In the Quran, while referring to the People of the Book, this instruction has been given: “Do not go to extremes in your religion” (4:171). The same point appears in a hadith in these words: “Avoid excess in religion, for the earlier communities were destroyed because of excess in religion” (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 1851).
Ghulu means excess, that is, going beyond limits. According to the hadith, the correct path in all matters is the path of balance and moderation. Moderation, or the middle course, leads to success, whereas the path of excess leads to loss and failure. This is a law of nature. That is why it has been acknowledged even at the global level. There is an English saying:
An excess of everything is bad.
Ghulu is related to every sphere of life. For example, firmness in belief is a good quality. But if openly expressing one’s belief involves a risk to life, concealment has been permitted in order to protect life. Prayer and fasting, remembrance and recitation of the Quran, are all desirable acts. However, excess in these acts is not desirable. Enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong are undoubtedly necessary duties, but when this is taken to the level of violence, it ceases to be correct.
The same principle applies to moral values. Self-confidence is a high moral quality. But if it leads a person to unwise actions, it no longer remains commendable. Self-respect and self-reliance are also desirable qualities. But if self-respect reaches the point where it prevents a person from admitting his mistake, it turns from a virtue into a vice.
Similarly, it is a good quality that a person does not seek help from others, does not like to accept favours, and wishes to support himself. But if this attitude generates feelings of pride and superiority, it becomes a bad habit rather than a good one.
A human weakness is that when a person notices a distinctive aspect in something, he forms an exaggerated notion about it and goes beyond limits in determining its status. This is what is called ghulu. All forms of shirk and personality-worship are, in reality, products of this very ghulu.
Excess in religion means that the actual status of a thing is not maintained. Instead, an attempt is made to elevate it far beyond its rightful position. God creates one of His servants without a father, and it is said that he is the son of God. God grants someone a high status, and he is assumed to be a superhuman being, free from human error. People are advised to avoid worldly glitter, and this is exaggerated into total renunciation of the world. Certain instructions are given regarding one aspect of life, and by exaggerating them, an entire religious philosophy is constructed upon that basis.
All such cases in which a religious teaching is raised beyond its true position and given an exaggerated status fall within what is known in religious terms as ghulu. (Al-Risala, January 1999)
