The Good Person - On Honor and Dignity

Reflections from The Risale-Nur  a Qur'an commentary by Bediüzzaman Said Nursi

The Words - Twenty-Third Word - First Chapter - First Point

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Transcript

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In a gathering yesterday, I was, we were reflecting with a group of sisters on what it means to honor the human being, what it means to honor the human being. And I like to share some of my reflections on today on dignity, on dignity or grace, as we call it, dignity and honor, because it's so central in how we relate to another person, looking at this fundamental basis, this foundational departure point for all our relationships, how we are with other people, and how we must honor every person and every individual, regardless of their ethnicity, their race, their gender, their their religion, their political views, their ideas, because it comes down to really those kind of sacred foundations. That's a fundamental departure point for all engagement, because over and over in the Quran, Allah calls us... to honor the human being. And this is not simply because just be kind or just be nice to everybody, but our framing, our religious framing starts with the fact, starts with the Quranic perspective that every human being, every individual, no exceptions, no exceptions, is a sacred creation of Allah. And that every human being has the potential has the coordinates, has been born with the spiritual DNA towards an inclination for good and for iman, for faith. Please mute your microphones. There is some background noise. But this is something that we have to keep in mind as we think of honor and dignity issues. from an Islamic perspective. What does it mean to honor and dignify a human being? And why do we start there? Looking at today's climate in every society, left and right, across the ocean, in many countries that I have relationships and that I've been raised and I have connections. But in every society and community, those are the never ending issues. And we see, especially in today's climate, there is so much spiritual disease and moral disease in terms of how we treat one another, how we engage with one another, how we talk to one another, how we behave towards one another. And for me, it really goes always back to the fundamental concept in the Quran or in Islam that every human being has been bestowed with honor by our creator, is a sacred creation, has been given dignity. And those are inherent to every human being. That's how I encounter every human being. And that's what I need to always come back to and remember myself how to Treat another human being. Allah tells us in the Quran that he has created us into tribes and nations and races. I'm paraphrasing. So that we come to know one another. To know one another. Not to despise one another. This is really important. This is so core to how to be a good person in the world. What it means to have good character. And how to treat somebody. And like I said, every human being from a Quranic perspective is seen as a potential khalifa, a vice-chairman, a trustee, a caretaker of this earth. So every human being has the capacity to serve in such a way and has the potential to be that khalifa, to be a caretaker, to be a responsible trustee in this world. And to be a good person, I started off the series with talking about what does it mean to be a good person? And the good person, when we think about the good person, is someone who honors and dignifies every human being. The reason why in Islam, the good person, and of course, the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, comes to our mind, he is the embodiment of that beautiful character for us. And he shows us how to embody the Quranic verse and how to treat every human being with respect and care and honor and dignity. So much so that the companions said that they each felt so beloved to the Prophet Muhammad. They couldn't tell who's the most beloved because he aspired and he accomplished this amazing ethical ideal or amazing task. to love everyone equally in his space, especially among the companions, that he encountered everyone with a smile, this kindness, this love and compassion, unconditional, and not make preliminary judgments based on somebody's social rank or ethnic background or racial background or gender background. In that regard, he is our beautiful model to be a good person and how to honor a human being. This is especially important, this kind of religious framing, because in today's climate, in today's atmosphere, sadly, sadly, and so disappointedly, even as Muslims, we fail to uphold the sacred command of the Quran to honor every human being. When Allah says in the Quran that he has honored the children of Adam, that he has honored and dignified every human being, then I can never ever debase any human being, degrade any human being, demonize any human being, disrespect any human being. First of all, I have to honor myself by saying Allah has created me as a sacred human being, as a responsible trustee, as somebody who represents the divine voice, his ethical commands. So first of all, I have to honor myself. Honor myself in saying I don't do any trash talk. I don't dehumanize. I don't mock