Daddy Smokes, Why Shouldn’t I

Daddy Smokes, Why Shouldn’t I

1989 10 October 12-13 Daddy Smokes, Why Shouldn’t I (524) The truth is that Islam will only come into its own when there is a passionate urge to reform others. It will be in satisfying this urge that Muslims themselves will become responsible men of religion, just as Abdul Shakoor’s concern for his son lead him sacrificing what, for him, was a major sensual pleasure.

Thus the passionate urge to reform others will cause Muslims too to reform themselves.

Muslims are fond of saying that before Islam can be effectively presented to others, Muslims themselves must be demonstrably earnest in the practice of their own religious observances. But often things happen in reverse. It is in fact the passionate urge to reform others which causes one to reform oneself.

A case in point is that of Malik Abdul Shakoor from Budhal in Rajouri, India. At an early age he had become a chain smoker and had successfully resisted all attempts on the part of friends and family to make him give it up. In fact, in complete disregard of all warnings given by medical men and public notices, he even persuaded friends to start smoking. His views on the subject had reached such absurd extremes that he even used to say that those who did not share his predilection for a cigarette after a cup of tea had no right to drink tea either.

Then, one fine day, he found that his three-year-old son, Farooq Qaisar, had developed the habit of picking up his discarded cigarette ends and putting them in his mouth. In reply to his mother’s anguished entreaties to give up this revolting habit, the little boy said, “But Daddy smokes Why shouldn’t I?” Abdul Shakoor was shocked to hear his own little son speak in this way. It was suddenly borne in upon him that his own son’s health–his very life, was at stake. Suddenly all the artificial barriers which he had erected in the face of the truth, which was that smoking was injurious to health, and ruinous from the point of view of the family budget, were swept away by this sudden outburst from his own child. He at once realized that, in his heart of hearts, he had known all along what the inherent dangers were. It was just that, psychologically, he was unprepared to make that concession to others. He then simply had to ask himself. “If I don’t give up smoking, how can I stop my son from smoking?” There was only one answer to that question: he decided to give up smoking.

It was the month of Ramadhan, the month of fasting, and he vowed that he would there and then give up smoking. And he has not broken his vow to this day.

The truth is that Islam will only come into its own when there is a passionate urge to reform others. It will be in satisfying this urge that Muslims themselves will become responsible men of religion, just as Abdul Shakoor’s concern for his son lead him into sacrificing what, for him, was a major sensual pleasure.

Thus the passionate urge to reform others will cause Muslims too to reform themselves.