An Example of Noble Character

so impartially administered in his kingdom, handsomely rewarded the Kazi, and raised him to great honour.’” (pp. 55–56) The tomb of this justice-loving king reportedly still stood in Sonargaon at the time the book was published (as cited in the Urdu Magazine, Sidq-E-Jadeed, Lucknow, 2 May 1980). The secret of a nation’s rise lies in the presence of such principled and courageous individuals. A society thrives when living souls like these are among them—and it declines when they are absent. A “living person” is one who places principle above convenience, who accepts his mistakes without offering excuses, who can forgive personal offense, and who respects others even when they have ruled against him. SEEKING SPIRIT Al-Asmaʿi, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Qurayb, a renowned linguistic scholar of Arabic of the 2nd century AH, once set out to understand the precise meaning of the Arabic word damdama—a word also found in the Quran: “So their Lord destroyed them for their crime and razed (damdama) their city to the ground.” (91:14) He was not content with a dictionary definition; he sought to discover the exact context in which Arabs naturally used this word. He could have simply asked a Bedouin, “In what situations do you use the word damdama?” But