Al-Risala (English), November 1990
Al-Risala (English), November 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 Message of Nature
1990 11 November 2 The Message of Nature (401) One day last summer, during a short stay in Kashmir, I went for a walk with some Kashmiri friends. We eventually reached a part of the countryside which had wide open spaces all around. We had come to a broad, green valley, surrounded by snow-capped mountains. From various places beneath the snow line, rivulets of water gushed forth like fountains. Pure, clean water could be seen flowing all around us. The burbling, rushing sound of the water, whispered in our ears like the voice of nature itself.
I paused to stand near one such spring. Its water course was about two feet across. Then I noticed that there was a large round stone right in the centre of its onrushing waters, when the water reached the point where the stone bulged in its path, it did not attempt to break the stone in order to have a straight path for itself. It simply turned to the right and left of the stone, then flowed quietly onwards. Without any confrontation with the stone, it had carved out its own course.
I remarked to my Kashmiri friends how wonderful it was that such sights were to be seen all over Jammu and Kashmir. It is as if nature is sending out its message through these springs. These natural phenomena voicelessly tell us not to clash with the rock, but simply to flow on either side of it.
Such springs flow the whole year round in the valley of Kashmir. In this way, this constructive message of nature is ceaselessly relayed at thousands of different places. But the people who are living there, right in their midst, pay no need to this message. They learn no lesson from it.
Success in this world is only for those who are careful to avoid confrontations whenever differences arise between people. Success is only for those who can go on their journey without clashing with the rocks which bar their way. Only such people can ultimately reach their destination in this world.
Considering that God gave the Kashmiris this lesson through nature’s immutable language, and made them stand at a point from which they could lead constructive lives on the basis of this wisdom, they could have led the world simply by communicating this message to it. But if the Kashmiris themselves ignore, or reject this guidance, how are they to guide the rest of the world?
