ali bin Abi Talib said that the Messenger of Allah said,
«إِنَّهُ سَيَكُونُ بَعْدِي اخْتِلَافٌ أَوْ أَمْرٌ فَإِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ أَنْ يَكُونَ السِّلْمَ فَافْعَل»
(There will be disputes after me, so if you have a way to end them in peace, then do so.)
Allah said next,
﴿وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ﴾
(and trust in Allah. )
Allah says, conduct a peace treaty with those who incline to peace, and trust in Allah.
Verily, Allah will suffice for you and aid you even if they resort to peace as a trick,
﴿فَإِنَّ حَسْبَكَ اللَّهُ﴾
(then verily, Allah is All-Sufficient for you).
﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يُحِبُّ الخَـئِنِينَ﴾
(Certainly Allah likes not the treacherous. )
This even includes treachery against the disbelievers.
Imam Ahmad recorded that Salim bin `Amir said, "Mu`awiyah was leading an army in Roman lands, at a time the bilateral peace treaty was valid.
He wanted to go closer to their forces so that when the treaty of peace ended, he could invade them.
An old man riding on his animal said, `Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Great), Allahu Akbar!
Be honest and stay away from betrayal.'
The Messenger of Allah said,
«وَمَنْ كَانَ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ قَوْمٍ عَهْدٌ فَلَا يَحُلَّنَّ عُقْدَةً وَلَا يَشُدَّهَا حَتَّى يَنْقَضِي أَمَدُهَا، أَوْ يَنْبُذَ إِلَيْهِمْ عَلَى سَوَاء»
(Whoever has a treaty of peace with a people, then he should not untie any part of it or tie it harder until the treaty reaches its appointed term. Or, he should declare the treaty null and void so that they are both on equal terms.)
We need to read this Quran and understand it and embrace its terms and implement its values, and become living embodiments of these values, that's what Allah wants from us.
Allah, in the Quran considers trustworthiness, maintaining the contracts with other people, with businesses and business people, right down the line as a sign of the strength of the ummah and that to break those terms and treatise is considered as a sign of weakness.
In a Hadith, the Prophet said:
«مَا مِنْ ذَنْبٍ أَجْدَرَ أَنْ يُعَجِّلَ اللهُ عُقُوبَتَهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا مَعَ مَا يَدَّخِرُ لِصَاحِبِهِ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْبَغْيِ وَقَطِيعَةِ الرَّحِم»
(There is no sin more deserving of having its punishment hastened in this world, as well as what is reserved in the Hereafter for the one who does it, than tyrannical aggression and cutting the ties of kinship.)
This is what scholars like Muhammad Abu Zahra and others (the Ghazali's and the Rumi's and the Salahudins and everyone scholar) in our history saw as Islam, being a Muslim, a vision of understanding that the Word of Allah is divine one.
Surah Nahl 90
﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإْحْسَانِ وَإِيتَآءِ ذِى الْقُرْبَى وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ وَالْبَغْى يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ ﴾
(90. Verily, Allah orders justice and kindness, and giving (help) to the relatives, and He forbids immoral sins, and evil and tyranny. He admonishes you, so that perhaps you may take heed.)
﴿وَأَوْفُواْ بِعَهْدِ اللَّهِ إِذَا عَـهَدتُّمْ
(91. And fulfill your covenants and treatise (taken in the Name of) Allah / taken with Allah if indeed you have entered into one (see how Allah links it to himself) that any agreement or treaty that you enter into with someone else, is seen at the same time/simultaneously as entering into a contract with Allah.
And that is how we as Muslims differ in the nature of how we draw up our contracts because we are at the same time directly drawing up a covenant/contract with Allah.
So if you break the treaty with your fellow Muslim or Non-Muslim you are seen as one who is violating and desecrating the treaty you made with Allah.
This is the kind of consciousness they had and this is what is called Taqwa.
وَلاَ تَنقُضُواْ الاٌّيْمَـنَ بَعْدَ تَوْكِيدِهَا
and do not break the oaths / do not break and violate the terms of your treaty after you have confirmed them
وَقَدْ جَعَلْتُمُ اللَّهَ عَلَيْكُمْ كَفِيلاً
And repeats it again- and indeed you have appointed Allah as your guarantor.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ
Verily, Allah knows what you do.
