The Lesson of the Spring

himself into a jungle of complaint. This way is without doubt the way of Satan, even if it is couched in beautiful language. In many such places as Kashmir, where Muslims have futilely adopted the path of confrontation, because of some political grudge, there are examples of Muslims who have not been deprived of everything but only of a few things and on this account they have become unnecessarily sensitive. It is this excessive sensitivity which is their real problem. If they could get over the feeling, they would feel all of a sudden that they had already been granted so many blessings that they would do better to launch a movement of gratefulness rather than ungratefulness and complaint. Beautification of Violence Violence is a destructive activity, in its full sense. The whole of history tells us that no individual or group has ever achieved any positive success through violence. Whenever an individual or a group has opted for the way of violence, it has been requited only with destruction and there has been no constructive outcome whatsoever. Then, why is it that people repeatedly resort to violence? The reason is the beautification of Satan. We learn from the Quran that the way of Satan is to present a wrong act in beautiful words, thereby representing the work of evil as a kind of reform: “I shall make the path of error seem alluring to them on the earth and shall mislead them all.” (15:39) In this way Satan influences people’s minds, giving them a false sense of conviction that their activities are not acts of violence, but rather acts of pious jihad; that it is the way of martyrdom which will lead them straight to heaven. In this way by falling under the influence of satanic beautification, they engage in violent activities. They are in error but Satan tells them that they are working in the right direction. There is only one way to save oneself from satanic beautification, and that is, to judge one’s actions by their results. The destruction which ensues from violent acts and the closing of all doors to opportunities should be enough to convince us that such acts are the result of satanic beautification. As such, those who engage in such activities should offer their sincere repentance to God, and sedulously abstain from all such wrongdoing. The Lesson of the Spring