It is tax day. The day when we are forced to show, in very real ways, that we are part of a national collective. On this day, we cannot avoid the fact that national debates about the military, health care, and scientific research are relevant to all of us who carry an American passport, regardless of our faith or worldview. However, we also need to keep things in perspective. One of the most famous sayings of the Prophet (may God bless him and his followers and grant them peace) is:
من حسن إسلام المرء تركه ما لا يعنيه
“From the perfection of one’s Islam is leaving that which does not concern them.” [Hadith #12 of Nawawi’s Forty Hadith]
One of the keys to spiritual sanity in the current climate is not letting the choices, beliefs and discourses of other human beings get us down. We need to look for where we can build what we think is good and true, or add to what has already been built in the best of ways. We all will have to answer for our choices, not the choices of others. And that awareness should preoccupy us from the choices that other people have to make.
Imam al-Ghazali said (to paraphrase) that we should consider ourselves fortunate if we even find one other human being who is a true helper and supporter on the path to Allah. An organization – whether a small non-profit, a corporation, or a nation-state – is made up of many people, so we should pause when we put too much faith in organizations. While that attitude can lead to a sense of loneliness, or a “me-against-the-world” attitude, it is really about knowing that Allah will always take care of the “big picture.” Allah wants us to take care of that which Allah has given us to concern ourselves with today, such as our worship, family, close friends, body/mind, job, and so on. As Allah states in the Qur’an:
“O you who have believed, upon you is [responsibility for] yourselves. Those who have gone astray will not harm you when you have been guided. To Allah is your return all together; then He will inform you of what you used to do.” (Qur’an, Chapter 5, verse 105)Imam Zaid says it like this in the Treatise for the Seekers of Guidance: “The Prophet, peace upon him, said, “From a person’s Islam being good is his leaving what does not concern him.” Our concern is the Hereafter, and the successful meeting with God. Our concern is working so that we can be amongst those experiencing the Beatific Vision. Whatever helps us towards these goals in this world we gladly engage in it. We leave all else.”
If my seeking of God leads me to becoming the President of the United States, you can expect some major changes to the federal budget. Otherwise, I will just do my best with the cards I have been dealt, and leave the rest up to Allah. That being said, I do recommend that people check out the National Priorities Project, whose focus is to make “our complex federal budget transparent so people can…influence how their tax dollars are spent.”
May Allah make it easy for me, you, and all those whom we care about, whatever the details of our lives may be, ameen!
A Mercy Case 