The 365 · Tazkiyah · Day 117 · Heart
Bughd al-Muʾminīn · Hatred for Believers
This day is still being reviewed. Its wording, transliterations, and references are being checked before it is final, so please take care with transliterations until then.
The disease
بُغْض الْمُؤْمِنِين
Bughd al-Muʾminīn
The story
The Companions' love for each other was a visible community-marker. Even those who disagreed substantively (e.g., ʿAlī and Muʿāwiyah's followers during the fitnah) maintained personal-love-of-believer. The classical scholars preserved this: disagree on matters; love the believer.
Why it's here
Bughd al-muʾminīn is hatred for fellow believers, especially when the hatred is not for legitimate reasons (their disobedience to Allah). The Quran establishes the structural principle (Q 49:10): 'The believers are but brothers (innamā al-muʾminūna ikhwah).' Hatred between brothers (in faith) is the structural inverse of the Quranic-named identity.
In the Qur'an
إِنَّمَا ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا۟ بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ
“The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers. And fear Allāh that you may receive mercy.”
49:10 Read 49:10 with tafsir
Svenska: De troende är bröder. Försona därför två bröder [som är oense] och frukta Gud - kanske skall ni erfara barmhärtighet.
In the Sunnah
Muslim 2586 (an-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr): 'The believers in their mutual love, mercy, and compassion are like one body: when one limb hurts, the rest of the body responds with sleeplessness and fever.' The hadith establishes the structural unity-of-feeling among believers; bughd is the structural inverse.
The cure
1. Distinguish between legitimate dislike (e.g., disliking someone's specific bad action) and structural bughd (hating them as a person). The first is sometimes permitted; the second is forbidden between believers. 2. Make duʿāʾ for those you find difficult: ask Allah to soften their hearts and yours. 3. Recall Q 49:10: they are your brothers. 4. Even when disagreeing, maintain the brotherhood-affirmation.
What is at stake
Bughd-of-believers structurally separates the believer from the umma's love-network. The angel-cascade of Q 19:96 (Day 125) operates in the inverse: those harboring hatred for believers may find Allah placing repulsion-of-them on earth. The diseased state damages both the hater and his standing in the umma.
A du'a for this day
اللَّهُمَّ أَلِّفْ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِنَا وَأَصْلِحْ ذَاتَ بَيْنِنَا
“O Allah, unite our hearts and rectify our relationships”
Sunan Abi Dawud 969 (Sahih as a mawquf supplication of Ibn Mas'ud; the marfu' chain to the Prophet was graded Da'if by al-Albani)
The door of mercy
The cure is the conscious cultivation of believer-love. Within months of conscious practice (duʿāʾ for difficult-believers, separating disagreement from personal-bughd), the heart's default-orientation shifts toward brother-love.
A reflection to carry
Bughd al-muʾminīn is hatred for fellow believers. Q 49:10: 'The believers are but brothers (innamā al-muʾminūna ikhwah).' Hatred between brothers is the structural inverse of the Quranic-named identity.
Read the longer reflection
Muslim 2586: 'The believers in their mutual love, mercy, and compassion are like one body: when one limb hurts, the rest of the body responds with sleeplessness and fever.' Cure: distinguish legitimate dislike (specific bad action) from structural bughd (hating them as a person); the first is sometimes permitted, the second forbidden between believers; make duʿāʾ for those you find difficult; recall Q 49:10 (they are your brothers); even when disagreeing, maintain the brotherhood-affirmation. Modern political and sectarian polarization within the umma produces structural bughd-conditions; Q 49:10 holds across all internal disagreements.
Sources: Quran, Sahih Muslim, Tirmidhi. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
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