people. I don't insult people. I don't disrespect people. I don't hurt people with my words or with my behavior. I do not debase people. I do not mock people. I do not bully people because of the fact that I have internalized that every human being has been given honor and dignity, izzah and karam. Simple, plain fact, no exceptions. And this is important in a climate of polarization, racism, aggressive nationalism, unhealthy treatment. It's cyberbullying, mocking people, insulting in the social media world, everywhere. And I think if this foundational perspective doesn't sit, we need to go back and take a hard look why we are failing. And this is not just a non-Muslim issue. This happens within Muslim communities. Degrading, disrespecting, mocking, insulting, name-calling. online and in person and in public. That's why I wanted to talk about this, how we live in a world where we are confronted with difference and confronted with different views. But how do we live up to the Quranic command that calls us to honor every human being? Because like I said, Allah has honored the human being. Allah has honored me. Allah has honored every human being. And to live into this truth means that it has to be reflected in a prophetic way in my own conduct, in my own neighborhood, at my workplace, in my relationships, in the community. There's so many aspects of this. I can go on and on and on. And for me, there's another verse in the Quran that speaks to that. And there are many verses that Allah has honored the human being and Truly honored because look just the way we are living, how we are honored compared to the creation. The bed that I'm sleeping in, the food that I'm taking in, the clothes that I'm wearing, the knowledge that I'm being presented. These are all beautiful ways of how Allah sustains me as my creator, but also honors me. Look at you, I have closed you. You're wearing silk, linen, cotton, the best. Look at other animals. Look at other creatures. They are not honored in such a regard. They are not sleeping in amazing king and queen mattresses. So this is the honor that Allah bestowed us. And in the Quran, which is this amazing love letter to humanity, saying, for you, I have created the earth and equipped it with all what you need. For you, I have raised the sky and sent down water, cleanest water, purest water, the purest soil, the purest blessings, the best and healthiest blessings and nourishment. How is that not an expression of how Allah has honored us? How is that not an expression of his love and compassion and the honor that he has bestowed on us? So we can never take away that honor from ourselves. We can never do negative self-talk. or saying, I am lazy, I am angry, I am this, we should never label ourselves in a negative way because that is dishonoring ourselves and Allah has not dishonored us. Allah has put us on a higher degree. At the same time, we cannot debase and degrade others because they are our fellow human beings and they are equally endowed with that capacity to serve their creator. In this section in the 23rd word, In Surah At-Teen, Allah says in a similar vein, Indeed, we have created the human being on the most excellent of patterns. Then sent him down to the lowest of the low, except those who believe and do good deeds. So Allah has created us perfectly. He has created. given us in the most excellent of patterns he has created us in the most beautiful way has honored us in the same beautiful way but if it's it's us who degrade themselves debase themselves and fall out of that humanity we make that choice if we want to go to the lowest of the low or rise to the highest of the high but if we go to the lowest of the low There are plenty of examples how this is possible. It's possible through how we speak, how we speak. Do we speak honorably to ourselves? Do we speak in a dignified manner? And how do we speak about others? How do we speak about others? Do we make compliments? Do we flatter them? Do we uplift them? Do we feel them included? Are we inviting them to hear their voice, to share their voice? Do they feel belong in a group, in a gathering? Do we greet them when we go to Friday prayers or in a space at a wedding? Or do I make an effort to connect with people? Do I make an effort to be in relationship with others who have different views? Or do I shut down and dehumanize them, exclude them, put labels on them? These are really important things and goes back again to this departure point in the Quran. I have created the human being in the most honorable way. And that's a call for me not to degrade others, not to dishonor people. And you see that sometimes with children being mean to each other and adults being mean to each other, insulting, saying things that are not of benefit on harming each other. or excluding and being intolerant or arrogant or judgmental. Whereas there's so much potential in each of us, we believe that Allah has created each one of us with amazing skills, God-given talents, amazing capacity to flourish and thrive and be constructive citizens. But when we label each other, when we insult each other or hurtful to each other, then we fall to the lowest of the low, but we also disrespect Allah's creation. It's a crime against Allah's creation. And that's why there's so