Hardness of heart comes from using religion for worldly ends

Hardness of heart comes from using religion for worldly ends

1990 11 November 15 Hardness of heart comes from using religion for worldly ends (52) “The punishment of a learned man is for his heart o die,” said Hasan al-Basri. He was asked what was meant by the death of the heart, and he answered that it came from seeking the world by means of actions which should be gauged towards eternity.

(Jami’ bayan al-‘ilm wa fadhlihi)

The Secret of Successful Living

1990 11 November 15 The Secret of Successful Living (286) Bill Cosby, a black American, was born into a poor family in 1937. At the outset of his career, he was barely able to earn a thousand dollars a year. Today his annual income has reached several million dollars. With so much competition from American Whites, how has a black man been able to achieve such extraordinary success? The answer is through education, and wisely directed effort. While he was in the fifth grade in Philadelphia, he used to take part in various shows at school, with the result that he neglected his studies. One day his teacher, a Miss Nagle, told him that, even if he wanted to be a joker, he should receive higher education, for there was no field in which he could make progress without education. (Span, January, 1987)

Bill Cosby listened to this advice and decided to learn a lesson from it. He started working hard at his studies, did well enough to go to college, and finally received a doctorate in education. Later, he began working as an entertainer, ultimately making regular appearances on television. Today, with his own television programme – the costliest on American TV – he is the most famous comedian in the U.S.A. Unlike many other black comedians, he avoids racial nuances and draws his stories from the kind of universal occurrences that everyone can understand.

Americans usually do not like blacks, but they watch the Bill Cosby show on television with great interest. When Bill Cosby made concessions to Whites, Whites too began making concessions to Bill Cosby. If you want others to take an interest in you, you should also start taking an interest in others. Then you will have no cause for complaint against others.