The Greatness of Simplicity

The Greatness of Simplicity

1989 1 January 8 The Greatness of Simplicity (375) “Where are the people who used to come here? They were thin, as if from hunger. They had black marks on their foreheads, and their footwear was made from palm leaves.”

In the time of Caliph Muawiya, Afghanistan (Known at that time as Sijistan) was assimilated into the Islamic empire. At first Sijistan’s ruler, a Turkish Raja by the name of Rutbail, who was Buddhist by faith, put up stiff resistance, but, after agreeing to pay an annual tax of 100,000 dirhams, he was granted immunity. For several years in succession he paid this tax regularly, but then one year, he refused to do so. Forces were repeatedly sent to his country, but he was obdurate. When, during the reign of Yazid ibn Abdul Malik, the Caliph’s envoys went to Rutbail to demand payment of the tax, the latter asked: ‘‘Where are the people who used to come here? They were thin, as if from hunger. They had black marks on their foreheads and their footwear was made from palm leaves.” He then refused to pay the tax and, for the next quarter of a century, he lived independently of the Islamic empire.

It was clear that the simplicity of the Companions had impressed Rutbail much more than the grandeur of the Umayyads. Formerly, the Islamic envoys had been unprepossessing in appearance, but had been possessed of great inner strength.

Anyone with real strength of character has very few material needs. Such an individual places a limit on his desires, shunning the world of fame and luxury. He actually takes pleasure in being humble, unlike those with pretensions to greatness. Free of any such complexes, his decision-making is never distorted by self-interest. The goals he sets before himself are worthy and wholesome, and he is ready to make any sacrifice to achieve them.

By contrast, those who seek artificial pleasures find themselves ensnared by them and, as a result, can never achieve religious fulfillment. They can never appreciate God’s truth, because their lives are so cluttered with material encumbrances. They cannot see things as they are, and, this being so, are unable to associate themselves with any proper scale of human values. Living only for themselves, they lose sight of the divine goal of existence.