Al-Risala (English) · Oblivious of God

Oblivious of God

Al-Risala (English), November 1991, p. 9

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.

Oblivious of God

1991 11 November 9 Oblivious of God (327) If you happen to talk to someone about his son, he will have innumerable things to say about him. But when you speak to the same person about God he will remain unmoved, as if he had nothing to say about the Almighty. As if he knows nothing of God.

Just remind someone of a revered ancestor of his, and you will find him talking with great zest as if this cherished memory had stimulated his innermost feelings. Mention God to the same person and you will find him apathetic, bereft of all feeling, as if he knew nothing of what to say about God.

Talk to someone about his leader (akabir) and you will at once be given the benefit of all kinds of emotional outpourings. He will not stop until you interrupt to change the topic. Mention God to the same person, and you will find him impassive, not in the least excited, as if he lacked the vocabulary to speak about God.

Mention the name of a community’s hero to a member of that community and he is immediately found to have at his disposal the choicest of expressions to describe him. Mention God to the same person and you will see that he remains unaffected. God’s name creates no stirrings within his soul, such as should come gushing out spontaneously.

How sad it is to think that people have a great deal to say about human beings, but are at a loss for words when it comes to the subject of God. They are a veritable storehouse of encyclopaedic knowledge about men, but seem to be empty and uninformed where God is concerned. Could it be that the springs of faith have dried up within their hearts?

Have people not experienced that greatness of God which they could relate to other people? Have people witnessed no miracles of God? Are they aware only of the creatures, while remaining blissfully unaware of the Creator?

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