Self-Sacrifice in the Qur'an's Moral Teachings: Not All Acts Might Have the Same Value in the Sight of Allah

Earlier in this guide, we referred to the fact that experiencing hardship and difficulties is an important test for distinguishing sincere believers from hypocrites. Allah reveals in many verses that even those who live among believers and display a similar moral character may act quite differently when confronted with hardship. Many people can put up with some hardship in an otherwise comfortable environment, but they may not show this moral quality when hardship occurs. In any case, only those people who have strong belief can really trust in Allah, remain committed to Him, and struggle to overcome their difficulties. Some individuals ignore this fact, feeling that it is enough to do a few good deeds in the midst of their prosperity. However, in times of hardship, they avoid such self-sacrifice on the pretext of having done some good deeds already. They present these deeds as proof that they have the spirit of self-sacrifice described in the Qur'an. Such people also claim that they are not responsible for dealing with other people's problems when they have to deal with their own difficulties. They think that someone else should assume this responsibility. But such thinking has nothing to do with the Qur'an's moral teaching, for Allah has made people responsible for living a good moral life. Therefore, everyone is responsible for making a life-long commitment to self-sacrifice and for remaining patient, trusting, sincere, honest, loyal, and faithful at all times:

The self-sacrifice described in the Qur'an is something undertaken willingly by those who are patient even when their own interests are thwarted and they are put at risk. Allah tells us in the Qur’an that the self-sacrifice of those believers who are experiencing difficulties is not the same as the efforts made by those who are in the midst of secure prosperity. People in need and those dealing with their own problems, and yet who still give generously of what they have, have far more value in His Sight:

In another verse, Allah reveals the real reason why people with weak belief are reluctant to engage in self-sacrifice in difficult times:

These people live and work in harmony with sincere believers in times of comfort and prosperity, but are discouraged when hardships come.

But because they fear and respect Allah, sincere believers show courage and determination even in times of hardship. Their zeal to win Allah's favor never falters. In fact, such apparently difficult situations actually become easy for believers who view them through the eyes of belief. They live trusting in the knowledge that Allah will help all sincere believers who are committed to practicing the Qur'an's moral teachings and winning His favor regardless of any worldly benefit. Believers who are aware of this reality must continue to practice self-sacrifice in times of hardship. However, Allah says that certain people are exempt from this responsibility:

Those who fear and respect Allah in their conscience and know this truth do not shirk their duty to pursue their own interests. For in the Qur'an Allah gives us some examples from the time of our Prophet, revealing that no excuse for doing so is valid:

They will make excuses to you when you return to them. Say:

These people try to persuade those around them that their attitudes are quite reasonable. But in reality, they are only attempting to quiet their own conscience. Sometimes they use the excuse of having family or business responsibilities to give the impression that they are not in a position to sacrifice for others. However, they know that their excuses are invalid. In addition, they are aware that everything in this life is transitory and that only Allah is eternal; He is the One to Whom everything will finally return. Allah knows their real intention:

In spite of this, they still prefer to satisfy their lower self rather than to win Allah's favor. They fall into the serious error of thinking that it is to their advantage to protect their own interests, whereas their real advantage is to seek His approval, for only He, the Lord of the worlds, can protect and bestow blessings upon them, and ensure their security, contentment, and ease.

Those who have a selfish moral character will find themselves belittled both in this world and in Hereafter. In fact, those who avoid selfsacrifice are proclaimed in the Qur'an: If Allah returns you to a group of them and they ask you for permission to go out, say:

In addition, those who claim to believe and yet choose their own interests over earning Allah's approval will experience great sorrow in the Hereafter. But if they consider these truths and live as best as they can according to the Qur'an's moral teachings, they can hope to be saved from this eternal sorrow. rom the beginning of this guide, we have stressed the importance of self-sacrifice as a defining feature of the believers' sincerity as well as the many opportunities that arise to practice it. Therefore, when such opportunities arise they should use them to draw closer to Allah and help them win His approval.

When we look at the world today, especially the

Muslim world, we can clearly see the importance of practicing the Qur'an's morality.

We see almost every day on television and in the newspapers all of the sufferings, oppression, tyranny, and injustice that results from rejecting this morality.

