MAY PEACE BE UPON YOU
"The heart is like a bird.
Love is its head, and its two wings are hope and fear."
Ibn al-Qayyim, Madârij al-Sâlikîn
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Tuesday, March 06, 2007
08:51
Good Sharing: Realism
By Maulana Wahidudin Khan
If you happen to be in an open field when it starts to rain, you hasten to find shelter. This is not cowardice, this is realism. Similarly, when there is an earthquake, you immediately leave home for an open space. This is too is not defeatism, but an acknowledgement of thereality of nature. Where some difficulty arises between man and nature, the solution to the problem lies only in ackowledgement, not in confrontation.
The system of rains and earthquake is part of the scheme of God. Man cannot change this. Man only has it in his power to devise strategies to save himself from harm. The only way to do so is to adopt the principle of avoidance and save himself from extinction. That is why in heavy rain you head for a sheltered place, while during an earthquake, you rush for the fields.
Patience and avoidance are not signs of cowardice or a defeatist mentality. They are simply realisitc approaches. This is necessary because the Creator has given man freedom for the purpose of putting him to the test. Man sometimes makes the right use, sometimes the wrong use of freedom. Even if you start fighting everyone, you cannot snatch away their freedom, as this is given by the very Creator of the universe. Efforst to deprive others of their freedom are futile and will result only in your own suffering.
In such a state of affairs there is only one possible attitude. And that is known as patience. That is, even when faced with bitterness and unpleasantness from others, you must continue you life's journey by avoidance.
You should never feel that it is only up to others to practise patience and avoid friction. Patience and avoidance of strife are the social duties of everyone without exception. It should never be forgotten that while patience make its possible to continue with life's journey, impatience will ultimately prevent you from reaching your chosen destination.