اندیشهفلسفهخردگفتگوحکمتمعناپرسشفرهنگ
Philosophy
Do Not Judge!
Judging actions is necessary, but moral judgment of a person's character is impermissible; for sin may become the cause of awakening, and no one knows the end of another's path. One must hate the error, not the errant, and leave judgment to God.
Seddiq Qotbi:
We have been frequently advised to refrain from judging and passing judgment. Why is judging condemned, and which types of judgment and judging are to be avoided?
Ambiguity in demarcating the boundaries between different kinds of judgment and judging leads us sometimes to indulge in judging under the pretext of analyzing, or at other times to withdraw from meticulous analyses under the pretext of avoiding judgment.
It seems that when moral teachers and insightful sages condemn judging and passing judgment, they mean, firstly, moral judgment (and not legal, scientific, judicial, etc., judgments) and, secondly, moral judgment regarding the moral worth of the human individual, i.e., the moral agent, and not moral judgment regarding the act committed.
It is clear that the existence of the judiciary and courts of judgment is essential for resolving human conflicts, and the removal of the substance of dispute depends upon judging, issuing a verdict, and passing judgment.
When an action has negative social consequences, targets public order, or transgresses and violates the rights of others, we will inevitably resort to legal and possibly penal judgment and judging.
On the other hand, the expectation that people should not evaluate one another's good and bad behavior and adopt a stance is neither measured nor reasonable. Everyone, based on their accepted moral system, has the right to evaluate the actions of others and express their stance if necessary.
We all condemn war crimes and judge and denounce tyranny, the violation of rights, and oppression.
It seems that moral and value judgment regarding people's actions is not only not negative and detestable, but in most cases, it is also a sign of an awakened conscience and a quest for truth.
But what we have been advised to avoid is moral judgment and value judging regarding the essence of people and their moral state.
When someone steals your property, you can seek legal or judicial recourse and demand a verdict and judgment from competent courts. You yourself also condemn the committed theft and consider it bad. But are we permitted to make the character and moral state of the thief the subject of judging and judgment?
The answer seems to be no.
Gandhi and many other teachers of morality and virtue have told us that we should only hate the error and the sin, not the wrongdoers and sinners. Hatred of the erring and sinful individual is the product of moral and value judgment concerning the moral agent, not judgment concerning the act committed.
But why are we not permitted to make moral judgments about human beings?
Among the reasons given in this regard, the following can be mentioned:
(1)
It is true that—hypothetically—the committed act is blameworthy and reprehensible, but it is not certain that committing this act will lead to inner depravity and the debasement of the individual's soul. How many sinners are there whose sin has led to their excusemaking, broken-heartedness, and humility, and has resulted in their awakening, alertness, and vigilance.
Ibn Ata'illah al-Iskandari has said:
"Rubbamā fataḥa laka bābu al-ṭāʿah wa mā fataḥa laka bābu al-qubūl, wa rubbamā quḍiya ʿalayka al-dhanbu fa kāna sababan fī al-wuṣūl / How often the door of obedience is opened for you, but the door of acceptance and approval is not opened. How often a sin befalls you and becomes a cause and ground for union and arrival."
"Maʿṣiyah awrathat dhullan wa iftiqāran, khayrun min ṭāʿah awrathat ʿizzan wa istikbāran / A sin that begets lowliness and neediness is better than an obedience that begets pride and arrogance."(1)
The mystics tell us that a sin that culminates in excusemaking improves the individual's state:
"Every sin whose beginning is fear and whose end is excuse brings the servant closer to the Truth, and every obedience whose beginning is security and whose end is self-conceit distances the servant from the Truth."(2)
"The obedient one with self-conceit is a sinner, and the sinner with an excuse is obedient."(3)
Khwaja Abdullah Ansari has said:
«A good sin that brings you to apology is better than a bad act of obedience that brings you to self-conceit.»(4)
(2)
Our behaviors are the product of a complex network of causes and factors. If we consider that numerous factors have been involved in leading a person to commit a wrongful act, and that deliberate choice and malevolent selection are only one of the contributing factors, then, despite condemning the wrongful act and judging it, we refrain from morally condemning the sinful individual.
