No Identity Card

No Identity Card

1992 1-2 January-February 23 No Identity Card (415) A village boy once came to a city where by chance he walked past a school on its celebration day. He saw hundreds of boys queuing up in front of a window and, when he drew closer, he found that sweets were being distributed at a counter. As the boys collected their share of sweets, they came happily away, one by one, to stand in groups with their school friends. The village boy watched all this for some time, and then he too joined the queue and started moving ahead/with it. He was under the impression that when his turn came, he would likewise be handed a packet of sweets. When he reached the window, he stretched out his hand in eager anticipation. But a voice from the other side of the counter said abruptly, ‘Your identity card, please’. Of course, not possessing any such card, he failed to produce it, and was asked to step out of the line. Only then did the boy realize that the sweets were meant solely for pupils who had studied in the school for at least a full academic year and were not for just any child who appeared out of the blue and managed somehow or the other to present himself at the counter.

Something very similar to this is going to take place in the hereafter, when all the people will be gathered together before God on the Day of Judgement – the day when God will give His verdict and everyone will receive his just deserts. Awards will certainly be made, but only to those who can produce identity cards, i.e. to those who have worked hard for this day, and can show that they are deserving candidates.

That day will come when the most glorious sight for the human being will be the countenance of his Maker, when the most delightful experience will be the touch of the Almighty, when the most prestigious act will be self-prostration before the Lord of all worlds. But all this will become a reality only for those who have made due preparation for this day, and who have thus earned God’s blessings. For many, their own ignorant, wayward behaviour will come between God and themselves. Even standing on the threshold of God’s world, they will fail to catch so much as a glimpse of the Almighty. They will find themselves among the deprived on the day when divine blessings are being showered upon all true devotees of our Creator.