much that calls us to be mindful of really living to prophetic character, excellent character. And sadly, religious people are not excluded from this. Religious people, myself included, can fall to pray, to judge, to insult, to hurt, or even just making jokes about another person and thinking it's funny. And they say, this is not funny. It's hurting me. Please stop. And then you keep on doing it. You keep on doing it and hurting and putting more wounds. So this is really for us then key to understand to be a good person is one who is absolutely mindful of their speech, There are so many prophetic narrations that call us to be even truthful when we make jokes about each other or when we are sharing humor. So much in the tradition tells us to not mock people, to not do name calling, to not to insult, to be respectful. And that also applies to the online world. And sadly, you see a lot of disputing and debating and very, very disrespectful ways of engaging with one another. And there are ways to connect with another person, to get to know them, because everybody has dignity and honor. Not to be confrontational, for example. Number one thing, don't be confrontational. Don't accuse anybody or let's not accuse anyone or be... harsh in the way we relate to one another, right? So there are ways of saying things honoring your perspective, but also honoring their dignity. And I see that all the time in my work with people who come from different faith backgrounds. There are ways to say things which are true, but still respecting the dignity of the other person because they also love their religious tradition and they love their faith. And I choose my words wisely to not to be confrontational, to not to be aggressive, to not disrespect them in any way. So the art of talking and the art of connecting to another person is so important, how we name things and package things how we present them to other people, always with a tender compassion and with a gentleness. Even the prophet Moses, Musa, peace be upon him, was called to go to the Pharaoh and talk to him in which basically the Quran tells us in a soft language, soft speech, gentle speech. So these are all related to this topic of thinking about what it means to honor a human being, to respect their dignity, and not in private and in public, to make sure that they are safe from somebody's speech and not face any harm. So here we see that the Quran tells us in Surah At-Tin that every human being was created in the most excellent of patterns, Ahsan al-Taqweem. And the first chapter, or in this first point, Ustad Bediüzzaman Nursi explains how then the human being is always prone to progress and regress, to basically... positive development but also decline but we make that choice we decide in our intention whether we want to rise to the highest of the high or we want to be the lowest of the low and may Allah protect us we can always be in a situation where we can where we can lose faith where we can there's no guarantee even until our last breath we should be in a position of Fear and hope, fearing that we can lose Allah's mercy and always being mindful and God-conscious believers and acting in that regard. And also hoping, hope, raja, that Allah will grant us in His mercy and in His grace eternal happiness. So always being in the state of humility and hope, or fear and hope. Through the light of belief, it says here, So the light of belief, man rises to the highest of the high and acquires a valley worthy of paradise. So it is true, like it was said in the surah, in the chapter, that it is through God consciousness, through iman, through taqwa and mindfulness of Allah, that you are really becoming a good person, that you're really rising to the highest of the high. Because when you are... internalizing the Quranic wisdom, then this is how it flows into all of your interactions and all of your behavior with others. And you always see them, whatever they do, even if they reject Allah and do not embrace a faith and a creator, you will always see the sacred imprint on them. You know, they were created by Allah. They might you know, talk things that are inappropriate or disrespectful, but you would never still make that a justification for wrongful behavior or that would never legitimize your own wrong behavior. When somebody does something harmful or evil or destructive, your response need to be always be aligned with this phrase of Ahsan al-Taqreen. What's the best, what's the most beautiful way to respond? Maybe I need to remove myself from this toxic situation, this toxic environment, because there's no point to disputing and debating because this person is so heated. So then you simply remove yourself. So in a similar vein, when we are in situations where we encounter people, our duty is to engage with them respectfully and with dignity and with kindness and leave judgment to Allah. Leave judgment, final judgment to Allah. That is not our duty. Our duty is to understand them, to know where they're coming from, to make an effort to know about their context and the complexities and leave the judgment to Allah. And that doesn't mean that we compromise on our beliefs, on our truth, or on our principles. But we say in this world, Allah calls me to ta'arafu, to engage with people, to