HILM
LOVE In the Islamic tradition, love is nothing if it does not have within it a strong dose of forbearance or, in Arabic, hilm (الحلم). It is easy to love someone perfect; it is divine to love someone humanly flawed. We show hilm whenever we cease to give everyone their ‘due’ and give them what they actually need instead. Crucially, Islamic scholars stress that the fastest way to generate hilm is by making an effort to view our wrongdoers as children. We forgive children so readily because we know – and can see – that their ‘badness’ and difficulty are invariably the result of some form of pain, discomfort, hurt or wound. The child is never evil, they become challenging in response to injury, fear or sorrow. Though the idea sounds provocative, the reason why little children and big people do wrong is – despite the differences in age and size – exactly the same. One category may be no bigger than a chair, the other can be gigantic and able to carry guns, post lengthy screeds o...