Investing For the Future

Investing For the Future

1985 2 February 10 Investing For the Future (374) A few days after being involved in a serious road accident near Lahore, in which his companion, film star Iqbal Hassan, was killed on the spot, Aslam Parwaiz, the famous star of many Urdu and Punjabi films, died in a Lahore hospital on November 21, 1984. He was brought to hospital from the scene of the crash in a coma, from which he never recovered. In the later 1950’s and early ‘60’s Aslam Parwaiz was the most successful hero of Urdu and Punjabi films in Pakistan. His name was considered to be a guarantee of box-office success. He realized, however, that the film industry was an unpredictable trade, and would not provide him with an income forever. Accordingly, the money that he made from films he invested in other, more reliable ventures. In this way he ensured a continued income for himself after his name had faded from the spotlights. One commentator wrote after his death: “From the very beginning he realized that a film career could not be the only source of one’s income because a favourite hero of today is bound to fade away tomorrow. He thus intelligently invested his income in profitable ventures and was financially well-off.” (The Muslim, Islamabad, November 22, 1984) Like Aslam Parwaiz, many people are astute in affairs of the world. They realize that it is foolhardy to set store in something that is unreliable and impermanent. The truly astute person, however, is one who realizes this truth in the wider context of eternity. The ‘heroes’ of this world will appear worthless in the next world. The only ones, who will be well-off in the next, permanent world, will be ones who have invested for that life; ones who sent good actions before them, which will be of use to them there. One who fixed his gaze entirely on this world will be left with nothing but remorse and anguish when he reaches the next world. He will cry out in despair: “Would that I had sent forth good deeds for this, my future life.” (Quran, 89:24) How strange that the cleverness people show with regard to the fleeting life of this world, they fail to show with regard to the everlasting life of the next world.