The Problem of Thinking Wrong

THE PROBLEM OF THINKING WRONG A reader of the monthly magazine “Al-Risala” writes: “In one of your articles, you wrote that when one opportunity for success ends for a person, they should not be discouraged. This is because another opportunity is always close by, allowing them to resume their journey of progress. The question is, how can a person know that there is another opportunity available?” (Suhail Ahmed, New Delhi). The key to recognizing new opportunities is to think openly, rather than with a closed mind. It’s important to rise above the tendency to blame others. An example of this is the Muslims of India. Before 1947, our leaders and newspapers told Muslims that they faced the Hindu majority in India and could never succeed here. Even after the partition in 1947, this mindset continued. All speakers and writers kept delivering this negative message to Muslims. Some even went so far as to claim that the majority community wanted to turn Indian Muslims into a second Spain. Such negative propaganda distorted the thinking of Muslims to such an extent that they came to believe that no opportunities for success existed for them in India. Since 1947, I have been writing and speaking against this idea. Finally, about 40 years after independence, the mindset of Muslims began to shift. They realized that all kinds of opportunities were available to them in India. As a result, Muslims here are now continually advancing in every field.