Page 51 - Perfected Faith

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THE MORAL PERFECTION CONFERRED BY PERFECTED FAITH

with the Qur'an. They know that an understanding of compassion
shaped by the criteria of a non-Qur'anic system would be an "evil"
compassion.
For instance, while helping someone, whether this help will be for
the cause of the good or for a purpose that will displease Allah serves
as the main criterion for the man of perfected faith. If this help is
asked for a rightful purposes, then the compassion of a man of per-
fected faith steers him into providing all forms of help. But he would
never agree to help someone who would make use of this help to
commit an unlawful act. This is the true compassion with which
Allah is pleased. Hindering a person from a mistake and guiding him
to the right path is true goodness and compassion, for which the po-
tential wrongdoer will be truly grateful in the hereafter, though he
may fail to grasp its importance in this world.
Believers do not show compassion and mercy to those who have
made it their major goal to oppose the values of religion. The criterion
that the Qur'an lays down on this subject is as follows:
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with
him are fierce to the disbelievers, merciful to one another…
(Surat al-Fath, 29)
Believers show compassion only to "believers", the devout servants
of Allah. Their attitude towards disbelievers, on the other hand, is
very firm and resolute. They do not show them compassion, since this
is the kind of "evil compassion" we mentioned above. The attitude
such people assume towards believers is made clear in the verse: "If
they come upon you, they will be your enemies and stretch out
their hands and tongues against you with evil intent, and they
would dearly love you to become disbelievers." (Surat al-
Mumtahana, 2) This being the case, it would obviously be unwise to
show mercy to one who harbours deep hostility towards believers
and seeks an opportunity to show it.
Beside this, the mercy and compassion people of faith show to other