War and internal strife continue to plague people all over the world. In Palestine, Chechnya, and East Turkestan, people struggle just to survive. Just in the twentieth century, we have seen hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians killed, women raped, people tortured or maimed, loved ones killed or disappeared, and many millions more driven out of their homes and exiled from their homelands of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Kosovo, Algeria, Tunisia, Eritrea, Egypt, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Rwanda, East Turkestan, Chechnya, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Sudan. Innocent children have been shot, babies have been murdered in their cribs, and people trying to run for their lives have been killed or maimed by land mines. Human beings have been subjected to a savagery the like of which has never been seen before, treated with great cruelty, and forced to live in inhuman conditions in prison camps.

Internal conflicts continue, as does the cruel oppression of women and children. Human beings wait for someone with a conscience to offer a helping hand, for they cannot make their voices heard. We can see the magnitude of this problem just by looking briefly at several of the above-mentioned lands.

Where Muslims Are Oppressed

Palestine For over half a century and without any justification, the Muslims of Palestine have been driven out of their homes, shot, attacked, seen their houses demolished, had their lands and fields destroyed, and tortured and treated with violence. The world media have reported very few of the cases in which such inhumane treatment has been meted out to women, children, and young people.

Since the 1948 occupation of Palestine, where 70 percent of the population is composed of young people, children have been displaced, arrested, imprisoned, or murdered. Palestinians are treated like second-class citizens in their own land. In those areas where this aggression is especially intense, every day several children are killed and more than 10 are wounded. In Palestine, which is surrounded by hundreds of control points, people are living in a sort of open air prison. Traveling to a place for daily activities turn out to be a torture and sometimes even transporting an emergency patient to a hospital may not be possible.

Without any provocation, a man bringing home bread may be shot before the eyes of his pregnant wife and children. Helicopters open fire on women working in the fields, but no explanation is ever given. Children returning home from school are shot and killed. Many of them die because ambulances are not allowed to come and take them to the hospital. Millions of people have been living for years in hunger and misery in refugee camps, and many Muslims, including women, are subjected to all kinds of torture in prisons. Besides, there is the constant threat of a new bombardment. However, it also needs to be made clear that it is impossible to

Translation of Article

Milli Gazete, 10 October 2002 2 "Justice needed in the Middle East"

Evrensel, 26 February 2002 3 "Water torture against Palestinians"

Kashmir Like many Muslim peoples in Asia, the Muslims of Kashmir also suffered from war and aggression in the second half of the twentieth century. Due to oppressive occupation by some of the Indian governments, Kashmir has been deprived of peace, well-being, and stability for almost 50 years. Recognized for its strategic importance, mineral wealth, and especially for its Muslim population, Kashmir wants either to be a fully independent country or to join Pakistan. This runs contrary to the interests of India, Russia, and China. As a result, economic embargos have been imposed, violence and unwarranted arrests have occurred, and people have been tortured. Also, Pakistan has endured international pressure and embargos because it continues to support the Kashmiris.

After the partition of India into India, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and West Pakistan (now Pakistan), Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan. Ever since, the Indian portion of this predominantly Muslim state has been an occupied land. In 1947, 1965, and 1971 three massive attempts were made to eradicate the Kashmiri Muslims, who were determined to throw off the Indian yoke. Tens of thousands of them were killed, and more than 4,000 women were raped and tortured. Religious schools were closed. After 1990, the Indian occupation became increasingly severe. Civilians were arrested and tortured to death, houses were burned, defenseless people were assaulted, and schools and newspapers were closed. Not content with these armed assaults, New Delhi even used dams employed for agricultural purposes to torture Muslims: The reservoirs behind the dams would be filled with water and, when the monsoons came, the gates would be opened so that Azad Kashmir (the Pakistani part) and Pakistan below would be inundated. This practice killed thousands of people, caused great destruction, and engendered a refugee problem.

But there is even more.

Various propaganda conceals the reality of oppression and torture afflicted on innocent people so that the whole world remains silent in the face of these atrocities. The human rights reports

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Article Headlines

"80,000 martyrs in Kashmir"

2 "Muslims still being slaughtered in Kashmir" seem to be ignored. Those Kashmiri Muslims who resist and struggle to live in peace in their own land are presented as radical terrorists. However, for close to half a century, the Kashmiri Muslims have only wanted to practice their religion in peace, live freely as Muslims in their own land, and bring up their children in peace and security. This continual denial to Kashmiri Muslims of their basic rights, together with the torture to which they are subjected, shows how important it is to sensitize people of conscience to this situation.

