With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

A hadith related to power of the Prophet(saw) is:

“Each of you is a shepherd and responsible for his flock. An Imam is a shepherd and he is responsible for those in this care. A man is a shepherd in his family and is responsible for those in his care. The woman is a shepherd in her husband’s house and is responsible for those in her care. The servant is a shepherd of his master’s property and is responsible for what is in his care.”

Although it was in Spiderman we found the saying ‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’. It is clear that Islam has always recognised this fact. At first one may thing that this statement is more applicable to a person with superhuman strength or powers, which none of us have (yeh, I know there are power we would all like to have), the truth is that this simple statement conveys a host of information and lessons for the Muslim. If we take power to mean ‘the ability to influence’ or ‘the ability to affect another human being’, then we all have some power to an extent which may differ, depending on our roles and responsibilities we find ourselves in. Hence the hadith about each of us being a shepherd is applicable to each and every one of us, whether we are leaders of states, leaders of groups, leading a task, leaders in a journey, leading a household, or even mothers to our children.

The biggest danger a person faces, who maybe in a position of authority or power, will be from the diseases of arrogance and pride. Having a position as such can easily bring out the worst and hence egoism can become manifest.

Pride and Arrogance is indeed the worst of sins. Any other defect and there is more of a chance the individual can be corrected and will accept the advice, but in contrast, pride/arrogance will be blinding. It was Sufyan al-Thawri(rm) who said: “Every act of disobedience committed due to passion, its forgiveness is hoped for. Every act of disobedience committed due to arrogance, its forgiveness is not hoped for because the root of Satan’s disobedience was arrogance, whereas the root of Adam’s lapse was passion”

Therefore we find that in the past many of the sahaba being aware of this danger, did not, accept positions of authority. They did not accept positions of leadership and stayed away from being governors or Amils of provinces.

WRT households, when Allah swt mentions in the Quran that men have a degree over women, its not about you-being-the-man or having to enforce your decisions. Its not about being draconian and despotic. The illah (legal reason) for this rule is more to do with the hukm of looking after the household. Its to do with taking care of the affairs (unlike the Muslim rulers who are puppets of western regimes and their corporations), and in essence its about being their guardians.

Practically this boils down to decisions and issues being mutually decided. The household being tranquil, the warmth of love and compassion existing in the relationship. Of course the rule exists for a reason, so the best example I can think of personally would probably be:

Some time ago, my sister wanted to go to the city centre….there was a footy match on…she wears hijab and jilbab…supporters had filled pubs…and somehow in some weird woman’s logical thought process!!!…. she came to the conclusion that all will be fine…I kinda INSISTED…NO, not today.

(i know the eg’s a bit crass…but there we are)

So the rule exists to achieve guardianship and thereby happiness and tranquility in the household and not an egoistic trip someone may like to go on!!!!!!!!

Also, when it comes to the woman’s role, she also has responsibilities, whether its to her in-laws, or to her children. I’ve unfortunately seen a case where a wife of someone I knew, was kinda a bit off-ish with her in-laws and unhappy for her children to see their grandparents. I’ve also seen cases where mother-in-laws become jealous and draconian.

Even tho we all have been given influence, power and authority in certain respects, we shouldnt forget that the real KING we will face on Yuam al Qiyama.
And believe me, He swt has MORE than superhuman powers!! 🙂

So I guess with great power does come great responsibility, but only for those who realise that along with great power there also comes an even greater accountability.

May Allah swt only give us those tests we can take, may Allah swt only give us that which we can bear, may Allah swt guide us to the sirat tal mustaqeem, may He swt help us to achieve happiness and tranquillity in the Dunya and thereby make of us of those who achieve His pleasure in the Akhirah. May He swt make our households those that work together to achieve Jannah til Firduas. May Allah swt make us realise the error of our ways, the diseases in our hearts, the mistakes of our limbs and the insincerity of our hearts. May Allah swt give us protection from arrogance, protection from the whispers of shaitaan and make our hearts at one with Himself.

O Allah, indeed you know us better then we know ourselves – for we can truly deceive even ourselves but there is no hiding from You. You are the all-seer and the all-knower. Without you we are lost and without you we will truly enter jahannum. So do not leave us for even a moment, O Allah.

Ameen