Al-Risala (English), April 1990
Al-Risala (English), April 1990, p. 2
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 Difference in Thinking
1990 4 April 2 The Difference in Thinking (236) The difference between you and me is only one of hearing, where you hear a door close, I hear it open.
The English poet Frederick Langbridge (1849-1923) certainly gave us food for thought when he penned the following couplet:
Two men look out through the same bars
One sees the mud and one the stars.
This same point was made – rather more effectively – by a Persian poet who said; “The difference between you and me is only one of hearing. Where you hear a door close, I hear it open.”
There is no rose without thorns, but one who broods on the existence of thorns without giving any thought to the beauty of the roses above them is like the man who looks at mud in preference to the stars. Social conditions are always a combination of roses and thorns, mud and stars; and it is only the wise man who knows how much importance to give to each. The man who concentrates solely on thorns and mud will be the man who can only hear doors closing and never hear them opening.
Most social problems are problems of the mind. They are almost always capable of being solved by changes of attitude and ways of thinking. It is a question of inculcating right ways of thinking at the appropriate stage in a man’s spiritual development. Only then will he be a worthy, positive, social being.
Willingness to give others pride of place
1990 4 April 2 Willingness to give others pride of place (97) When ‘Umar Ibn Khattab lay dying, he asked his son ‘Abdullah to go and see ‘Aishah. “Greet her and tell her that ‘Umer Ibn Khattab asks for permission to be buried next to his master. Be sure not to call me Commander of the Faithful, for today1 am no longer in that position.” ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar went to see ‘Aishah, and found her seated, crying. He greeted her and gave her his father’s message. “You know,” ‘Aishah replied. “I was reserving that place for myself, but today I will certainly give ‘Umar precedence over myself.”
(Ibn Sa’ad)
