SPIRIT OF ISLAM NOVEMBER 2019

41 Spirit of Islam Issue 83 November 2019 The culture of forgiveness helps in the building of a better society, where positive values flourish, where the spirit of cooperation prevails, where disparate groups come together and form a peaceful society. only encourages others to take further negative steps against us. To assume so would be unfair, and also, it is against the law of nature. A tit-for-tat policy is not a real solution; it does not end the problem, it only leads to a chain reaction that aggravates the problem. Psychological studies show that every human being is born with two different faculties—the ego and the conscience. If you follow the path of vindication, it fans the ego of the other party, whereas if you follow the policy of forgiveness, it will activate the conscience of the other person. And it is a fact that conscience always plays a positive role in controversial matters. The culture of forgiveness helps in the building of a better society, where positive values flourish, where the spirit of cooperation prevails, where disparate groups come together and form a peaceful society. Revenge, on the other hand, creates an environment of mistrust, in which everyone takes others to be rivals. The revenge culture rules out the growth of a healthy society. To err is human; everyone is bound to do something wrong at one time or other. But, in such a situation, revenge means committing not just one mistake, but making mistake after mistake. On the contrary, forgiveness means undoing wrongs with rights. o