Religious Passion

As a matter of fact, different prohibitory actions should be taken in case of different sins. One should not always act nicely towards the sinners and sometimes one needs to be strict. It all depends on the time and place, the audience, the sin, etc.

Moses was summoned to the Tour Mountain for thirty nights. He asked his brother Aaron to take his place. But God increased this mission to forty nights. Meanwhile, people were deceived and were convinced to worship calf.

 “When Moses came back to his people, angry and grieved, he said: "Evil it is that ye have done in my place in my absence: did ye make haste to bring on the judgment of your Lord?" He put down the tablets, seized his brother by (the hair of) his head, and dragged him to him. Aaron said: "Son of my mother! The people did indeed reckon me as naught, and went near to slaying me! Make not the enemies rejoice over my misfortune, nor count thou me amongst the people of sin.”‌ (Al-A’raf: 150)

He needed to act this way, so that he could make people change the situation. Otherwise, he could not make a change.

This reaction on one hand shows Moses’ anger towards this deviation, and makes people understand their horrible actions on the other hand.

This overreaction had a strong influence on people and made a revolutionary change. Maybe this would not happen if he had acted more calmly.

The point is that, one should act passionately towards religion. It is not a sin to be angry if it is for the pleasure of God:

“Already has He sent you Word in the Book, that when ye hear the signs of Allah held in defiance and ridicule, ye are not to sit with them unless they turn to a different theme: if ye did, ye would be like them. For Allah will collect the hypocrites and those who defy faith - all in Hell.”‌ (An-Nisa: 140)

If we cannot stop the wrong doers, we need to keep our distance from them. A true Muslim could not participate in a session, in which Islamic rules are overlooked. Such a person should protest or leave the place. Those who mock the religious matters have no aim but to hurt the religion. We should not be indifferent towards such people. We need to confront them if possible, and to leave them if we cannot stand up to them.

Therefore, people should not let others insult their religious believes, just because they want to be nice, kind, and act based on the rules of freedom of speech.

Translated by: Sadroddin Musawi

Other links:

The Definition of a Greater Sin

Greater Sin from viewpoint of the traditions (Part 1)

Greater Sin from viewpoint of the traditions (Part 2)

Greater Sin from viewpoint of the traditions (Part 3)

The Best Deeds