Some weak souls imagine that there is an unbearable and unaffordable cost for dignity. They choose humiliation and disgrace to escape these heavy burdens, living a trivial, cheap, terrifying, and anxious life, fearing their own shadow and drifting away from their echoes. “They think that every shout is against them.” (Al-Munafiqun: 4), “And you will surely find them the most greedy of people for life.” (Al-Baqarah: 96).
These humiliated individuals pay a toll more dreadful than the cost of dignity. They pay the full toll of disgrace, paying it from their souls, destinies, reputation, and tranquility, often shedding their blood and money without even realizing it.
They think they gain closeness to those with status and authority by giving away their dignity, while they are actually paying the toll of humiliation in full. However, many experiences have revealed the rejection of those humiliated by their own sponsors, those rulers they worshipped instead of Allah. How many men have sold their manhood, buried their faces in the dirt beneath the feet of the rulers, submitted, and sacrificed all the elements of life, all the sanctities known to humanity, and all the trusts given by Allah or the people? In the end, they find themselves cheap and insignificant, even by the rulers who used them like humble dogs. Those rulers who they chased after dribbled over and acknowledged their sin, licking the dust to gain one look of approval from!
How many men had the potential to be honorable and generous, to safeguard the trust of Allah, and to preserve the dignity of truth and humanity? They stood in positions that instilled fear, and no one could buy them, not even those who didn't want them to uphold honesty, guard the truth, and stand with dignity. However, when they betrayed the trust before them, weakened in upholding the costs of dignity, and stripped themselves of truth, they became insignificant in the eyes of those who once feared them. They became so insignificant that they were abandoned, shunned, and trampled underfoot by those who used to promise and respect them when they had authority, dignity, and trustworthiness.
Many are those who fall from the peak to the depths, receiving no compassion from anyone. No one mourns them, not even those lords whom they did so to please. We still witness daily victims who pay the full toll of disgrace every day. They betray both Allah and the people, sacrifice trust and dignity, chase after the powerful, grovel over desires and ambitions, and hunt promises and mirages. Eventually, they fall hard, humiliated and disgraced, gloated by people, and despised by the powerful.
In my limited life, I have seen and continue to see dozens of respected men bowing their heads before those other than Allah, submitting humbly, carrying the burdens of disgrace, with their shoulders stooped, heads bowed, and necks bent. Then, they are cast out like dogs after they have served their purposes and lost both in this world and the hereafter. I have seen them, and while it was within their power to be free, they chose slavery. They could’ve been strong, but they chose weakness. They could’ve been feared, but they chose cowardice and humiliation. I have seen them run away from honor that cost them nothing, willingly paying all they had for disgrace. I have seen them commit every sin to please someone with status or power, when they could’ve been fearful.
I have seen whole nations feel burdened by the costs of freedom once, just to keep paying the taxes of servitude forever, which are more expensive than the costs of freedom. Long ago, the Jews said to their prophet, as mentioned in the Quran, “O Moses, indeed we will not enter it, ever, as long as they are within it; so go, you and your Lord, and fight. Indeed, we are remaining right here.” (Al-Ma'idah: 24). They paid the price for this refusal to bear the costs of dignity for forty years of wandering in the desert, consumed by sand, lost and humiliated by exile, and driven by fears. They would not have paid a fraction of this price for dignity and triumph.
There must be a tax paid by individuals, groups, and nations. Either this tax is paid for dignity, honor, and freedom, or it is paid for humiliation, disgrace, and slavery. All experiences testify to this unavoidable truth.
To those who shy away from the costs of freedom, to those who fear the consequences of dignity, to those who bow their heads, betray their trusts, their dignities, their humanity, and the great sacrifices made by their nation to liberate.
I call upon all of them to look at history and recent reality and to reflect on repeated examples that testify that humiliation is more burdensome than dignity and that the costs of freedom are less than the costs of slavery. Experiences speak loud and clear; there is no escaping this reality.
So, to those who distance themselves from the costs of freedom, fear the consequences of dignity, and grovel at the feet of the powerful, to those who betray their trusts, their dignities, their humanity, and the great sacrifices made by their nation to liberate.
I call upon all of them to look at the lessons of history and recent reality and to reflect on repeated examples that testify that the tax of humiliation is more severe than the tax of dignity, and the costs of freedom are less than the costs of slavery. Life is granted to those who don’t fear death, and wealth is given to those who don’t fear poverty. Those who don’t fear the powerful, become the feared powerful themselves!
We have many examples of those who sold their consciences, betrayed their trusts, abandoned justice, groveled in the dust, and drifted away without mourning. Cursed by Allah and cursed by people. There are also examples, though few, of those who refused to be humiliated, refused to betray, or sold their manhood. Some of them lived honorably, and some died honorably.
Honorably, that’s the key word!
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The Source: The Archive of the Tafsir Center For Qur’anic Studies.
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