> Concept of Kazm, Afu and Ihsaan in Islam - Part I/II

Question: Shaikh Obaid, could you please elaborate concept of Afu in Islam in light of the Quran and Hadith. Specifically could you elaborate on Surah Ali-Imran 3:184 please?

 

Answer:

Brother Tanweer,

The concept of Afu is very crucial in the life of a muslim. I will speak about Afu in general , and put some light with references from the Quran.

 

Let us start with reference you gave,  Surah Al-Imran 3:134.

 

الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ فِى السَّرَّآءِ وَالضَّرَّآءِ وَالْكٰظِمِينَ الْغَيْظَ وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ  ۗ  وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

 

"Who spend [in the cause of Allah] during ease and hardship and who restrain anger and who pardon the people - and Allah loves the doers of good;"

(QS. Aal-i-Imraan: Verse 134)

 

Allah is referring to 3 of the best qualities of people - which are 'Kazm', 'Afu' and 'Ihsaan'. They for 3 levels , each leading to higher level of reward. Let's talk in detail about those,

 

Level 1: Kazm < Restrain>:

I will talk first about what is meaning of 'Kazm'. In old days, travellers used to carry water in waterskins (mashks) loaded on their animals. Water was precious commodity and a piece of diamond at times wouldn't buy you a glass of water. So they sealed nozzles of waterskins so tight that not even a drop was wasted when they were moving. This is act of 'kazm', and they are essentially  'Kazimeen'.

 

When the Quran talks about restraining anger in this Ayat, Allah chose to use this expression from the real world. This draws an amazing comparison between safeguarding water by securing it tightly , and controlling the anger without making it visible to others. Suppose you have a lovely cat at home, you play with it and accidently if you step over its paw or tail - its natural reaction will be to react - attack, it may scratch or even bite you. For animals, such reaction by instinct comes immediately , they hardly have a choice. Matter with us humans is different - Allah expects much higher level of behaviour from us - unlike animalistic reaction. In a way, we have two choices - one is to react to anger, other is superior than this - which is not to react but calm down to the point it's not even showing in our expression or action. We have a choice, animals don't. This is 'Amr Hassi' (tangible act)  and not just the state of mind. Keep the pressure inside like water is contained firmly in the waterskin. When we keep it inside , pressure will naturally build up inside our heart - so Allah goes to the next level - he expects us to practise 'Afu' - commonly translated as pardoning, but it's much more than this, as we will talk.

 

Level 2: Afu <Pardon>:

What is the meaning of 'Afu'? The expression is used to describe something written in sand, which wind washes away and nothing remains on sand. This is 'Afu' - not even keeping any anger or hurt affixed in our hearts. Sometimes , we manage to control anger (practise 'Kazm' ) but our hearts are heavy, Allah says in this Ayat to even free our hearts from this burden-  just get rid of the feeling altogether. It is not easy, but we will see what a tremendous reward it brings to those who practise it. So we passed the moment of controlling anger at that critical point , then we even wiped off any remains of anger from our hearts - we may still choose to behave differently with those who caused us hurt in the first place. But Allah takes the subject to the ultimate level, which is doing the 'Ihsaan'.

 

Level 3: Ihsaan

Ihsaan is doing more for those who don't deserve it. Ihsaan is at its best when receiver is one who caused us the pain. Let us talk about an example, in ancient times they had slaves. Say master asked one of the lazy ones to bring hot water quickly. Slave brought it too late, and to make matter worse he dropped hot water on his master. Master smiling at the incident is Kazm, telling him 'it's okay I have nothing against you' is Afu and going a step further when he says 'I am freeing you for the sake of Allah' is Ihsaan.

 

Afu is at the top of 'Maratib al Yaqeen', and is inseparably attached to our faith itself. Son of 'Yaqeen' (Faith) is 'Tasdeeq' (Affirmation), son of Tasdeeq  is 'Iqrar' (Acceptance), son of Iqrar is 'Ada' (Fulfilling duty), son of Ada is 'Amal e Saleh' (Good Deeds) and son of Aml e Saleh is Afu (Pardon).

 

Rasool (SAW) said ,

 

إنما بعثت لأتمم مكارم الأخلاق

I was sent to accomplish the good morals (Hasan Hadith, quoted from Bukhari)

 

 

Allay SWT says in Surah A'raaf 7:199,

 

خُذِ الْعَفْوَ وَأْمُرْ بِالْعُرْفِ وَأَعْرِضْ عَنِ الْجٰهِلِينَ

"Take what is given freely, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the ignorant."

(QS. Al-A'raaf: Verse 199)

 

This verse summarises Rasool (SAW)'s mission  of attaining completion of good morals. Strikingly though, this Ayat talks about 'taking Afu', and not 'giving' it. We naturally believe we give away pardon, and not take it - but Allah is asking to 'Take Afu'. How is this the case? Allah wants us to become 'Afu' itself. Like Rasool (SAW) says , when you keep speaking the truth you are written as 'truthful' with Allah, similarly if we keep doing 'Afu' all the time - so much so that Afu becomes our second nature - and we become Afu itself. Let us remind, who is the speaker of this Ayat? When Allah says 'Take Afu', it is easy to imagine there must be 'khair' (Good) in it. If somebody else offers us something, we check if there is anything good in it for us - if there is good in it we take it else we refuse. When Allah says 'take afu', it is not hard to imagine what a reward and benefits it will bring to us. It must be a total khair, all over.  Speaking of 'taking Afu' - when we give someone 'Afu' in zaahir (seen world), actually in 'baatin' (unseen) we take Afu for our own benefit. Again remind, who is the speaker here - Allah - the ultimate Truth.

 

When Allah (SWT) revealed this Ayat, the messenger of Allah (SAW) asked its meaning to Jibrail. Jibrail said, 'Allah commands you to forgive those who wronged you, give to those who deprived you, and keep relations with those who cut theirs with you.'

 

In the following Ayat (7:200), Allah SWT says,

 

وَإِمَّا يَنْزَغَنَّكَ مِنَ الشَّيْطٰنِ نَزْغٌ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ  ۚ  إِنَّهُ ۥ  سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ

"And if an evil suggestion comes to you from Satan, then seek refuge in Allah. Indeed, He is Hearing and Knowing."

(QS. Al-A'raaf: Verse 200)

 

 

It is a very relevant juxtaposition with the fact that when someone follows Allah's command of Afu, Shaytan is bound to mess up with the mind. Isn't it amazing that Allah SWT enjoins us to seek his refuge if this happens. Ayat concludes with two of Allah's noble names, but these are not 'As-Samee' or 'Al-Aleem' - they are simply Samee and Aleem. This is because context of this Ayat starts from Ayat 7:189, and Allah is talking about Mushrikeen - to show their faith means nothing to Allah, he uses them as simple nouns. We will see similar structure when we talk about Surah Fussilat (4:34-35), but with a beautiful difference in same names due to a different context.