CONTENTMENT: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS

CONTENTMENT: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS Now consider this 1930 event in light of what happened 75 years later, and it becomes clear that this situation turned out just like the popular saying mentioned earlier. Leaders at the time were given a valuable opportunity without even asking for it—but they missed out simply because their minds were set on something much bigger. The problem was, that the “bigger” goal was never truly achievable. The British offer held the same potential as a proposal made to an English trader during Emperor Jahangir’s reign— one that trader quickly accepted. If the Muslim leaders 75 years ago had embraced the offer and transformed it into a hub for education, scholarship, and outreach, the long-term consequences could have been so profound that history itself might have looked very different. The two examples above show what has happened with almost all of today’s well-known leaders. Each had great chances to do meaningful work. But almost all of them aimed for the impossible and chased after it. As a result, they didn’t even get what was possible—while the impossible, of course, never came to them. For example, Syed Jamaluddin Afghani was given significant opportunities to work by the Ottoman Empire in Turkey. However, he chose to turn against the very empire that had supported him. As a result, he was forced to leave Turkey. In Egypt, Syed Qutb considered the offer to work in the Ministry of Education too minor. Instead, he set out to overthrow President Nasser’s government. The result was that he lost both the smaller opportunity and the larger one.