A Mistake

A Mistake

1992 10-11 October-November 14 A Mistake (274) Paul went to the Zoo with his father, ‘Buy an animal for me’, he begged. ‘Where would we get his food’ asked the father. The boy replied, ‘Buy one of those where it says on the cage: ‘No feeding.’

The little boy had mistakenly applied the directions meant for the visitors to the animals in the cage. This of course, was just a childish mistake. But, strangely enough, you will find many other people who have the same propensity to misconstrue and therefore to misapply.

Thirty years ago, a Muslim intellectual wrote a book on the subject of ‘Islamic Socialism’ in which he claimed that the earth could not be in man’s possession. Quoting the Qur’an which says ‘The Earth is God’s,–he asked how it could possibly be possessed by man. In this no doubt, he had been influenced by Marxist philosophy, according to which nothing belongs to the individual.

His argument resulted from a poor understanding of the subject. What was propounded in the Quranic verse in relation to God was misapplied by the Muslim intellectual to man. There is, of course, no doubt that vis-à-vis God, no one can be the possessor of the earth. But there certainly are possession rights between man and man, and these are clearly laid down by the Shariah.

This is quite a common mistake. Now-a-days, many are led astray by being unable to place things in their correct context. Consistent efforts need to be made to do so, for out-of-context statements can take on quite a different meaning from the original. Even the words of God and His Prophet are no exception to this rule.

Learning from everything that happens

1992 10-11 October-November 14 Learning from everything that happens (48) A cart pulled by two oxen, drove past Abu Darda. He watched as one of the oxen carried on pulling while the other stopped. “There is a lesson even in this,” said Abu Darda. “The one that stopped was whipped, while the other was left alone.”

(Safawat al-Safawah)