Ask what a human being is and you will get an answer from psychology, philosophy or biology. Shaykh Abdullah bin Muhammad Al-Mo'taz asks instead what the Creator says about His creation, and gathers the Qur'an's own descriptions into one place.
They do not flatter. The same book that honors man as Allah's vicegerent on earth calls him hasty, quarrelsome, forgetful, ungrateful, oppressive, impatient, ignorant, arrogant and weak. Reading these verses collected together rather than scattered across the mushaf produces a distinct effect — recognition, usually uncomfortable.
The Qualities Examined
The book works through the traits the Qur'an attributes to human beings: weakness and haste; ingratitude toward the One who gave everything; argumentativeness, including argument for its own sake; forgetfulness of what was promised in a moment of fear; irritability under difficulty and chronic dissatisfaction under ease; arrogance; excessive attachment to worldly life; transgression once a person considers himself self-sufficient; and heedlessness of the account that is coming.
Not a Verdict but a Diagnosis
This is where the book turns. These descriptions are not a sentence passed on human nature — they describe what a person becomes when left to himself, without revelation. Set against them, the Qur'an also affirms our capacity for repentance, sincerity, gratitude, patience, humility and obedience, and Islam supplies exactly the guidance required to move from the first list to the second.
The purpose is Muhasabah: honest self-assessment. Not despair at what you find, and not the reassurance of concluding that everyone is like this, but the identification of a specific fault in yourself and the beginning of work on it.
Who It Is For
Anyone doing serious self-examination. Students of knowledge, imams and teachers. Youth groups and character-development programs, where it gives discussion something firmer than general advice. New Muslims. It is written in clear English and reads well in short sittings, one quality at a time — which is probably the right way to take it.
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