Better reckon with oneself than with others
Al-Risala (English), January 1986, p. 24
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.
Better reckon with oneself than with others
1986 1 January 24 Better reckon with oneself than with others (58) Hamza Ibn Abdul Muttalib came to the Prophet and asked to be shown something on which he could base his life. The Prophet asked him whether he preferred to give life to a soul, or take life away from one. Hamza replied that he preferred the former. “You are accountable for your own self.” the Prophet told him.
Our True Destination
1986 1 January 24 Our True Destination (274) Among the Mina community of Swai Madhopur, it has become a symbol of prosperity that the Barat (marriage procession) should arrive by helicopter, even if the distance between the house of bride and bridegroom is only 10 kilometers. In the old days there had always been pomp and splendour in terms of dowry and Tilak on the occasion of marriages, but now a much greater step has been taken in the direction of ostentation: helicopters are being hired out by a Bombay firm for this purpose. A Times of India reporter asked them the reason, and this was the reply:
“The parents of the bride expect the ‘barat’ to reach their village with adequate pomp and show.”
(Times of India, 30 May, 1985)
In this world elaborate arrangements are made for the conveyance which is to arrive at a bride’s or bridegroom’s house, If people were to realize that such conveyances were destined ultimately to be taken to the court of the Lord of the Universe, their attitudes would undergo a complete transformation.
No one proceeds on his way to the executioner with pomp and ceremony. No one goes in splendour to the court of a judge where the verdict is to be pronounced against him. Yet, at the start of the journey and all along the way, everyone commits the same folly of not recognizing the final destination.
The successful ones are those whose conveyances are less important to them than the welcome they are to receive in the next world, and the failures are those who caparison themselves in order to reach God, without ever having understood what their true destination is.