In the Holy Quran, it is mentioned that Pharaoh asks Moses (PBUH) to make a moral judgment about past generations:
«He said, "Then what is the case of the former generations?"» [Ta-Ha:51]
Moses' (PBUH) response is instructive and wise. He entirely refrains from judging the deceased and considers the final judgment to be solely God's and exclusive to Him:
«He said, "Its knowledge is with my Lord in a record. My Lord neither errs nor forgets."» [Ta-Ha:52]
«Do not despise any creature. Every living being has a story of its own, and when you learn this story, whether that being is a human, a beast, or a bird, you cannot help but love it.»(5)
Moral judgment of the character of wrongdoers occurs when we are heedless of the tumultuous life story of the perpetrator and ignore the share of factors beyond the individual's control. We do not know to what extent the wrongful or criminal act committed by the individual arose from their free will. The more we understand human beings, the more difficult judgment becomes for us.
André Malraux, the French writer and art critic, has said:
«To judge is clearly not to understand, because if one understands, one can no longer judge.»(6)
Wittgenstein used to say:
«Understand people! Whenever you want to hate them, try instead to understand them.»(7)
It has been said:
«Before you judge me, put on my shoes and walk my path. Travel the streets, mountains, and plains that I have. Shed the tears I have shed. Experience my pains and joys. Live the years I have lived. Stumble over the stones I have stumbled over. And rise again and walk that same hard path once more. Just as I did... Then, at that time, you can judge me.»
(3)
It has been said: «Even God does not judge until after a person has completed their life.»
No human being should be evaluated based solely on a segment of their life. Our future and that of others is unknown, and it is unclear what moral state we will have in the continuation of the path, and especially at the end of the road. Morally condemning someone requires that we gain knowledge of their future and the course that lies ahead of them, and the limitations of our knowledge do not grant us such a possibility. One cannot judge the overall moral state of a human being based on a single moment of their life.
The Quran's advice to us is to expend all our energy in hastening toward good deeds, and to entrust the final judgment regarding disputes to God:
«...So race to [all that is] good. To Allah is your return all together, and He will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ.» [Al-Ma'idah:48]
Moral judgment and condemnation of human beings is not our task, for our knowledge is negligible. What is our duty and mission is to hasten toward good deeds and scatter the seeds of kindness. It is for this reason that Hassan al-Hudaybi used to say: “Du‘āt lā quḍāt / We are callers, not judges.”
André Gide says:
“Let us beware of judging people solely on the basis of a single moment in their lives.”(8)
Dostoevsky used to say: “No human soul will ever fall entirely under the dominion of wickedness.” The windows of goodness are never permanently sealed shut in anyone’s being. It has been said: “Every saint has a past and every sinner a future!” We are unaware of the games of fate:
“Delinquent adolescents and youths who were undergoing their period of rehabilitation and betterment in one of America’s correctional institutions had written to the priests who came there once a week to preach and guide, and hung it on the door of that institution: Please be patient, God is not finished with me yet:
O preacher, be patient, for we still have / Our ups and downs with this God of your religion”(9)
Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali has said:
“If you ask how it is possible to show humility toward a transgressor who openly flaunts his transgression or a heretic, then know that this becomes possible by reflecting upon what may occur at the end of that person’s life. If even an unbeliever is viewed from this perspective, one cannot be arrogant toward him either. For one can imagine that the unbeliever might become a Muslim and the seal of his life be with faith, while that arrogant person dies upon unbelief.”(10)
Look upon no unbeliever with contempt,
For there is hope he may die a Muslim.
What do you know of the conclusion of his life,
That you should turn your face away from him entirely?
[Masnavi, Book Six]
And in the words of Hafez:
The judgment of sobriety and drunkenness all rests upon the end,
No one knows in what state he shall finally depart.
(4)
Morally condemning others not only fails to lead to the improvement of their condition but merely causes the individual who has transgressed to become frustrated, despairing, and to feel humiliated; on the other hand, it also prevents us from being affectionate and loving. Moral judgment about others is energy-consuming.
Self-esteem is a necessary condition for self-repair and self-reform, and with our judgments we damage people’s self-esteem. Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS) has said:
“Man hānat ‘alayhi nafsuhu falā turja khayruhu; From one who is worthless and contemptible in his own eyes, no good is to be hoped for.” (Ghurar al-Hikam, Volume 2)
“Man karamat ‘alayhi nafsuhu hānat ‘alayhi shahawātuhu; Whoever is noble and honored in his own sight, his lusts become contemptible in his eyes.” (Nahj al-Balagha, Wisdom 449)
Saint Thomas à Kempis has said:
“Judge yourself, but beware of judging others. In judging others, we exhaust our strength in vain; we often fall into error and easily sin. But if we judge ourselves, our effort always yields some benefit. Our judgment is often influenced by our personal feelings, and whenever personal motives inspire us, we very easily fail to judge rightly.”(11)
Mother Teresa said: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
(5)
We turn to judging the moral worth of others when we have become neglectful of our own weaknesses, errors, and sins. One who possesses profound self-awareness will find that judging himself and observing his own errors prevents him from judging others:
In the mirror, I saw so many of my own faults,
That the faults of others no longer came to my mind.
