In most
dictionaries “loyalty” is defined as “a feeling of faithfulness or allegiance”
or “a feeling or attitude of devoted attachment and affection”.
From my point of
view, feeling alone is not enough, it has to be combined with sincere attitude
of faithfulness and allegiance.
Loyalty to God
For a Muslim, the
utmost loyalty is to God, the Almighty.
And as long as a
person is totally loyal and faithful to God, all loyalties to others are
guaranteed.
In order to keep living
in peace, we need to have many loyalties: parentage, marriage, neighborhood,
citizenship, brotherhood in faith, and, last but not least, harmony with all
creation of God (unless one needs to protect oneself in case of an attack from
the outside).
The Muslim is a person whose utmost loyalty is to God alone: “Say: Truly, my prayer, my ritual sacrifice, my living, my dying – all belongs to God, the Lord of all being. No associate has He. And thus have I been commanded, and I am the first of those who submit” (6:162-163).
The Qur’an tells us that a covenant was taken from all descendants of Adam, which is binding accordingly on each individual. Adam’s seed carries on the existence of Adam and succeeds to his spiritual heritage. God has given the descendants of Adam certain gifts and faculties, which give us special spiritual obligations which we must faithfully fulfill: “And when your Lord took from the Children of Adam, from their loins their seed and made them testify against themselves: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes, indeed we testify, lest they should say on the Day of Resurrection: Truly, of this we were unaware. Or lest you should say: It is merely that our fathers were idolaters before and we were descendants of theirs; will you then destroy us on account of what the erroneous did?” (7:172-173).
Although descendants of Adam were already given certain powers to know God through His creation, of which they are a part, yet God bestowed upon them guidance through His messengers. Those messengers (last of whom was Muhammad, God’s blessings upon them all), reminded people their Covenant with God: “We have verily sent Our messengers with clear signs, and We revealed with them the Scripture and the Balance, so that mankind may uphold justice.. “ (57 :25). “And We did not send any Messenger before you but We revealed to him that: there is no god except Me, so worship Me!” (21 :25).
The last prophet/messenger was sent for all human beings to remind them as
well of their covenant with God, asking them to be totally loyal to God. God says:
“This
(Qur’an) is indeed a reminder. Let him who will, then, choose a way to his
Lord” (76 :29).
If we ponder on the Qur’an and we reflect upon the creation of God in ourselves and in the world around us, we can, then, dig out the remembrance of our covenant with God. To fulfil our covenant with God is to perform His ordinances, but if we disobey, then this means breaking God’s covenant. And God says: “Those who break God’s Covenant after it is rectified, and who sunder what God has ordered to be joined, and do mischief on earth: These cause loss (only) to themselves” (2:27).
Loyalty to parentage
Whereas God is the ultimate cause of man’s coming to life, his parents
are its outward immediate cause, so the preceding call to God is followed by
the injunction to honour and cherish one’s parents: “And your Lord has decreed that
you worship none save Him, and to be kind to parents. If they should reach old age
with you, one of them or both then do not say ‘Fie’ (or ‘Ugh’) nor repulse
them, but speak to them gracious words. And lower to them the wing of humility
out of mercy, and say: My Lord, have mercy on them, just as they reared me when
I was little” (17:23-24).
Loyalty and trust are the most important ingredients in building an intimate relationship between husband and wife, thus in building a family entity. It is very important for a young man and a young woman to choose an acceptable spouse, for there is, according to the Qur’an, a firm pledge between husband and wife: “... and they (women) had taken from you a firm pledge” (4:21), so that they may have mutual respect and kind treatment towards each other. “… wives have rights similar to those due from them, with justice; but their men have a degree above them” (2:228), because they are responsible for the maintenance of the family.
Loyalty to others
After being loyal to parents, there are others to whom one has to show
loyalty as well: the relatives, the needy, the neighbours, the friends, and the
wayfarers. All those have the right of one’s loyalty and respect: “And
worship God, and associate nothing with Him. And be kind to parents, and near
kindred, and to orphans, and to the needy, and to the neighbour who is near,
and the neighbour who is stranger, and to the friend at your side, and to the
wayfarer, and to what your right hands own. Surely God loves not the conceited,
and the boastful” (4:36).
The Prophet (God’s blessing upon him) said: “Do not nurse malice against one another, do not nurse aversion against one another, and do not be inquisitive about one another, and do not outbid one another (with a view to raising the price) and be fellow-brothers and servants of God”; (Narrated by Abu Hurairah and reported by imam Muslim in his Collection of Hadith).
Loyalty to Laws
Every Muslim today, wherever he may be is often confronted with laws
that are not in conformity with Islamic Law. Although this may vary in degree
of importance or in interpretation, the fact is that the community or its legitimate
leaders alone can remedy this discrepancy if they decide to do so or are
persuaded to do so. However, it is not for the individual to violate such laws
that might be binding to him. Because each person in his own country has a covenant
with the authority or with the nation and is bound through it to obey the laws
that are established in the land. Every person needs to fulfil his covenant as
God has ordered it so:
“O you who have attained to
faith! Fulfil your bonds ...” (5:1).
It is regrettable to see that some Muslims allow themselves to violate or deceive civil laws here or there. This means those who do so have no loyalty to God who ordered believers to be firm in their engagement. There is an important warning in this respect. God says:
“O
you who have attained to faith! Do not betray God and the Messenger and betray
your trusts while you are aware” (8:27).
It means we should not be false to God in our behaviour as the servants of God, who should obey His guidance. We should not be false to the Messenger, as he has conveyed to us God’s ordinances. And we should not be false to the trust that has been put in us. We have to respect the trust and confidence of our fellow men, which occurs every day in our life.
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