Is man hasty? What is the hasty?
Allah points to this aspect of human psychology in the following:
“Man was created of haste.” (Al-Anbiya, 21: 37)
“And man supplicates for evil as he supplicates for good…and man is ever hasty.” (Al-Isra, 17: 11)
Just as man wants good, he also invites evil through his action. That is because he is hasty. He finds it difficult to remain patient and wait, so he wants to lay his hands on things as soon as possible, before their time has come. More often than not, it ends badly. A rule in the Ottoman legal code, Majallah, states that ‘Whoever seeks to have something before its time comes shall be deprived of it”. That is to say, the court punishes the person by banning him from having that thing indefinitely.
Man’s impatience also shows in his desire to have things without putting in the effort. He wants to live paradise on earth. Many people therefore abandon the thought of the afterlife and indulge in the world. Not only do they have no concern for the great rewards they could be receiving on the other side, they also do not even think about the great punishment they may face. Because of their impatience, they can neither separate right from wrong nor consider the kind of end they will meet. The Qur’an describes them as:
“No! You love the immediate and leave the hereafter.” (Al-Qiyamah, 75: 20-21)
People tend to easily curse others when they are angry or find themselves in situations of discomfort. The correct attitude would be to try and solve the problem by remaining patient and levelheaded. But man is impatient; and many a person faced with troubles loses hope and lets himself plunge into despair. There are even those curse themselves by wishing to die. This is utterly wrong.
Anas (ra) recounts:
“The Messenger of Allah (saw) one day visited a person who was ill and reduced to skin and bones. He asked the man, ‘Were you praying for something from Allah?’ The man said, ‘Yes, I used to ask Allah to give the punishment awaiting me in the afterlife here, so I could avoid it after I am dead’.
‘Praise be to Allah’, said the Messenger of Allah (saw). ‘You do not have the strength for that. Why did you not just pray, ‘Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter and protect us from the punishment of the Fire’?’
The man then recited that prayer and not long after, got back on his feet.’” (Al-Bukhari, Marda, 19; Daawat, 30; Muslim, Dhikr, 10, 13)
Muslims must therefore never curse. They must instead patiently pray for the good to come to them, and commit themselves to work for the good of others. We should heed to the advice of the Qur’an and pray:
“Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter and protect us from the punishment of the Fire’”. (Al-Baqarah, 2: 201)
Source: The History of Prophets in Light of The Qur’an, THE CHAIN OF PROPHETS, Osman Nuri TOPBAŞ, Erkam Publications