(Yamin al-Dawla)
The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) said:
«يبصر أحدكم القذى في عين أخيه، وينسى الجذع في عينه» (narrated by Ibn Hibban)
"You see the speck in your brother's eye, but forget the log in your own eye."
A similar saying appears in the Bible:
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye! Or how can you say to your brother: 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye! You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." [Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 7](12)
Thomas à Kempis says:
"We censure the small faults of others but overlook our own greater ones. We are quickly offended by the sufferings that come to us from others and take them to heart, but we hardly consider the intensity of the suffering we cause them. He who fully and honestly reckons with his own faults finds no reason to judge others harshly."(13)
In a hadith from the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) it is stated:
«طُوبى لمنْ شَغَلَهُ عَيبُه عن عُيُوبِ النّاسِ» (narrated by Bazzaz)
(Blessed is the one whose awareness of his own faults distracts him from finding fault with others.)
Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS) also said in this regard:
«مَنْ نَظَرَ فِى عَيْبِ نَفْسِهِ اشْتَغَلَ عَنْ عَيْبِ غَيْرِهِ» (Nahj al-Balagha, Saying 349)
He who looks at his own fault is kept from finding fault with others.
«أَكْبَرُ الْعَيْبِ أَنْ تَعِيبَ مَا فِيكَ مِثْلُهُ» (Nahj al-Balagha, Saying 353)
"The greatest fault is to find fault with others for something you yourself possess!"
«فَلْيَكْفُفْ مَنْ عَلِمَ مِنْكُمْ عَيْبَ غَيْرِهِ لِما يَعْلَمُ مِنْ عَيْبِ نَفْسِهِ، وَ لْيَكُنِ الشُّكْرُ شاغِلاً لَهُ عَلَى مُعافاتِهِ مِمَّا ابْتُلِيَ بِهِ غَيْرُهُ» (Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 140)
"Whoever among you knows of another's fault should refrain from fault-finding. For he knows that he himself has a similar fault. He should thank God for being spared the affliction with which others have been tested, and let this gratitude occupy him from censuring others."
"Who are you
to judge my life?
I know I'm not perfect
and I don't live to be
but
before you start pointing
your fingers at me accusingly
see how soiled your hands are."
[Bob Marley]
The story found in the Gospel of John points to this same point:
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placed her in the midst. They said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. But Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her!” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and he was left alone with the woman standing before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin again.” [Gospel of John, Chapter 8, Verses 3–11](14)
A Christian mystic has said:
“If you are chaste, do not judge the adulterer, for if you judge, you too have transgressed the law just as much as he has. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not judge.’”(15)
The words of this Christian mystic refer to a saying of Christ:
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” [Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 7](16)
Conclusion and Summary:
Moral judgment about the character and dignity of people is unjustified, because:
- A wrongful act alone does not indicate the inner wickedness of its agent; the primary basis and criterion are the individual’s inner intentions and purposes, which only the Knower of the Unseen is aware of and which lie beyond the reach of our knowledge. The only thing we perceive is the ugliness of the act, not the depravity of the agent.
- The moral evaluation of people cannot be based solely on a single segment of their lives, and we are unaware of the end of people’s affairs, their future, and their transformation and metamorphosis.
- We are uninformed about the extent of the influence of environmental and deterministic factors on human choice and selection.
- If moral judgment is expressed, it mainly damages and weakens the perpetrator’s self-esteem and harms their self-love. A necessary condition for anyone’s moral elevation is self-esteem and self-love. Someone who hates themselves and imagines themselves to be a worthless being will lose the energy and motivation sufficient for transformation.
- Moral judgment deprives the judging individual of the blessing of loving and affection. The more negative judgment we hold regarding others, the less capacity and opportunity we will have to love them. With negative judgment about people, their existential worth diminishes in our eyes, and to the extent of our negative judgment, we become filled with feelings of hatred and contempt. Hatred and contempt, above all else, damage our own mental and moral health.
A Christian mystic of the fourth century AD said:
“A person should be like a dead man with his friends, for dying to one’s friend means the absolute cessation of judgment about him.”(17)
Finally, in the words of Hafez, judging leads to enmity and hostility and damages the vulnerable sapling of friendship, so it is better “that we cast these judgments aside before the Judge”:
May I speak one word in the Sufi way, with your leave?
