THIS IS NOT THE TIME

A YOUNG man from Delhi had to get to Mumbai to appear for an interview for a job abroad. He had booked a berth on a train. On the day of his departure, he left his home for the railway station in a rickshaw. It so happened that some boys threw stones at the rickshaw.

At this, the young man’s friend, who was accompanying him, lost his temper. He wanted to get off the rickshaw, catch hold of the boys and teach them a lesson for their misbehaviour. But the young man stopped him.

“Where do we have the time for this?” he asked, as the rickshaw moved ahead.

What the young man wanted to say was, “I have to reach the station at once and catch the train. Then, after getting to Mumbai, I have to appear for the interview. In such a situation, where do I have the time to get stuck with these boys? I’d rather exercise patience in the face of their misbehaviour so that I do not miss my interview in Mumbai.”

People have this sort of seriousness about their worldly affairs. But true believers have an even greater seriousness than this about the Hereafter. One who is serious about worldly affairs simply does not have any time whatsoever to get involved in irrelevant things, like the man heading for the interview.

In the same way, one who is serious about the Hereafter does not want to get involved at all, in issues that will divert him from his goal of the Hereafter.

A passenger who wants to travel from Delhi to Amritsar, in the northwest, will not head in the direction of Kolkata, to the south-east. Likewise, a person who is journeying towards the Hereafter will not want to head off in a direction that will take him far away from his chosen destination.

If we consider ourselves as travellers in this world, we can derive inspiration from the above-mentioned example of the young man. But if we think of ourselves as travellers who are journeying towards the Hereafter, we can find inspiration in the example of the Companions of the Prophet who did not let worldly things divert them from their mission.

If we follow neither path — being concerned with neither sort of journey — then we will be simply wandering about, without any destination whatsoever.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

editor@thespiritofislam.org

Don’t disturb the mind

Missing an opportunity is not a problem.

The real problem is that your mind gets so disturbed that you fail to recognize some viable alternative course.