Hamza yusuf purification of the heart

We of the modern world are reluctant to ask ourselves — when we look at the terrible things that are happening—”Why do they occur?” And if we ask that with all sincerity, the answer will come resoundingly: “All of this is from your own selves.” In so many ways, we have brought this upon ourselves.

This is the only empowering position we can take. The Quran implies that if a people oppress others, God will send another people to oppress them: We put some oppressors over other oppressors because of what their own hands have earned (6:129), According to Fakhruddin al-Razi (a 12th century scholar of the Quran), the verse means that the existence of oppression on earth may be caused by previous oppression.

By implication, often the victims of aggression were once aggressors themselves. This, however, is not the case with tribulations, for there are times in which people are indeed tried, but if they respond with patience and perseverance, God w