Tradition

اَلنَّاسُ أَعْداءُ مآ جَهِلُوا

Imam ‘Ali (‘a) is narrated to have said: “The people are enemies of what they do not know.”1

Brief Commentary

We see that some people reject certain things and they stand up against them in opposition. The only reason for their opposition is they do not understand them or it is something new to them. This wise saying is particularly true in regards to religious matters. Some people easily reject religious matters when they don’t understand them and this applies even to those who are learned in other fields. You would think that someone who has taken the time to learn another field would understand that it takes much work in order to master a given subject and therefore they should not be so quick to judge something which they don’t understand. Therefore, we should be careful never to reject something simply because it may seem strange to us or because we do not understand it.

• 1. Nahj al-Balaghah, Words of Wisdom 172.