Guilty Conscience

[Viking]

Some time back, I was having a discussion with a friend of mine regarding the issue of guilty conscience. I see it as a mechanism that Allah SWT has bestowed upon us as a means to physically feel the sins we indulge in. I see it as an essential tool in helping us to seek repentance and as a means for guidance and striving to be a better person. I feel that without it, a human is left without knowledge of wrong-doing and will inevitably go astray.

 

Suprisingly (to me) my mate, on the other hand saw it something negative which we should rid ourselves of. He sees it as something that brings us nothing but anguish, a bad feeling we should avoid. He insisted that we should use our brains in deciding what path we ought to take, and that feelings should not be a guide for us. I agreed that it was a bad feeling one should rid themselves of, but didn't share his thought on that it is generally bad. He didn't see it as a mechanism for guidance, but merely an emotion that is heartaching, which is negative, period.

 

I see guilty conscience as a blessing, for it shows you, through psychological and physiological channels, that the actions (or decisions) one has taken is wrong. The only way to rid ourselves of this pain is by always striving to do what is right, but we humans are not without sin, therefore we are bound to get this feeling at one point or another.

 

Allah SWT says in the Holy Qur'an in Surat Al-Imran, 3;135...

 

And those who, when they do an evil thing or wrong themselves, remember Allah and implore forgiveness for their sins. Who forgiveth sins save Allah only?. and will not knowingly repeat (the wrong) they did .

 

A prolonged or continuous feeling of anguish is painful therefore one (by using guilty consience as a guide) does what is right and abstains from what is sinful and discouraged by our Creator.

 

The sinner who ignores the call by his conscience to do what is right darkens his heart by pursuing what is sinful. A totally darkenned heart is that that is oblivious about morals, divine laws etc. This person does not feel that he/she is doing something wrong, for the signs have been ignored for a such a long time that the mechanism has become disfunctional.

 

Everytime somone ignores the feeling of guilt, a call made from the inner self alarming about the dangerous path one is pursuing, the subconscious takes a beating. If we supress it (instead of dealing with it), the subconscious takes all the heat and eventually a feeling of agitation and anxiety builds inside us.

 

 

I wonder if any nomads have given this a thought, and I would also be interested to hear how different people view the role of this emotion.

 

 

Peace and Ramadan Kariim.

[Bambina]

Salam Alaykum

 

I completely agree with you , Viking , having a guilty conscience will let you think twice before committing the sin or even after so you wouldnt repeat the same mistake again.

 

Even,if guilt causes pain , it is still necessary because you will learn to deal with your wrongdoings and hopefully change.Nobody said it was easy,just give it a try and let your guilty conscience show you the light.

[Qac Qaac]

I see this as a mercy from Allah, if u didn't feel guilty u would be just like gaal, who don't even know whether u did sin or not... but this is a mercy from god allah is making u suffer in here this world, also i think, only ppl with imaan feel this, any one who has a bit of fear for god in his/her heart.

[StarGazer]

It has to do with your level of Imaan. My conscious is like a nagging person, it stays with me for a long time until I deal with it. I can choose to ignore it, but I always know what I've done was wrong. Therefore I end up repenting.

The way I see it.....Its a gift. I'm learning more and more on tuning in to my inner voice.

 

Wa salaam.

[Viking]

Originally posted by Qac Qaac:

I see this as a mercy from Allah, if u didn't feel guilty u would be just like gaal, who don't even know whether u did sin or not...

Qac Qaac,

Even gaalo suffer guilty conscience. They can feel guilty for infidelity, lying, cheating etc. For them, it might not feel as if they have gone against what is ordained by the Creator, but that they have done something that is deemed to be WRONG and their self realises this.

[Khayr]

Salaamz,

I remembered this ayat in Sura AL HASHR:V. 19

when I read this topic

 

And be not like those who forgot Allâh and He caused them to forget their ownselves,Those are the Fâsiqûn (rebellious, disobedient to Allâh).

Fi Amanillah

[Qac Qaac]

Viking u r right.. it is very normal thing to feel bad when u sin... the gaalo case maybe by using sense of logic.. or society already made such acts wrong... so there fore if u do it.. it would haunt u for a while..

[Viking]

I came a cross a verse that talked briefly about this issue...

 

 

"And know that, among you there is the Messenger of Allah (SAW). If he were to obey you (i.e. follow your opinions and desires) in much of the matter, you surely would be in trouble, but Allah has endeared the Faith to you and has beautified it in your hearts, and has made disbelief, wickedness and disobedience (to Allah and His Messenger SAW) hateful to you. These! They are the rightly guided ones, (This is) a Grace from Allah and His Favour. And Allah is All-knowing, All-Wise." (Al-Hujurat 49: 7- 8 )

 

 

Peace.

[Viking]

Cast your eyes over every nation of the world; persue every volume of its history; in the midst of all these strange and creul forms of worship, among this amazing variety of manners and customs, you will everywhere find the same ideas of right and justice; everywhere the same principles of morality, the same ideas of good and evil...There is therefore at the bottom of our hearts an innate principle of justice and virtue, by which, in spite of our maxims, we judge our own actions or those of others to be good or evil, and it is this principle that I call conscience....