make sure to understand different viewpoints, disagreements, and try to narrow the gap, try to find connections and build bridges among people, not to be somebody who divides more and more and creates more starker differences. Because at the end of the day, there's so much similarity. in terms of, in our human nature. Everybody carries a heart. Everybody has a mind. Everybody is endowed with a spirit, with a ruh. Everybody has many of the same feelings. And this is where we can always appeal. And we are all searching for meaning and wisdom in the world. And we can always connect and say, this is how I find meaning. In my tradition, this is how I find meaning and purpose and wisdom and how it sustains me in this moment of human experience. How is it for you? Where do you find nourishment and strength? Where do you draw wisdom? How do you find meaning? We are all trying to seek meaning in this world and we can bring our Muslim perspective to the table and say, let me share how I find meaning in this moment or in this challenge. And then listen how the other comes to this. These are beautiful moments of human connection. They are deep and they allow us Allah's rahmah, mercy is so great that he created this shared humanity within us. It's not different. This is where I always go back and that always helped me in my own life to find those shared connections. And tawheed means to try to connect with people, tawheed, on the basis of oneness, on knowing that my creator and their creator is one, I can find points of connection, tawheed, connecting on the basis of oneness. And there might be cases where you will disagree or fundamentally not come together, that's fine. But then you leave with gentleness and respect and there's always, of course, moments where the tension remains and Allah says in the Quran come together in healthy ways respectful ways to know one another to understand one another with compassion and respect and leave the final judgment to Allah because we all live in very complex worlds and societies it's not black and white there's a lot of nuance in between but to never give up on the human being because they might change, right? And to always approach with hope and hospitality and open your mental space and your heart. You know, a mantra that I live by is, for Allah, always open your heart, your home, and your wallet, right? Those are, basically, that's essentially Islam for me. Always try to create that hospitable place in your heart for people where they feel safe and heard. and can share their perspectives, right? We should not feel threatened by different viewpoints. In fact, when we are confident believers and Muslims, when we are rooted in our tradition, and that's how the Quran presents us, we can be open to different perspectives. We don't need to shut down or live in a bubble or in some kind of cultural, ethnic, or... religious ghetto. We are called to engage. And one of the amazing things that I found so illuminating in the Prophet's life, peace and blessings be upon him, is that he always had this diverse group of people around him. He was not afraid of encounter engagement, always being in relationship, always accessible, always present, always reaching out to somebody he didn't know, always making an effort to connect He was such a communal person, whether Christians, Jews, pagans, non-believers, you name it. He was black, white, poor, rich. He was able to open his emotional space to everyone. And I think we need that so much today in today's polarized world and society. where we always try to build more differences, see each other different, label each other different. And that's within and outside the Muslim community, quite frankly. In many different societies, it's in the online world that we sometimes lose perspective of the larger picture that Allah calls us to be in relationship with one another on the basis of honor and dignity. And we tend to, sometimes there is the danger that the Shaitan, and we know Shaitan was Iblis, somebody who was very devout, very pious, practicing believer, that he became arrogant. I'm better than him and refused to ask for forgiveness and created divisions already This person is different, this creation is different, and creating more barriers instead of building bridges. And through the darkness of kufr, through the darkness of unbelief, the human being descends to the lowest of the low and falls to a position fit for health. So cutting off, breaking down the bridges, the connections, seeing everything, everyone as a stranger, as a foreigner, as alien, as a threat. I mean, you look at so many different geographical contexts. I don't need to name the countries, right, here in our own backyard and overseas. We always label individuals, groups as different, as alien, as intruders, as foreigners, as a burden, as this, as a threat. It doesn't matter what, the dynamics are the same. The Quran presents us that the human being falls prone into arrogance saying, oh, this group, these are the outsiders. They are the ones who are stealing our resources, our jobs. They are the ones who are a burden and they are the ones who are criminals and this and that. And this is something that, like I said, even religious people can be prone to. And so we have to be very careful