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During the caliphate
of Hadhrat Umar (r.a.), a woman brought her to him and said:
"O Leader of the Righteous [Ameer-ul-Momineen’]! My son eats too much sugar. If we run out of sugar, he keeps on asking for it, and it causes me a great deal of worry."
Ameer-ul-Momineen, Hadhrat Umar, thought about it for a moment and then said: "Bring your son back in a week."
The lady returned after a week. Hadhrat Umar addressed the child, “Son, eat less sugar and don't insist on it. Your mother is worried about you." He then said to the child's mother: "You can take him now; he won't bother you again."
Those present in that company asked:
"O Arneer-ul-Momineen, you made that woman wait for a week to say only that; whereas, you could have said the same thing the first day!"
Hadhrat Umar “replied;
"I used to eat
too much sugar myself. I reduced my intake of sugar to a minimum and followed
that restriction for a week to make it a strong habit. Had I on the first day
instructed that child that he should eat less sugar, my advice would not have worked
on him. Now the advice will have effect on him, and he will follow it."
In this age of uncertainty, misery, worry, and insecurity, it becomes clear that, (as) we observe that people advising youth as well as adult acquaintances to stay away from sin while not following their own counsel, that the advice falls on deaf ears because we ourselves do not follow it.
There is an outcry all around that the present generation has turned away from Islam—that it does not follow the path of its ancestors. Why do we forget that we too are counted among this generation's ancestors?
If the present generation has strayed away from the teachings of the beloved Prophet (saw), it is more our fault than theirs. Everyone knows that lying is wrong and that usurping wrongfully inflated profits and participating in the black market constitutes a swindling of the rights of Allah's servants. However,
lying has become a means to
achieve success and prosperity in our lives. And pocketing profits in excess of
the limits prescribed by the Quran has become a kind of science. When children
see that their parents chant the teachings of Allah and his Prophet from their
lips, while their actions run counter to those teachings, the only conclusion
their progressive minds can arrive at is that religion is merely the verbal
expression of ideas and concepts; and that it has nothing to do with action.
Chaos and commotion is rampant in the world. Every person is trapped in this problem or that. Peace of mind no longer exists. The prevailing perception of insecurity has thickened the shadows of sorrow and grief. Newspapers publish reports on a daily basis of accidents and loss of precious human life. At times we hear the heart-wrenching and horrifying news of buildings that once reached the sky, falling to the ground and killing hundreds of God's servants. In light of all this, it is not difficult to speculate that we are under attack by earthly and heavenly calamities. On the surface, we explain the occurrence of these terribly tragic incidents by reasoning that they are the result of the greed of those who constructed buildings [with cheap faulty material] or the result of natural movement and changes within the earth. But if one looks at it from the perspective of a devout Muslim, one realizes that according to God's declaration, it is the crimes and misdeeds of those dwelling in human society that invite such earthly and heavenly calamities.
When a nation deviates from the laws prescribed by God and starts to ignore the distinction between good and evil, the citizens of that nation start to suffer weakness in their power to believe. Eventually a time comes when their power to believe is completely extinguished and doubt and suspicion penetrate their belief system. Due to these doubts and suspicions the nation becomes a victim of superstitions. When superstition takes hold of people, it brings with it many kinds of doubts and fears, the logical conclusion of which is greed and base desires. Such greed and base desires take a person to that point where uncertainty and superstition gain a complete control over him. This is the point where a person becomes deprived of the real joys of life, and it is no longer God but superficial and material means, which become the Centre of his life. And when a nation's complete dependence is on material means, then an unending series of earthly and heavenly calamities will naturally occur, leading to annihilation of such nations.
We should not forget that Allah the Exalted tells us to stay away from doubt and uncertainty. This is the same doubt and uncertainty which Adam (a.s) was commanded to stay away from, Eventually Satan lured Adam"' into the trap of doubt and uncertainly and, as a result, Adam (A.S). Lost the blessings of heaven.
KHWAJA SHAMS-UD-DEEN AZEEMI
Science has made immense progress, yet many believe that, even with all of the modern tools at our disposal, human beings function at no more than 10% of their mental capacity. This leads to the question of what exactly it is that comprises the remaining 90%. Yet another question that arises is this: If it has taken man four and a half billion years to be able to apply only 10% of his ability, how long will it take for him to make use of the remaining 90%?
