"God is not merciful to one who is not merciful."
"The merciful are shown mercy by the Merciful. Be merciful to those on earth, and He who is in Heaven will be merciful unto you."
Ahadith, Seyyed Nasr, Study Quran, p. 1256
I culled these ahadith, that is, sayings of the Prophet, out of the commentary from Nasr's Study Quran (which, as I've pointed out, is one of the many great reasons to own a copy). One of my students, who is well on her way to converting to Judaism finds the Study Quran fascinating, mainly because she likes reading the commentary because it, not surprisingly, deals with many of the same issues that she deals with on her own spiritual journey. I liked both of these ahadith because, well, first off, they're beautiful, but also because mercy is a central pillar of Islam. As Nasr proposes, "Mercy is understood to be an essential component for binding together any community." Sadly, it's a concept that is in very short supply in America today, where we seem to have very little time for mercy, and in fact celebrate cruelty and insensitivity. Ar-Rahim, the Merciful, is one of the 99 Names of God, and 113 of the 114 surahs open up with "In the Name of god, the Compassionate, the Merciful." If mercy is not "an essential component" for holding together a community then what can you fall back upon? Sadly, our present administration has replaced mercy with hatred and intolerance as unifying concepts, and while it may temporarily fire up the base does anyone really think this approach will last?
"The merciful are shown mercy by the Merciful. Be merciful to those on earth, and He who is in Heaven will be merciful unto you."
Ahadith, Seyyed Nasr, Study Quran, p. 1256
I culled these ahadith, that is, sayings of the Prophet, out of the commentary from Nasr's Study Quran (which, as I've pointed out, is one of the many great reasons to own a copy). One of my students, who is well on her way to converting to Judaism finds the Study Quran fascinating, mainly because she likes reading the commentary because it, not surprisingly, deals with many of the same issues that she deals with on her own spiritual journey. I liked both of these ahadith because, well, first off, they're beautiful, but also because mercy is a central pillar of Islam. As Nasr proposes, "Mercy is understood to be an essential component for binding together any community." Sadly, it's a concept that is in very short supply in America today, where we seem to have very little time for mercy, and in fact celebrate cruelty and insensitivity. Ar-Rahim, the Merciful, is one of the 99 Names of God, and 113 of the 114 surahs open up with "In the Name of god, the Compassionate, the Merciful." If mercy is not "an essential component" for holding together a community then what can you fall back upon? Sadly, our present administration has replaced mercy with hatred and intolerance as unifying concepts, and while it may temporarily fire up the base does anyone really think this approach will last?
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