and always seek Allah's protection and have to be watchful and mindful of our heart, how we talk about people, groups, individuals. And then we can fall to the lowest of the low in our speech. The power of our words and thoughts have incredible consequences. The way you talk to a person, you say something, a word, And they don't forget it for 20, 30 years. There are many stories, experiences like that. And one thing that really honors a couple of strategies that we talked about yesterday in another group setting was let your words always pass through these three gates. So when we talk to another person, the three gates are, is it true? Is it necessary? And is it kind? Sometimes the thing that you're saying is true, but is it really necessary in that moment? And is it kind or is it causing more damage? Maybe it's not the right timing. And as a believer, we always need to act with hikmah, with wisdom in the world. Maybe it's not the time what you're saying right now. Yes, what you're saying is absolutely true, but the person was not ready for that to hear. Their context didn't allow. They haven't reached that experience yet. They were not in a mental state to receive that, right? And then is it kind and necessary, right? Saying to somebody who looks tired, who had a very rough night and then looking at them and saying, you look really tired. I mean, what is the value? What's the benefit? What are we adding to the conversation? Are we uplifting the person? I mean, the person is already tired. They know they are tired. They had a rough night. If you say, can I help you with something or do you need something? Can I get you a cup of coffee? You know, that might help and adding that. But always asking ourselves in our speech, is this uplifting or is it destroying the person in front of me? Is it hurtful? Is it harmful? Is it maybe making them feel less better about themselves? You know, the other day I had a giant pimple on my face and somebody pointed that out. I mean, there's nothing to point out. It's visible to everybody. But I thought, is that really now helpful in lifting that and pointing that out in public? What happened to you having this like disturbing pimple on your face? I mean, are you asking out of concern? So these are just examples to like, give you a sense of sometimes that we say things, we waste words, not knowing the impact how they have on others. Are they having a positive impact, a negative impact? Is it really necessary to say that? And so when I studied the seerah, the life of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he had just so much emotional intelligence and was so mindful not to waste words and to always say, be good or be quiet. What amazing wisdom. Prophetic wisdom right there, speak either good or be quiet or be silent. If that doesn't add value, then don't do it. I mean, or saying things with, you have lost weight, you have gained weight, you look like that, or body shaming is very common amongst communities. It doesn't make the person feel better and it's not honoring them either. It's quite insulting. It can be hurtful. And especially for our younger generation to really help them, guide them and model that. Less talking, more embodied Islam instead of lecturing people. I mean, when you walk the talk, that already speaks such a powerful language. You don't need to explain much. And nobody wants to be lectured as less talking So less the talking, I think, more the walking and embodying Islam, letting Islam, letting your Islam speak for itself. And it speaks a powerful language. And then people hopefully will be touched and moved and follow that example. So always trying to be even, especially speech is such an amazing language. human quality that nobody has we can speak with eloquence with beauty with gentleness or we can just waste words and comment on things and and and then we need to ask ourselves is that really honoring dignifying the person and that's in the blogosphere in the online sphere where cyberbullying has been very common and a lot of young children are suffering from that mentally. It's so sad. I mean, we have all this research, these studies that show that people do not honor each other. In fact, they add more harm to each other. And so being mindful of these very important Quranic principles that how we talk to each other or how we present to each other When I'm in a Zoom meeting and I'm distracted and look at my phone or have other windows open, is that honoring the other people in the meeting? For me, I don't think so. The same if I'm going to a Friday prayer and don't make an effort to connect with a person, a new person, or try to, you know, dive into their world. I don't think that honors the person or the community. A lot of people go into these gatherings and come out as strangers. For me, these are questions related to honor and dignity, very much so. And how, is that really Ahsan al-Taqweem? Is this really preserving Ahsan al-Taqweem? Does this make Allah proud? Is this pleasing to Allah when I go in a gathering and don't make space for others and other people's voices? Do I look into the room and say, I haven't heard from you, sister. Would you like to add anything to the conversation? How about you, sister? You share your thoughts. Or brother, would