Handle With Care

Handle With Care

1989 10 October 17-18 Handle With Care (419) In social living, it is only those who are so constituted who can carry on in life unaffected by harsh or unfair treatment. Just such men of iron were the Companions of the Prophet, who had mastered the art of rising above provocations both great and small.

The words ‘handle with care’ written in bold lettering, is a familiar sight on parcels containing delicate fragile items. If parcels of this nature are treated carelessly, the articles in them are liable to break. For this reason directions are written on top of them, indicating that they should be lifted and placed with care.

If we look around us today, we see innumerable individuals who are just like so many fragile objects crying out to be handled ‘with care’, for the slightest carelessness in dealing with them causes cracks in their oh-so-thin outer shells. These are the people who treat others to outbursts of temper when things are not going exactly as they want, who bear eternal grudges, and who can never forget or forgive a slighting remark (real or imaginary!). Such people are simply a burden to others, and any society which has an over-abundance of such individuals in its ranks can never hope to have the strength of unity.

For a human being to pull his weight in society, he should be made of tougher material – like iron, for example, or, even when treated carelessly, iron neither bends nor breaks. In social living, it is only those who are so constituted who can carry on in life unaffected by harsh or unfair treatment. Just such men of iron were the Companions of the Prophet, who had mastered the art of rising above provocations both great and small. A fine example is that of Abu, Bakr, the first Caliph of Islam, who showed no adverse reaction when one of his own decrees was publicly torn up by Umar. Another exceptional instance is that of Abu Hurayrah, who showed no signs of being offended when accused of lying by the Prophet’s wife.

Such instances recurred at regular intervals throughout the lives of the Prophet and his Companions, for they repeatedly had cause for complaint against one another. But they put tip with all such irritants, and carried on living together quite successfully as brothers.

If they had been like so many parcels marked ‘Fragile’–like the people of today–they would never have had the necessary solidarity to bring about that mighty revolution which changed the entire course of world history.