Islam As It Is
Islamic Character
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become
imma’a.
By
imma’a
he meant one who made
a point of returning good for good and evil for evil.
The Prophet told his followers that they should
instead form the habit of being good to those who
were good to them, while refraining from wronging
those who had wronged them.
The same theme was taken up by the Prophet on
another occasion when he said that the finest
character out of all the inhabitants of both this
world and the next was that of one who forged
stronger ties with those who severed their ties with
him, who gave to those who denied him and who
forgave those who wronged him. The “sublime
character” mentioned in the Quran has been
interpreted in the same vein. One Quranic
commentator says that we should “show
forgiveness, enjoin justice and avoid the ignorant”
as has been commanded by God in the Quran
(7:199). A sublime character then has the capacity to
show forgiveness in a situation where revenge
might normally be sought; it spreads the message of
good-will and justice wherever hate and oppression
have taken root, it simply by-passes situations in
which there is needless entanglement in disputes.
