The Thousand Mile Journey
Al-Risala (English), August 1989, p. 14
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.
The Thousand Mile Journey
1989 8 August 14-15 The Thousand Mile Journey (399) Nation-building cannot be effected just by “epoch-making speeches.” It is only epochmaking actions which will produce the desired results. If the community is to become a solid fortress, it must be built with solid stones and not with verbose speeches and far-fetched poetic diction.
There is a proverb in Chinese which runs: “A thousand mile journey begins with one step”. That is, no matter how far you have to go, you cannot reach your destination unless you take that first step. And then only by going step by step will you reach your goal. It is not possible to arrive at the final destination by making one giant leap.
This is generally accepted fact of life, and is relevant to the community as well as to the individual. No journey, whether undertaken by an individual or a community, can succeed unless this principle is adhered to.
You may set out to earn one million rupees, but, in the beginning, you shall have to be content with earning your money rupee by rupee. Similarly, if you want to qualify for a post graduate degree, you will do well to work hard right from the junior most class in school. If you have the ambition to become a writer there is no avoiding long preliminary periods of study and research. If you want to see a building of your own rise high into the sky, you still have to start with the foundations.
The same is true of the construction of a community. National-building cannot be effected just by “epoch-making speeches.” It is only epoch-making action which will produce the desired results. If the community is to become a solid fortress, it must be built with solid stones and not with verbose speeches and far-fetched poetic diction.
Without exception, the Muslim leaders of the present day began their movement with some giant leap. This was quite wrong. The right way was to begin by arousing awareness and uncovering intellectual potential. In spite of the great hue and cry they have made about their work, nothing of a result-oriented nature has been achieved. The work of the building of the community must begin from intellectual construction and rectification. The first practical steps cannot be effectively taken without this.
The greatest reason for Muslim disarray at the present movement is this criminal neglect of basic priorities on the part of their own leaders.
