TAKING FAIH TO HEART: RECONCILIATION AND FRATERNAL LOVE IN ISLAMIC THOUGHT

Year 2018, Issue: 6, 45 - 64, 03.12.2018

Asma Afsaruddin

Abstract

We are
living in a fractious world, where personal relations between the people are
not always pleasant. There could be many insignificant, trivial conflicts
between individuals, which if they were not resolved at some point, they may
grow and may become serious problem not only for personal relations but for
community. It is commonly thought greetings, smiling, shaking hands, embracing
and kissing one another is the primary cure, or primary precaution for such
social problems however, for hearts to truly reconcile and strengthen social
bonds, those behaviors are needed but not enough. If such gestures do not spring from
a deep-seated conviction that one's fellow being must be loved for the sake of
God, then they remain at the level of external social politesse and cannot
effect social reform at the deepest, grass-roots level. As Nursi said primary
motive of individuals must come from the belief. 'Love for the sake of God,
dislike for the sake of God, judgment for the sake of God" must be guiding
principles for onces life. 

Keywords

Reconciliation, Fraternal Love, Islamic Thought

References

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• Muhammad ‘Abduh. Tafsir al-manar. Cairo: 1931.
• Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said. Letters, tr. Sukran Vahide. İstanbul: 1997.
• Al-Tabari, Jamiʻ al-bayan fi tafsir al-Qur'an, ed. Mahmud Muhammad Shakir and Ahmad Muhammad Shakir. Cairo: 1954.