you like to add something to the conversation? And if they don't want to, that's fine. And of course, me too. If I'm more about feeling shy or feeling a little bit on the quieter end, I also still have the responsibility to connect and to get to know the other people in the room better. and to honor them and not leave a gathering and make people feel invisible. I mean, that is also something, a reality these days where people come in a gathering and they didn't ask one question about the other person or they are two hours in a conversation, but they haven't asked one question about the other person because they kept talking. And I'm prone to that. These pieces of advice I first address to my own nefs. I'm working still on myself. So I don't want, when I say they... I very much speak to myself and I have to hold myself accountable because I allow myself. I'm still growing, I feel, as a human being, but that's the beauty that Allah in His mercy has given us, that we are allowed to make mistakes, but we are also constantly called to grow and learn and make it teaching moments. And so Ahsan al-Taqweem and Allah honoring every person And how do we honor that? How do we honor every person? If Allah says, I have honored every person, I have no right, no justification to make them feel invisible, unheard, to feel them marginalized, right? So that's a constant call then to make sure that everybody feels they belong. They have a place that they are important, that their voice counts. So we all can make a difference and we each are called to do the sacred work because sadly it becomes more and more divisive these days and more polarized and more hateful. And how are we bringing people together like the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who was a weaver of communities, was trying to bring people together and not to be more divisive. If you declare that there is no God but one God, and if you declare that Prophet Muhammad is the messenger, you are in the club, you are under the umbrella of Islam. And as much as me and everybody else has so many sins and flaws and deficiencies still, it cannot take away from that great honor that Allah has given us. We have different experiences, practices, but we are still unified under that common declaration of faith. And when we have that, two billion Muslims, I mean, the Hajj, the pilgrimage season is upon us soon. That is always a powerful embodied reminder that we are one human family. At the end, we are one human family under Allah and that we are all created with that same amazing divine spirit. That we make a commitment, a pledge to each other to honor one another, to dignify one another and try to transcend these kind of spiritual diseases of the heart, of arrogance, exclusion, of indifference. We should never be indifferent to people. We should always be curious, always be walking with an open mind to say, who is this person that Allah has chosen? is sent in front of me. And how can I get to know this person? Because Allah has created this person. Who else in the creation is the most important being, if not the human being that Allah talks to? If Allah talks to all humankind, how can I exclude them? How can I shut them down? How can I devalue them? It's impossible. It's impossible. Right? So, The Quran is a universal discourse to humanity, to all humankind, and calls us also to be in discourse and engagement with one another. So to conclude, for belief, iman connects man to the all-glorious maker. It is a relationship. So when I have a firm conviction in Allah, when I have iman, believe in Allah, I'm in a relationship with him. And to serve him, I am honoring the creation. I am honoring the human being because of him, because I want to please him and I want to attain his love. And so every human being is a means, a gateway to that love, to that satisfaction of Allah with me. And not to give up on one another, not to rush into conclusions and judgments about each other, but always approach each other with hope and positive assumption, that we always expect and assume the best of each other. Because Allah believes in us, right? We remember the creation story in the Quran when the angels are curious and ask Allah, why do you want to create a human being that will spread bloodshed, shed blood on earth and corruption and destruction? Allah does not refute the argument. Allah knows that we have a destructive capacity. Yes, we can harm, we can hurt, we can destroy. Yet he says to them, to the angels, I know what you do not know. This is such a powerful statement for me when Allah says that. It means that he has ultimate trust in us. He believes in us. He has hope in us. He knows us. We have this jewel within us. We carry some amazing potential. that makes us rise to the highs of the high, to Ahsan al-Taqweem. So how can we disappoint him then? How can we live up to the I know what you do not know? Yes, there are people every day, us included, who do harmful things, horrific things, yet there are amazing people who are also doing wonderful, uplifting, beautiful healing things. And These people are our inspirations and hopefully we can be like them. May Allah make us agents and tools of compassion and love and wisdom and kindness and betterment for humanity. That people