Al-Risala (English), May-June 2000

access, nay, impenetrable, because the way is barred by locks to which they have the wrong keys. This modern age has changed the locks to life’s doors, but we still carry the same old keys around with us, hopefully fitting them here and there, staring in incomprehension when locks do not snap open for us, and then frittering away our energies in senseless rage. We curse first of all the lock-makers, then the environment. But it is all to no avail, because you just cannot unlock new locks with old keys. Our leaders, in their frustration, have thought fit to identify certain “enemies of Islam” and to trace all their woes to them— as if they were the sole purveyors of these impregnable locks. But in this world of God, there is no attitude more insensate than this. Here, if we feel deprived and thwarted, it is because we are already suffering the punishments for our own negligence and shortcomings. In this world, most of our afflictions are due to our failure to live up to the standard of the times. The day we realize how much we are out of step with modernity, we shall be in a position to remove all obstacles from our path. We must fit the right keys to the locks on life’s gates, and all avenues will open before us. □ In the Nick of Time A medical college professor, putting a student through an oral examination, asked him, “How many of these pills would you give to a man who had suffered a heart attack?” “Four,” replied the student. A minute later, he piped up,