The Arabic word for mockery is sukhriyya, which comes from the three-letter root sa kh ra. According to the dictionary Tongue of the Arabs (Lisan al-Arab), this word means to debase or subjugate another thing or person to be at your service at no expense to you. This is the same word used in the Quran numerous times when God is referring to having subjugated the earth, livestock, planets, stars, sun, and the moon for Mankind to benefit from them. It’s also used to refer to the different stations humans have been granted and elevated over each other to serve one another. However, when it’s used as an active verb where one is performing sukhriyya of another, the Quranic position is the command to desist from such an act, “Believers, no one group of men should jeer at another, who may after all be better than them; no one group of women should jeer at another, who may after all be better than them.” [Quran 49:11] As this verse indicates, the essence of mockery is a view of oneself in relation to the mocked. The consequence of mockery is the view of oneself as the mocker to be elevated over the mocked. It’s an assertion of superiority over the other by way of debasing them through mockery. In the process of doing so, the humanity of the mocked is stripped away from them as they become an object of amusement. The verse saying, “We have ennobled the Son of Adam” becomes meaningless as their dignity is discarded. The essence of mockery is “I am better than him: You created me from fire and him from clay.” [Quran 7:12] mohamedghilan/2013/09/03/on-mockery/
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 00:50:36 +0000
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