Do not bite the finger that fed you

Owing to his exceptional religious devotions, Iblis was elevated in rank to be among the Angels but became accursed for refusing to obey Allah’s command which required him to bow down Adam; the first man. This singular naughtiness of the Shaytan (compound name for Iblis and his progeny) makes him a classical example of someone […]

Owing to his exceptional religious devotions, Iblis was elevated in rank to be among the Angels but became accursed for refusing to obey Allah’s command which required him to bow down Adam; the first man. This singular naughtiness of the Shaytan (compound name for Iblis and his progeny) makes him a classical example of someone who “bit” or “attempted to bite” the finger that fed him. Iblis (who perhaps forgot that he, like man, is also one of Allah’s creatures) dared Allah for asking him to bow down for man.
To bite the finger(s) that fed one is simply an act of betrayal; a deep-seated trait in the presumptuous character of the Shaytan. Betrayal, as demonstrated by Iblis, is a manifestation of arrogance.  Betrayal or backstabbing is the violation of an expressed or a perceived trust by a person or group upon who one relies in matters that require personal confidence, trust or support. Betrayal more often than not comes from the person it is least expected. Betrayal can occur with a spouse, a family member, a friend or a colleague at one’s place of work. Most people who experienced betrayal saw the warning signs but ignored them and continued (as urged by the teachings of Islam) to give that person the benefits of doubt.
One would figuratively be biting the finger(s) that fed him if he chooses (at a time he could have done otherwise) to abandon, humiliate or desert those who in their capacities as parents, guardians, siblings or distant but dependable relations sacrificed their wealth, time, body and energy to pay his school fees. I just hope it is not true that some people (out of a feeling of being unnecessarily bothered) forsake their parents to old people’s homes where they pay porters to do the job placed upon them by religion and culture. Allah (SWT) exhorts in Qur’an 17: 23 “Thy lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him, and that ye be kind to parents whether one or both of them attain old age in thy life; say not to them a word of contempt nor repel them but address them in terms of honour”. 
When a child grows up and the parents have become weak and helpless, can he do less than shower tender care and affection on his parents as they did for him when he was helpless? It would be the height of betrayal in Islam and within the context of African culture for an individual to outsource the care of those who had sleepless nights, embarrassing inconveniences and severally went out of their ways to make him comfortable during his infancy! Indeed, this brand of betrayal is one of the worse forms of ingratitude to God and man. If I were to be a victim of such a brazen betrayal (Allah forbids), I would just request the traitor son or daughter to return the breast milk he sucked from me as a child; with a caveat that reimbursement in cash is not acceptable.
Metaphorically, it is equal in effect to biting the finger that fed one when a man decides, after “making it” in life or “arriving” in the world of the affluent, to ditch his wife with whom he toiled in the past to win the “survival of the fittest” war. Some men (probably due to a notorious sense of volatility) do not find any time more convenient to desert and “bite their wives’ fingers” through divorce than when Allah (SWT) in His infinite favour decides to “butter their bread”. This is another wicked face of betrayal.
Women, too, are exceptional when it comes to biting the finger that fed one. Only a woman (not minding the consequences) can be so barefacedly bold and courageous to disown in one sentence or even a word all the acts of kindness which her husband laboured to provide for her pleasure!  One question common on the lips of many women is: What good have you ever done for me? This attitude though presumptuous of women appears to have been prophesized and therefore natural with them. The Prophet (SAW) corroborates this in a hadith dealing with Eclipse prayer in al-Muwatta of Imam Malik.
Once, after the Prophet had observed the eclipse prayer in congregation of his companions and followers, they said: “Messenger of Allah, we saw you reached out for something while you were standing here and we saw you withdraw”. He said, “I saw the Garden…then I saw the Fire and I had never seen anything more hideous than what I saw today. Most of the people in it were women”. They asked “Why Messenger of Allah?” he said “because of their ungratefulness”. Someone asked “Are they ungrateful to Allah?” He said “They are ungrateful to their husbands and ungrateful to good behavior (towards them). Even if you were to behave well towards one of them for a whole lifetime and she were to see you d something that she did not like; she would say that she had never seen anything good from you”.
It amounts to biting the finger that fed one when a contractual agreement involving loans, rents, etc are not honoured. It is betrayal when a student meets his former teacher/lecturer and pretends not to have seen him/her. To refuse to greet one’s former teacher is a grave act of betrayal. In partisan politics too, some people bite the finger(s) that fed them particularly when an elected public officer remains insensitive to the plight of the electorate. An elected president would be betraying the mandate of the voting public if he says “I am not an army General to have solutions to all security challenges”. In the first place, was he coerced into the office? Such a president loses the moral right to wear the rank of a General whenever he decides to dress in army uniform.
If you are betrayed at any point in your life, handle your reactions maturely and with caution. Do not stoop to the level of the betrayer. Convince yourself that, sometimes, people make honest mistakes in life. Give the threatened trust another chance. May Allah (SWT) guide us to resist the temptations to bite the finger(s) that (even if it were once) fed us, amin.