Choice between Lesser Evil
and Greater Evil
Accepting what one already has, opens the door to progress. A deeper awareness of reality makes one content with the lesser evil and will devote all his energy to constructive activities.
The second Caliph of Islam, Umar Faruq, once observed: “The wise person is not one who knows good and evil, but one who knows out of two evils which is the lesser evil.” (Dham al-Hawa, Ibn al-Jawzi, p. 8)
The matter of life is a very delicate one. Here everyone has been granted freedom. Everyone is pursuing his own interests. Everyone is engaged in fulfilling his own aims in life. Therefore, no one finds adequate scope for his actions. Everyone has to traverse a path or road which is already crowded. This situation has rendered it impossible for a person to find an ideal world in the perfect sense and in consonance with his desires.
The truth is that in this world the choice is not between good and evil but between two evils. It has to be ascertained which is the lesser evil. In this world, willing acceptance of the lesser evil shows wisdom. Pursuing the ideal good is the way of the unwise, because in this world no one can find total goodness.
One who is willing to accept the lesser evil will find the starting point for his endeavours. His constructive activity can start immediately. On the contrary, those who are not willing to accept the lesser evil will unnecessarily clash and engage in confrontation with others. In this way, they will incur losses and all the opportunities they had for making progress will remain elusive.
One who has deeper awareness of reality will be content with the lesser evil and will devote all his energy to positive, constructive activities. On the contrary, those who do not have any deeper understanding will engage in meaningless clashes and confrontations in the name of achieving the ideal good. When they suffer the consequences of this and they lose what they already have, they will start blaming their supposed enemies, whereas the loss they had incurred would be the result of their own foolishness rather than the result of injustice or oppression on the part of others.
Willingness to accept what one already has, opens the door to progress. Those who learn this reality are the ones who may be called the wise.
