Another day! How wonderful!
Al-Risala (English), November-December 1993, p. 17
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.
Another day! How wonderful!
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1993 11-12 November-December 17-18 Another day! How wonderful! (393)
“When you wake up in the morning, jump out of bed and shout, ‘Great! Another day!’ You are a success.” This was a view expressed by a prominent businessman, but it could very well be the view of the scholar, the sage, the ascetic, depending upon how you interpret success. Anyone, in fact, who regards the new day with such optimism is surely well-equipped, mentally and emotionally, to tackle whatever life has in store for him. But, whether we regard the appearance of the new day as one more joyful occasion for work or not can we honestly say that we have ever stopped to ponder over the miraculous aspect of day following night, for all eternity, as a result of the earth rotating on its axis and of the sun’s never ceasing to flood with life-giving light on ever-changing hemisphere? Have we ever thought of this alternation of day and night as a totally unique occurrence and of this all being part of the divine pattern which produces such advantageous conditions for human existence? Nowhere in the universe, in fact, are there prime conditions such as we have on earth for the emergence and development of life as we know it. Other heavenly bodies are either too hot, too cold, too gaseous, too windswept or too fiery, or can be like Jupiter and the moon, proceeding in their respective orbits without rotating on their axes, so that one half of the globe is permanently illuminated while the other is for ever plunged in darkness. The denizen of such a sphere would have no rising sun to stir his enthusiasm and no peaceful sunset to signal the moment for rest. He would have no periods of vigour and achievement alternating with soothing periods of repose. For the human being, accustomed to his diurnal noctunal alternation, such an existence should be one of utter staleness and weariness, with no refreshment ever in sight. Yet this pattern, to which all living things on earth have been attuned from time immemorial, is something which we take for granted, and for which we do not consider it necessary to offer up our thanks. But this unique ordering of day and night is God’s own doing, for the special benefit of man, and we would do well never to lose sight of what an extraordinary blessing it is.
