A Precious Piece of Advice

A Precious Piece of Advice

1991 1 January 15-16 A Precious Piece of Advice (421) A senior member of the Tablighi Jamaat, a reform movement, once made a speech in which he advised all those associated with the movement to do their work quietly and unostentatiously, no matter where they were. He also advised them against entering into the system of their chosen environment or trying in any way to interfere with it.

This is a valuable piece of advice, which is in complete consonance with Islamic wisdom. For instance, if you are at a university, neither should you enter into the politics of the union, nor should you take part in any agitations against the vice-chancellor or any of the other university authorities. If you are a functionary of a system of government, you should neither express a desire for particular appointments, nor should you, in the manner of the opposition, involve yourself in activities, which are directed against the administration. That does not mean that there should be no arena for your activities. By all means, have such an arena, but keep it apart from your official functions, and remain aloof from activities, which could be misconstrued as being seditious.

The advantage of this approach is that one is never denied the opportunity of working under any given system. Once a part of a system, one has, of course, to face opposition from time to time, and if one attempts to effect changes, the system itself will place obstacles in one’s path. Wherever such a situation develops, good work, which could otherwise have been possible, cannot then be done. And it is only a waste of energy to try to surmount such obstacles head-on.

Those who adopt the policy advocated by the Senior Tabligh Speaker can save themselves from the negativism of eternal complaints against others; they will also thus free themselves of all contradictions between their ideology and their actions and, with their sights set on all such opportunities as are still open to them, will be to find a field of action for themselves in any sphere of their choice. They will come to possess that greatest wealth of all – a ‘serene soul’ as it is called in the Qur’an.

Demonstrating in the streets against the supposed excesses of others, and getting one’s name in the newspapers is not real work.

Real work means making strenuous efforts to change the minds of the people, having quietly thought out the best strategy for dealing with the situation. One who is really concerned about doing such work will shed tears over it in solitude.