 

Self-interest, so they say, induces each of us to agree for the common good. But how is it that the good man consents to this to his own hurt? Does a man go to death from self-interest? No doubt each man acts for his own good, but there is no such thing as moral good to be taken into consideration, self-interest will only enable you to account for the deeds of the wicked, possibly you will not attempt to do more. A philosophy which could find no place for good deeds would be too detestable... If such doctrines ever took root among us, the voice of nature, together with the voice of reason, would constantly protest against them, till no adherent of such teaching could plead an honest excuse for his partisanship...

 

The decrees of conscience are not judgments but feelings. Although all our ideas come from without, the feelings by which they are weighed are within us, and it is by these feelings alone that we perceive fitness or unfitness of things in relation to ourselves, which leads us to seek or shun these things...To know good is not to love it; this knowledge is not innate in man, but as soon as bis reason leads him to perceive it, his conscience impels him to love it; it is this feeling which is innate...

 

Conscience! Conscience! Divine instinct, immortal voice from heaven; sure guide for a creature ignorant and finite indeed, yet intelligent and free; infallible judge of good and evil, making man like to God! In thee consists the excellence of man's nature and the morality of his actions; apart from thee, I find nothing in myself to raise me above the beasts - nothing but the sad privilege of wandering from one error to another, by the help of an unbridled understanding and a reason which knows no principle.

 

Thank heaven we have now got rid of all that alarming show of philosophy, we may be men without being scholars; now that we need not spend our life in the study of morality, we have found a less costly and surer guide through this vast labyrinth of human thought. But it is not enough to be aware that there is such a guide, we must know her and follow her. If he speaks to all hearts, how is it that so few give heed to her voice? She speaks to us in the language of nature, and everything leads us to forget that tongue. Conscience is timid, she loves peace and retirement; she is startled by noise and numbers; the prejudices from which she is said to arise are her worst enemies. She flees before them or she is silent, their noisy voices drown her words, so that she cannot get B hearing, fanaticism dares to counterfeit her voice and to inspire crimes in her name. She is discouraged by ill-treatment; she no longer speaks to us, no longer answers to our call; when she has been scorned so long, it is as hard to recall her as it was to banish her.

 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

 

 

Conscience is that peculiar faculty of the soul which may be called the religious instinct. It first reveals itself when we become aware of the strife between a higher and a lower nature within us-of spirit warring against flesh-of good striving for the mastery over evil... To enjoy spiritual freedom of the highest kind, the mind must have been awakened by knowledge. As the mind has become enlightened, and conscience shows its power, the responsibility of man is increased...

 

Conscience is permanent and universal. It is the very essence of individual character. It gives a man self-control- the power of resisting temptations and defying them.... The only comprehensive and sustained exercise of self-control is to be attained through the ascendancy of conscience-in the sense of duty performed. It is; conscience alone which sets a man on his feet, frees him from the dominions of his own passions an propensities. It places him in relation to the best interests of his kind. The truest source of enjoyment is found in the paths of duty alone. Enjoyment will come as the unbidden sweetener of labour, and crown every right work. At its fullest growth, conscience bids men to whatever makes them happy in the highest sense, and forbear whatever makes them unhappy....

 

Without conscience, a man can have no higher principle of action than pleasure.... A race so constituted, with intellect and 1passions such as man possesses, and without the paramount influence of conscience to govern their deeds, would soon be consigned to utter anarchy, and terminate in mutual destruction. The greatest intellectual power may exist without a particle of magnanimity. The later comes from the highest power in mans mind-conscience, and from the highest faculty, reason, and capacity for faith- that by which man is capable of apprehending more than the senses supply.... The great lesson to be learnt is, that man must strengthen himself to perform his duty and do what is right, seeking his happiness and inward peace in objects that cannot be taken away from his. Conscience is the conflict by which we get the mastery over our own failings. It is a silent working of the inner man, bat which he proves his peculiar power of the will and spirit of God.

 

Samuel Smiles

 

 

- Wa nafsin wa ma sawaaha, fa'alhamahaa fujuurahaa wa taqwaaha

 

By the soul, and That which shaped it and inspired it to lewdness and godfearing!

(Ash-Shams 91:7-8)

 

- Alam najcal lahu caynaayni, wa lisaanan wa shafatayni, wa hadeeynahu najdayni

 

Have We not appointed to him two eyes, and a tongue, and two lips, and guided him concerning the two highways (of goodness and virtue and of evil and vice)? (Al-Balad 90:8-10)

 

 

Peace!

[Nur]

Viking

 

How did I miss this inspirational article?

 

There is a sin that can land a person n heaven, and conversely, there is a good deed ( Xasana) that can land a person in hell!

 

How can that be?

 

 

Well, a sin that humbles a proud person, and guides him away for other sins and toward more good deeds, can lead to Allahs satisfaction and forgiveness, and hence a place in heaven, while a good deed(s) can lead a person who thinks that he/she is too good, to Allah's anger, and lead him to hell.

 

I pray Allah SWT protets us against our own egos, we have no enemy worse that our own perception of our own selves, the worse we think we are, at times the better in terms of struggling to be saved.

 

 

Nur

[Viking]

Originally posted by Nur:

I pray Allah SWT protets us against our own egos, we have no enemy worse that our own perception of our own selves, the worse we think we are, at times the better in terms of struggling to be saved.

Aamin. It is amazing to see the level some of our predecessors had reached in curbing their egos. Imam Shafi'i once said, "I had hoped that men would benefit by this science and that none of the benefits would be attributed to me." He was afraid of prestige and being praised by people so much and to think the level a human would normally go to take credit for various things is just amazing.