East Turkestan

The Muslims of East Turkestan have lived under Chinese control for 250 years, and are still oppressed by Beijing. After Mao seized control of China, these Muslims refused to be assimilated. Thus, plans were drawn up to subjugate them. Either as the result of being murdered by the People's Liberation Army or by a regime-engineered famine, 2.8 million people were killed between 1949-52, 3.5 million people were killed between 1952-57, 6.7 million people died between 1958-60, and 13.3 million people were murdered between 1961-65. Those who survived were subjected to terrible torture and oppression. Their oppression was no different from what the Serbs inflicted upon the Bosnian Muslims or the Albanian majority in Kosovo. Chinese methods of "justice" were extremely cruel and savage: being buried alive, being beaten to the point of death and left lying in the snow, or having their legs attached to oxen and being pulled apart. Since 1949, Beijing has sought to diminish the number of Muslims, and make them a minority in their own country by encouraging ethnic Chinese to move there. Today, Uighurs are forced to live in villages whereas Chinese have been moved to the cities. In addition, Beijing has used East Turkestani Muslims as subjects in nuclear experiments. The first experiments, which took place on October 16, 1964, caused many people in the region to come down with fatal illnesses. In addition, 20,000 deformed children were born, as many as 210,000 Muslims died, and thousands of people were either maimed or suffered from cancer. From 1964 to the present day, nearly 50 atom bombs have been detonated in East Turkestan. Swedish experts determined that a nuclear bomb detonated experimentally in 1984 registered 6.8 on the Richter scale.

In its attempt to make the people of East Turkestan give up their Since 1996, tens of thousands of Uighur Turks have been held in camps and subjected to severe torture. After one hearing, suspects are condemned either to hard labor or to death by firing squad.

Gözcü, 30 October 2001 2 "Tragedy of East Turkestan in American press"

Akit, 02 August 2000 3 "Human Rights Watch: China has stepped up pressure on Muslims"

Milli Gazete, 15 January 2003 religion, the chauvinistic Chinese government under Mao used many methods of pressure and intimidation. The most intense period was between 1966-76, during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Mosques were razed, public prayer was forbidden, Qur'anic schools were closed, Chinese migrants did everything they could to harass Muslims, anti-religious propaganda was disseminated in schools, and teaching religion was forbidden.

The violence against Muslim Turks in East Turkestan continues. Chinese officials regard young Turks as potential opponents and remove them from their homes without warrant. To escape this oppression, many young people run away into the mountains or the desert. Since around 1996, tens of thousands of Uighurs have been held in camps, where they are known to be badly tortured. According to an official report by a human rights organization, detainees are sentenced to hard labor or public execution by firing squad after their first hearing, for the courts do what the Communist party tells them to do. Among the most horrible things is that pregnant women are taken from their houses and sterilized, and that babies born in excess of the permitted quota are killed. Chechnya After the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, some ethnic groups declared their independence. About 1 million Chechens had suffered and been oppressed during the long years of Russian rule. They declared their independence in 1996 after the war of independence began under the leadership of Dzhokhar Dudayev.

Some Chechen villages were bombed as a result of a new war that started when Dagestan asked Shamil Basayev, the Chechen freedom fighter, for help. Only two people survived these bombings. Russian soldiers on Chechen soil mercilessly killed every innocent person they came across, whether old or young, and began to bomb civilian targets. Hospitals were particularly targeted for chemical bombardment, Scud missile attacks, and napalm, as were maternity clinics, markets, and refugee convoys.

The Russians also poisoned the Argun River. Many women and children died after drinking the poisoned water, and hundreds of people suffered permanent side-effects. In two years, Chechnya lost threequarters of its population. Some fled to neighboring countries and tried to survive under very difficult conditions.

Several human rights organizations who have studied the situation of Chechen refugees reveal that these refugees are suffering an immense violation of their human rights. Chechens endure hunger, thirst, communicable diseases, and travel many kilometers on foot. Men and women, the old and the young, are forced to flee in the snow and intense cold, and then struggle to survive with 2-3 families holed up in train cars or stables.

Chechens living in refugee camps cannot send their children to school because they cannot find winter clothes for them. Nearly half of those who have shelter have become ill from the bad conditions and intense cold. Some do not eat a hot meal for weeks. Such diseases as tuberculosis and hepatitis have spread quickly because many people cannot endure the harsh conditions in which they are forced to live. The death rate has risen. In spite of this, countries in the region continually cut back their aid and thus it has become difficult for the refugees to find a crust of bread as they struggle with intense cold, thirst, and hunger.

During the genocide that Moscow inflicted on the defenseless Chechen people, they were subjected to inhumane torture. All of these scenes of savagery happened before the eyes of the whole world.

Russian forces in Chechnya bombed civilian targets and killed everyone that crossed their path women and children, young and old.