Al-Risala (English), Nov-Dec 2000

at a time when Muslims the world over, provoked at the domination of English, were waging bloody war against them. When the Muslims looked at the English, they saw in them only hateful enemies. Had they displayed patience—even only temporarily—at their political domination, they would very soon have discovered that the “handle” the English sought to the door of Reality, was already available to Muslims in the form of the Quran. With this knowledge their entire attitude towards the English would have drastically changed. Soon they would have come to regard the English as their madu (congregation) and not as rivals. And then instead of praying for their doom they would have prayed for their guidance, and reformation. As their well-wishers they would have told them that what they (the English) required to reach the destination of reality had already been sent by God in the form of the Quran. Patience is the necessary condition of dawah—where there is no patience there can certainly be no dawah. □ Admitting One’s Faults A young player who had participated in a big football match for the first time, wrote to his father after his team had been defeated: “Our opponents discovered a great gap in our defence line, and that was me.” Such acceptance of one’s shortcomings is rare, for it requires great courage. Without it, we cannot make social progress. Since every defeat is attributable to a gap in the line of defence, the best remedy is to accept it, for in so doing, one is well on the way to solving the problem. □