Gotta love your haters

Been watching Basketball Wives, a reality TV show on Vh1. Now if you're familiar with the show, you know that these hot tempered women can create devastating drama in a relatively short period of time. They argue furiously and come close to (or to) blows quite often. And what is the reason: somebody always says something to someone or about someone or was mean to someone or another. They throw drinks, they verbally demolish former friends, the incite hate on one another. The whole thing is a mess!  Anyway, I was reading the Quran and came across this: 

"Nor can goodness and evil be equal. Repel evil with what is better : then will he between whom and thee was hatred become as it we thy friend and intimate" (41:34) 

Here Allah is advising us to show love to people who do evil to us, in any form we might perceive it. For some of us, our initial reaction might be to reciprocate the negative or evil actions and behavior. However, we should not fall to that. Instead we should show love and warmth and kindness in return. You might just melt that persons heart and change their entire perception of you. You don't need to confront the person, yell at them each time ya'll meet, backbite about them, slander their name, destroy their character and credibility, or waste your drinks on them. No, you have to rise above it. You have to do what's better. Your behavior can change that individuals behavior towards you. This verse reminds me of a popular quote by Dr Martin Luther King Jr. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." We need to learn to be the "bigger person" and be good even to those who are bad to us. Especially as muslims in the US, people have all sorts of misconceptions and false perceptions and WILL act on those notions, we cannot return their evil and bad behavior. We must show love and repel it with what is better so we can build love and understanding amongst ourselves. 

If a basketball wife (from the show) read this, she would probably roll her eyes and say easier said than done. Allah does not deny this, He adds in the Quran:

"And no one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self restraint, none but persons of the greatest good fortune" (41:35).  

There you have it! You cannot accomplish this wholesome attitude without PATIENCE and SELF RESTRAINT. You cant just automatically switch on a button and repel evil with good. No! you have to work at it. You have to be patient and have self restraint. You work on those qualities and better yourself.

May Allah make it easy for all of us. May He guide us and help us practice patience and self restraint and give us to courage and strength to shoulder the evil and hatred that sometimes comes our way. Amin. 

P.S I do need to watch less tv lol