A fire broke out in Baghdad and burnt down many stores in the marketplace. One burnt store belonged to Junayd al-Baghdadi, a great Sufi master. When he was walking toward the market, someone came to tell him, “Master, the stores have burnt down” and gave him the good news: “Except for yours.” Upon this “good” news, Junayd replied, “Thank God,” involuntarily.
At this point in the story, there is nothing worth talking about. So instead, Junayd did what anyone faced with a similar situation would do and thanked God for the blessing bestowed upon him during a disaster.
People are expected to remember God and take shelter in him or be thankful when something good or bad happens to them; it is a religious duty, or instead, it’s ideal for human beings. However, the relationship between God and human beings stands out in extraordinary situations and their connection is discovered in incidents that shake the existence of human beings to the core. What is found here is life itself and the depth of reality. The relationship with God is experienced as the manifestation of this comprehension. That is why people in distress or faced with disasters turn to God, take refuge in him, pray to him, and sometimes complain to or reproach him or, as in the story, thank him.
This story is worth telling, not “thanking God” but what Junayd said afterward: “Upon this thanking, I made up all my prayers for 30 years.” Why would anyone regret thanking and making up all the prayers he prayed upon this regret? That is the reason why this story is worthwhile.
The Holy Quran talks about prayer as an effective practice that withholds people from evil and pushes them to behave better. In this respect, it is apparent why Junayd attributed his misbehavior to the deficit in his prayers. Junayd expected that all his prayers would remove his love of possessions. When he saw his covetousness in this critical situation, he interpreted this as evidence that he had not performed his prayers correctly. Surat al-Fatiha, read in every prayer, weakens our desire for possession by reminding us of the actual owner of the power and frees us from covetousness and love for material things. Worldly covetousness and love for control are dangers that should be avoided by anyone who has more significant aims. On the other hand, a prayer is also a social act, joint worship that believers perform together. Even though a person acts as an individual within a community, prayer plays a vital role in understanding “the other.”
While fasting is a hidden practice (no one can tell if someone is fasting unless he says so), praying is a practice that reveals what is hidden in fasting (anyone can tell if someone is praying). Therefore, prayer can be considered a social practice that regulates relationships with one another and requires us to love and commune with others. In this respect, prayer makes society a community and community an individual; this way, it dramatically advances human relationships. In that sense, the moral virtue that prayer can grow in humans may be love. Well, Junayd thought if the prayers could not withhold one from covetousness and help empathize with others, they should be made up.
When encountered with great tragedies and social incidents, people face the dilemma of worrying about their store or the burnt-down marketplace and remember the story of Junayd: When a person hears about the earthquake, first he cares about his loved ones on instinct, searches for them to check if they are okay and then gradually approaches the situation clearly or maybe moves away.
Morality comes forward when our attention is focused on more rational and spiritual bonds than biological and physical ones. Today the line between physical and spiritual is less clear, but we can discuss this situation as the dilemma of “store” and “marketplace.” When a person is worried about other stores in the marketplace as much as about his own, it can be concluded that he acts morally. Instincts and biological impulses do not make us human beings; these are elements that are found in every living thing and serve as survival tools. When humans keep their distance from their urges, their reason rises, making humans approach fundamental virtues. As long as they achieve to do this, they become real humans. Then we can conclude that we are human beings as long as we have a reason and can be virtuous as much as we are human beings.
It is hard to talk about societies and make assessments about them and it is impossible to make a connection between these assessments, positive or not, and the reality. Even a person’s self-assessment may not comply with reality. Because in the face of incidents, our identity is reshaped, and our hidden abilities or weaknesses arise. When something happens, the most uttered expression would be the shock felt, and people would be prone to make more optimistic and powerful evaluations of society. Some of these could be accurate; however, real wisdom should be revealed in situations like this: To abstain from making a final judgment about human beings. Sophocles once said: “I wait for full knowledge before I judge.”
Anyone needs this kind of wisdom about everything, including themselves. The urge and hunger for power within us push us to judge. We are prone to think and be assertive in our judgment; we want to show off this power. However, it is reasonable not to make a final decision about good and evil. We should remember that the good is never excellent and the bad is never very bad. Humans are beings whose basic priority is survival, acting on instinct when faced with a threat or trouble, and being good and kind in their safe place.
