Weakness Has a Philosophy

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The rule that the weak reaps the fruits of his own weakness is true, but is weakness a philosophy of life, or the product of objective circumstances? Weakness may be the product of objective circumstances whose origin and development the weak person bears no responsibility for. One may inherit poverty from one’s father, or a difficult social standing from one’s family. But the objective may become subjective if a person resigns himself to the circumstance he inherited, or found himself in, and does not work to change it. There are those who try to free themselves from the grip of weakness, and the degree of their success remains tied to numerous objective and subjective factors.

Some people find themselves blessed with circumstances of strength, and they exploit them and reinforce them with subjective factors, growing stronger still; others live off such circumstances only to find themselves a burden on others. One may inherit wealth from one’s father, and instead of growing it, squander it on appetites and pleasures. Here subjective factors work against objective ones, and in the end the barkeeper throws the spendthrift, no longer able to pay his tab, out onto the sidewalk, unable even to find something with which to get drunk.

Attempts to escape a state of weakness absolve the weak person of humiliation and disgrace, because he is trying. He remains oppressed as long as he is weak, but he retains dignity and pride if he tries to escape the state of weakness, and perhaps, through his attempts, fashions for himself a stature that conceals much of the weakness those very attempts are meant to cover. But tragedy has truly taken root when weakness becomes a philosophy of life, or a resignation to what already exists.

The philosophy of weakness has its own roots and foundations, just as the philosophy of strength has its roots and foundations, but with one difference: the philosophy of strength is conscious, while the philosophy of weakness may be conscious or unconscious. It is not easy for a person to be weak and maintain his weakness, since that requires a great deal of laziness, fatalism, a desire for servitude, a chasing after animal appetite, and begging and pleading. The weak person must resist the human energies God has placed within him, and give them up in favor of conditions rejected by humanity — namely degradation, defeat, and dependence on others. He resists his own bodily energies that drive him toward work and production, so as to remain at home or loitering in the streets, never expressing the store of muscular power within him; and he resists the human drive toward achievement, so as to remain on the margins while achievement is made to happen upon him.

…the energies complement one another to provide harmony in human life, which is the wellspring of human comfort and reassurance, and in this the disparity in people’s outlooks on life can be explained.

If a person fails to unleash the energies placed within him, or does not try to unleash them, he lives a life lacking harmony and falling short of natural expression, substituting the habitual for the natural. Habit and custom, or what people have grown accustomed to, take the place of the necessary emergence of innate natural forces. It is quite likely that a person in this condition lives in a state of estrangement from himself, growing weaker and more diminished, feeling incapacity and disgrace, and surrendering to external forces.

Working to make use of the energies deposited within oneself requires activity, vitality, awareness, clear vision, and self-respect. Many are those who do not wish to be active and do not wish to live with awareness, preferring laziness, fatalism, and oblivion to the vitality of life. They see in surrendering to reality and accepting what the will of others dictates a cleverness that affords them calm and distance from the problems and complications of life, and they see no shame at all in submitting to the will of others, even if it violates their rights, their sanctities, and what is sacred to them.

These people cover their weakness with justifications that appear wise and reasonable. For example, they say that keeping up with events and participating in public affairs bring nothing but worries and the commission of sins, and that the best of people is the one who leaves other people alone. Nor do they forget to lend an aura of sanctity to their laziness and submission, saying that everything that happens is by God’s will, and that a person should neither toil nor tire; or perhaps they say that everything is in the hands of America, capable of weaving conspiracies and laying plans that no one can escape. And if the blows upon their heads increase and successive defeats befall them, they say that the believers are tested more severely, and so on. It is no wonder, in our Arab society, that we turn the sins of laziness and slackness into sanctified steps guarded by angels.

I say this so that no one is surprised at the Arabs’ subjugation and their repeated humiliation at the hands of many nations. Arabs now speak of Iran’s rising power, but they do not speak of the causes of their own incapacity and weakness. They rush to enumerate the conspiracies they fall prey to, but do not trouble themselves to make use of the sources of strength God has bestowed upon them. What has prevented them from working to fortify themselves, when they possess the energies and the capacities? Certainly it is not the will of God, nor is it because they are the best nation brought forth for mankind.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “للضعف فلسفة” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.