- وَلاَ تَكُونُواْ كَالَّتِى نَقَضَتْ غَزْلَهَا مِن بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ
(92. And do not be like the one who undoes the thread which she has spun, after it has become strong,
"This was a foolish woman in Makkah. Every time she spun thread and made it strong, she would undo it again."
أَنكَـثًا تَتَّخِذُونَ أَيْمَـنَكُمْ دَخَلاً بَيْنَكُمْ
by taking your oaths as a means of deception among yourselves when one group is more numerous than another group.
إِنَّمَا يَبْلُوكُمُ اللَّهُ بِهِ وَلَيُبَيِّنَنَّ لَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَـمَةِ مَا كُنْتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ
Allah only tests you by this, and on the Day of Resurrection, He will certainly clarify that which used to differ over.)
﴿وَلَوْ شَآءَ اللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ أُمَّةً وَحِدَةً وَلـكِن يُضِلُّ مَن يَشَآءُ وَيَهْدِى مَن يَشَآءُ وَلَتُسْـَلُنَّ عَمَّا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
(93. And had Allah willed, He would have made you (all) one nation, but He allows whom He wills to stray and He guides whom He wills. But you shall certainly be called to account for what you used to do.)
Why?
Because these difference are a product of Allah and not of yours and mine. We are not in charge of our births and where we come from and our small difference.
At the end of the day you will be held accountable for how you received and respected these differences, which Allah created
وَلاَ تَتَّخِذُواْ أَيْمَـنَكُمْ دَخَلاً بَيْنَكُمْ
Allah repeats again (94. And do not make your oaths a means of deception among yourselves; do not use these oaths as an opportunity to deceive one another.
And to act in treacherous ways.
Its not allowed for us to act in these ways
Why?
فَتَزِلَّ قَدَمٌ بَعْدَ ثُبُوتِهَا
You will slip/your foot will slip after planting yourself so firmly in this Din.
and then
وَتَذُوقُواْ الْسُّوءَ
and you taste the evil and bitterness of your doings
why?
بِمَا صَدَدتُّمْ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ
Because of you being a hindrance from the path of Allah/despite you being punctual on your salah and your siyam.
Allah has laid down this wafa bil ahad as one of the highest objectives in human life – to become or to be a person who is reliable and trustworthy – people who are trustworthy.
We are not governed by a law that tells us that
'if you steal that your hand will be cut off'
but we are governed by a law that states
'that the property of people is sacred'.
That if you walk pass something not belonging to you,
you grow to realise that that is scared to someone else. And that is what the Quran is trying to tell us.
All the hudud seems severe but what Allah is trying to instil into us that the property of other person is something sacred.
And we have no right to squander other people wealth.
Wallahu 'A'lam
continued in next posting
Extra...
Al-Hafiz Abu Ya`la Al-Mawsili recorded that Hudhayfah said that the Messenger of Allah said,
«أُتِيَ اللهُ بِعَبْدٍمِنْ عَبِيدِهِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ قَالَ: مَاذَا عَمِلْتَ لِي فِي الدُّنْيَا؟ فَقَالَ: مَا عَمِلْتُ لَكَ يَا رَبِّ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ فِي الدُّنْيَا أَرْجُوكَ بِهَا قَالَهَا ثَلَاثَ مَرَّاتٍ قَالَ الْعَبْدُعِنْدَ آخِرِهَا: يَا رَبِّ إِنَّكَ كُنْتَ أَعْطَيْتَنِي فَضْلَ مَالٍ، وَكُنْتُ رَجُلًا أُبَايِعُ النَّاسَ، وَكَانَ مِنْ خُلُقِي الْجَوازُ، فَكُنْتُ أُيَسِّرُ عَلَى الْمُوسِرِ وَأُنْظِرُ الْمُعْسِرَ، قَالَ: فَيَقُولُ اللهُ عَزَّوَجَلَّ: أَنَا أَحَقُّ مَنْ يُيَسِّرُ، ادْخُلِ الْجَنَّة»
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