Hope

Human morality and spirituality would have been crushed out under the dead weight of hopelessness. Hopelessness is considered to be one of the most socially dangerous illness, and it cannot be treated except by injecting a strong feeling of hope. Hope lifts the spirit and morale of humankind. The spread of hopelessness is dangerous to the health of all kinds of individuals as well as all kind of societies, including the modern man and the society.

If one looks at history, one will see that humankind cannot survive without hope, for life without hope is utterly unbearable. The hope inspired by religion is especially an antidote in circumstances when everything around seems gloomy, when grief and hardships disturb the equilibrium of people's lives; in fact, and they ravage them physically, psychologically and morally. In such circumstances hope intertwined with faith, offers the necessary strength both to individual and collectivities to survive the crises they encounter. Hope is just one aspect of the religious phenomenon. There is a vital relation between hope and religion. As a contemporary Scholar has said:

“Faith is power; the person who has real faith can challenge the whole universe.”[1]

Indeed, hope is one of the most significant virtues embedded in the human paradigm. The Qur’an and the numerous other religious books set forth hope as an indispensably desirable attribute. This means that to continue to look forward to the eternal world, or to think about a better life, is not a form of escape or wishful thinking. Were we to study history, we would find that the people who entertain such ideas are able to have impact on history. They were precisely those who were animated with hope for a better life in this world and in the hereafter.

In several verses of the Qur’an we find that a great stress has been placed on the idea of hope. According to the Qur’an, God certainly puts people to different tests of fear, hunger and loss of property, but they must remain full of hope and be patient:

"...And give good news to those who patiently endure." (Qur’an 2:155)

On the whole, the Qur’an teaches peoples that they should not succumb to the illusion that they would not be faced with difficult times. For this is the nature of life:

“Ease and hardship go hand in hand.” (Qur’an 94:6)

But the faithful should remain optimistic about a good end even in the most difficult times, this because of their trust in God's promise to them. In this regard, the Qur’an makes mention of the experience of the prophets. These prophets were always hopeful about God's aid and God never abandoned them. God never leaves His people who struggle against evil in a state of despair. The Qur’an mentions the story of the struggle between Talut (Saul), the leader of the believers, and Jalut {Goliath), the leader of the non-believers. The followers of Talut complained that they had no power against Jalut and his army. According to the Qur'an:

"Those who were certain that they would meet their Lord said: 'How often has a small party vanquished a numerous host by Allah's permission? And Allah is with those who patiently endure'".

They were full of hope when they asked God to grant them patience against non- believers:

"Our Lord! Pour down upon us patience, and make our steps firm and assist us against the unbelieving people" (Qur'an 2: 50).

The story ends with the believers defeating Jalut and his army despite the believers’ apparent lack of power.

The Qur'an also narrates the story of the prophet Ya'qub (Jacob) when he had lost his son, Yusuf (Joseph). According to the Qur'an, Ya'qub tells his sons:

"O my sons! Go and inquire about Yusuf and his brother (Bin Yameen [Benjamin]), and never give up hope of Allah's mercy. Certainly none despairs of Allah's mercy, except those who disbelieve." (Qur'an 12: 87)

Here the Qur'an clearly indicates that hopelessness is a characteristic of non-believers. Despair is one of the major sins against God in Islam (as it is in Christianity), for it is antithetical to trust in God. Hopelessness, as we have just noted, is one of the attributes of non- believers, and as the Qur'an states elsewhere:

"And who despairs of the Mercy of his Lord except those who are astray." (Qur'an 15: 56; 41: 49)

Hopefulness, on the contrary, is one of the attributes of believers and one of the principles of true faith. The Qur'an mentions the people who trust in God's infinite power:

"They are those who, on being told: 'Your enemies have mustered a great force against you: fear them,' grew more tenacious in their faith and replied: 'God's help is sufficient for us. He is the best protector'." (Qur'an 3: 173)

God's power is more than enough to protect the faithful against difficulties.
The Qur'an mentions that natural disasters like droughts and earthquakes, which cause hopelessness, can also be remedied by hope provided by God:

"And it is He Who sends down the rain after they have despaired". (Qur'an 42: 28)

Another verse says: "O My servants who have acted extravagantly against their own souls, do not despair of the mercy of Allah" (Qur'an 39: 53). For the faithful, therefore, there should be no reason to lose hope: "We gave you good news with truth, therefore be not despairing." (Qur’an 39:53)

The Qur'an commands people to contemplate the ultimate end met by the nations that opposed God and followed evil ways. They should do so because the example of those nations shows that the ultimate victory belongs to God and to the faithful.

In fact, sociologists agree about the importance of hope both for an individual and a society. Hope in individual or social life is like a sound set of reflexes in organisms. As the French social scientist Emile Durkheim (d. 1917) explains, a society without hope would be a monster incapable of living. According to Durkheim an actual society can no more do without this collective ideation than an organism can do without reflexes.[2] It would be no exaggeration to claim that the idea of hope is planted in human nature. As the religious and mystic poet Angelus Silesius (d.1677) says:

“Hope is a rope’, which rescues people.”[3]

It seems evident that the idea of paradise and a happy future also provides of hope. This strong hope gives people ease of heart in their individual and social life. This idea is accepted as a sociological fact:

"Periodically humanity marches toward an ideal world with infinite tentative efforts."[4]

Some psychologists believe that "hope is a dream of an awakened man."[5] They claim, however, that dreaming is absolutely essential for the health of the individual and a decrease in dreaming is the sign of serious illness.[6] Hopeful people suffer fewer illnesses such as stress and heart attacks. Since hope is the dream of the awakened, any society or individual without a dream of better life and without any hope for a better future is seriously ill.

Hope is not only a system of ideas, it is above all a system of forces. Hopeful life implies the existence of very specific forces. Recalling a well-known phrase, I will restrict myself to saying that they are the forces that can move mountains. By that, I mean that when man lives a hopeful life, he believes he is participating in a force that dominates him, but which at the same time supports him and raises him above himself.






[1] Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, The Words, tr. Sukran Vahide (Istanbul: Sozler Publications, 1993) pp. 322.
[2] Emile Durkheim, La Science Sociale et L 'actron, 197 cited in Henry Descroche, Sociology of Hope, tr., Carol Martin Sperry (London and Boston: Poutledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), 42.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.

Aftab Ahmad

aftab@touchtelindia.net