The Book of Life

promotion, it becomes harmful. A leader speaks the language of national development, but his real aim is to highlight himself. That is why leaders always make grand speeches—so that their names appear more often, and crowds gather around them. But this kind of leadership is poison for nation-building. True nation-building always comes from working on the “small stories.” Leaders, by nature, only chase the “big story.” The result is that the leader’s image shines, but the nation does not progress. THE SPIRIT OF REFORM I once met a young Muslim man who worked as a scribe (a professional Urdu copyist for printing). He told me, “I read Al-Risala regularly and I like it very much. But one thing bothers me. You often mention the shortcomings of Muslims. Doesn’t this create an inferiority complex among them?” I said that you are a scribe. Suppose you do not draw the correct circle for the two letters jeem ( ج ) and ain ( ع ). Now, if your teacher points out this mistake, would you say that the teacher is instilling a sense of inferiority in you? He said, no. I replied, that through this personal example, you can understand the articles of Al-Risala. The truth is that the purpose of these articles is not to create a sense of inferiority among Muslims, but to encourage