will miss us after we die and say, oh, this person was just illuminating, healing, helped me, guided me, uplifted me. And that their presence is, that their absence is felt and that People are yearning to be in their company. May Allah allow us to be that embodiment of prophetic compassion. But yeah, those kind of these beautiful conversations and dialogues in the Quran speak to our human nature that Allah did not give up on us. So let's not give up on one another. Let's not give up on ourselves. Let's never do negative things. you know, self-talk or give up on ourselves and saying, I can't change, I can't grow, I can't do this, I'm unable to evolve, to develop. No, we can. That's the amazing thing about human nature. We can always have, we are so adaptable, so flexible, we can always learn and grow and lean into some productive discomfort, which is And we can do that in the sunshine and in the darkness, I have learned. We will be surprised what we discover about ourselves. And so we should not cut off ourselves from this divine hope, from this divine trust, because Allah believes in us. He trusts us. And so if Allah says that about us, He knows us. He's our creator. We can see that immense potential within ourselves and others. Thus man acquires value by virtue of the divine art and inscriptions of the dominical names which become apparent in him through belief. That's so beautiful. Through Iman, we rise up to the highest because we operate on the basis of Allah's names. So we say Allah loves forgiveness. Let me try to forgive. Let me work towards forgiveness. I want to show the name Al-Ghaffar, Al-Afuf. I want to hold on to At-Tawwab. And so we then become more and more forgiving with others, more and more compassionate with others because our connection is fundamentally with Allah. We want to be beautiful for him and he will always be the one who will appreciate that the most because he is a shakoor, the one who expresses utmost appreciation, gratitude towards his servants and the one who rewards us. Each one of us, our efforts, our struggles, our intentions, right? We might not be able to accomplish the things we wanted to do, but Allah will still reward us for our intentions, our sincerity, and such amazing ways of encouragement. But only when we are related to Him, when we are in a relationship with Him, when we get up in the night, in the dark, when we cry out to Him, when we... are making efforts everywhere where we are, where Allah has placed us, in the family, in the workplace, in the community, in society. And when we are trying to be a person of honor and dignity, we are honoring him. Because that then means we do not disappoint him. We always come back. We can fall and slip, we come back. We seek forgiveness and we come back. Because guess what? Through our ignorance, we are seeing his knowledge and wisdom. Through our confusion, we are connecting to his guidance, al-hadi. Through our weakness, we are connecting to his strength and power, al-qadir. Through our harshness or our wrongdoings, we come back to his forgiveness. So there's always ways to come back and connect, even in our shortcomings. Always a way to relate to him and connect to him. And then there's always an opening. An opening for understanding, knowledge, and growth. Unbelief, severe, so cuts off the relationship. And due to that severance, the dominical art is concealed. But if I don't accept the creator, if I reject Allah, if I do not embrace a faith in him, then all of this becomes hidden. All of this becomes hidden. We don't fulfill our strong potential. We don't feel like, why should I even forgive? What's the reason? What's the holy cause here? What's the purpose? Why should I be generous to others and be giving? Well, because Allah loves to give and share and to be generous in material terms and in spiritual ways. We can say, oh, be generous because it's good for yourself, but that's a wrong, unstable departure point. The self... The nafs is unstable. The nafs is ignorant. And also the nafs can leave you. Tomorrow you have Alzheimer's. You're moody. You're constantly emotional up and high or low. And it's a very unstable entity. So not rely on the self and try to please the self is a very, very wrong endeavor. So it's always good to focus on Allah. and try to do everything, all our efforts with sincerity for his sake, for his love, for his pleasure and satisfaction. His value then is only in respect to the matter of his physical being. So then you're just your physical existence. You eat, you drink, you want to enjoy life, have pleasurable moments, but there's no sacred vision, no sacred ideal. And since this matter has only a transitory, passing, temporary animal life, its value is virtually nothing. We shall explain this mystery by means of a comparison. So I will leave it here, but hopefully that gives you enough food for thought. But those are my thoughts about honor and dignity. And if we are not people of honor and dignity, if we do not understand this fundamental concept or we cut ourselves short, out from that then that also a reflection of our weak faith and we have to come back and reconsider so the good person is one who acts and speaks and thinks with honor and dignity but also lifts up the honor and dignity of others