O light of the eye, peace is better than conflict and judgment
.
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References:
1- Al-Hikam al-‘Ata’iyya, Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah al-Iskandari, Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, Beirut, 1st edition, 2006 CE
2&3- Tadhkirat al-Awliya, Farid al-Din ‘Attar Nishaburi, edited by Reynold A. Nicholson, Asatir Publications, 2nd edition, 1383 AH
4- In the Human Never and Always, from the mystical heritage of Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Mohammad Reza Shafiei Kadkani, Sokhan Publications, first edition, 2015
5- The Saviors of God: Spiritual Exercises, Nikos Kazantzakis, translated by Monir Jazni, Amir Kabir Publications, eighth edition, 2011
6- A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues, André Comte-Sponville, translated by Morteza Kalantarian, Agah Publishing, first edition, 2005
7- Wittgenstein and Wisdom, Malek Hosseini, Hermes Publishing, second edition, 2010
8- Strait is the Gate, translated by Abdollah Tavakol and Seyed Reza Hosseini, Niloufar Publications, sixth edition, 2007
9- Enduring Love: Essays in Ethics, Mostafa Malekian, Negah-e Moaser Publishing, first edition, 2006
10- The Revival of the Religious Sciences, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, edited by Mohammad ibn Masoud al-Ahmadi, Beirut, Alam al-Kotob, 1426 AH
11- The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis, translated by Sayeh Meysami, Hermes Publishing, second edition, 2005
12- The New Testament, translated by Pirouz Sayyar, Ney Publishing, second edition, 2008
13- The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis
14- The New Testament, translated by Pirouz Sayyar
15- The Wisdom of the Desert, Thomas Merton, translated by Forouzan Rasekhi, Negah-e Moaser Publishing, first edition, 2006
16- The New Testament, translated by Pirouz Sayyar
17- The Wisdom of the Desert, Thomas Merton.
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Do Not Judge!
Sedigh Ghotbi
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Discussion2 comments
بنام خدا باسلام عید غدیریاعیدعاشقان ودلسوختگان امام علی را اینجانب عید میزان می نامم روزی است که هر مسلمان چه در دنیا وچه در قیامت کبری دراین ترازو توزین میشود .یک عاشق باذوقی شعری سروده بود که مضمون ان چنین بود که ابن ملجم نیز شمشیر زهرااگین را بانام "یاعلی"برسرعلی فروداورد.این عید را به شما مسئولین صدانت تبریک میگویم واز لطف وعنایات شما مبنی بر انعکاس یادداشت هایم بویژه در دفاع از دکتر سروش عزیزمان سپاسگزارم .صدا نت درپناه خدا ست انشاالله
بنام خداباسلام پرسیده بودیدچرا ادبیات ما ضد زن است اما صفحه کامنت نگذاشتید اینجا هم که موضوع بحث" داوری نکن" است منظورم از این نقد سمبلیک اشاره به حقایقی در نگرش وتفکر مردان است .پس بدانید جامعه ما که شما عزیزان صدانت بخش از واقعیت ان هستید همین است یعنی جامعه نمی خواهد بفهمد ومثل شما از طرفی می پرسد که داعیه دار وپرچم دار پرسشگری است که خود یک سوی علم است اما فقط داعیه دارست و بدانید اگر میلیاردها دانشمند وعارف مرد در جامعه باشد از صد انچه میگوید یک عمل کند ونود ونه تای ان عمل نکند الا پیامبر باشد .اما اگر زنان دانشمند والبته تهذیب یافته باشند صد نگویند مگر تمام ان را عمل کرده باشد زیرا برای چنین زنانی گفتن انچه عمل نکند مطلقا برای او ارزش ندارد اما علت بدبختی جامعه ایرانی :حاکمیت زنان و مردان مکار وحاسد است که هردو میوه درخت جهالت است وسلاح چنین زنان ومردان خطرناکی (بیشترحاکمیت وقدرت زنان مکار وحاسد ) القای ترس وترویج خیانت در جامعه است در حالیکه ترس یک توهم است وفقط باید اندیشید که ترس یک توهم است جولانی میدهد واگر به ان بی اعتنای والبته مقابله نمودی کنارمیرود .بله جامعه ایرانی زمین خورده حاکمیت زنان ومردانی است که با اشاعه دروغ وفریب همه نخبگان ونوابغ را منزوی مینمایند .