Shared
Interests

Now we know that all of creation is there for us to learn from,

for our interest and understanding.

'Ilm embraces everything,

so everything can be studied,

including what is evil or disgusting.

Someone who studies medicine

doesn't just need to know what is good for us,

what is needed for a healthy lifestyle,

they also need to know about the poisons and infections that harm us.

They need to study diseases,

their effects and where they come from,

and how and why they are harmful to a body or to a society.

We need to study evil to find ways to avoid it

and when necessary overcome it and heal its damage.

Now, the body gets rid of its poisons in various ways,

from regular toilet excretions to the pus exuded by boils and other infections,

with which it may require strong will to overcome instinctive repulsion

when examinations get up close and personal.

But sick bodies can hold all sorts of unpleasant surprises

with much more serious effects than bad smells.

So we need to protect medical professionals

with gloves and masks and goggles,

and in more deadly cases strict isolation

and separation of the disease and its carrier into an isolated bubble

to keep the one studying the disease

safe from what they are studying.

That's the sort of place

that following your interests can take you,

places that need to be visited

to protect society from harm,

dangerous and exciting,

like defusing a bomb.

But physical ailments and dangers

are mostly comparatively easy to recognise

compared to forms of mental and emotional sickness

that can be hidden behind a public face suggesting all is well.

Negative thoughts and emotions

can flood through an individual

accentuating the suffering and pain of life,

even to the point of suicide.

The Deen has to be a more satisfactory way to see the world,

giving comfort and hope to the individual, and in its turn to society.

The tendency towards self-destruction rarely benefits the group,

any more than the opposite tendency in humans

towards cruelty,

the enjoyment of inflicting pain and humiliation,

and in extreme cases death.

Humans are fascinated by those who inflict death on others.

Literature and other media abound with thrillers,

whodunnits, and true life crime.

The vicarious thrill has great attraction,

and for those who actually kill, the attraction is clearly irresistible

despite, or because of, the depths of its forbidden nature.

It is an act that needs to be well-hidden.

Famous serial killers have been policemen

and one serial killer with victims in the hundreds

was a doctor in general practice.

They hid behind the outer face of those society most trusts.

Surely this is why hypocrisy is so frequently warned against in the Qur'an,

The corrupters, when they achieve a position of trust

are among the worst of dangers to society,

and can be the hardest to recognise and challenge when they claim to speak for the Deen

But their secret thoughts and behaviour decry their public personae.

The Reading would seem to suggest

that we don't pay too much uncritical reverence to those we consider worthy of following.

As a great sufi once said,

“Never trust anybody. Especially me!”.

The forbidden is fearful,

and thereby stimulates all sorts of body chemicals

which are in their own way attractive,

the whisperer's call is everywhere,

and just as fairground rides battle to be the scariest of all,

so it is that the most extreme of the forbidden in society

has its attractions.

And so it is with all the different expressions of human cruelty,

so how do we approach these things

when they clearly need to be studied

and yet are so dangerous.

How do we stay within the realms of academic study

and yet avoid obsession.

What keeps us safe?

What makes any interest a legitimate part of the Deen?

The Deen has many faces including critical self-assessment,

clear conscience, good intentions, and fear of God.

It is often said of those with acrophobia,

a fear of heights,

that the fear is not of falling but of jumping.

Fear of God is necessary to keep us from stepping off the edge.

But inner turmoil needs contact with others

for help with healing.

The inner suffering of individuals is society's problem,

society's obligation to do good and forbid evil,

and as such the Deen is a way of life

that purifies and heals the heart and mind,

which is good for the individual

and good for society.