FROM MAULANA’S DESK

In life there is no room to complain about intolerance, rather one should learn to manage the situations that have the potential to take the form of intolerance. The responsibility to adhere to patience falls most on one who might become the victim when differences flare into confrontation. According to the law of nature, resorting to complaint and protest after being inflicted with harm will not prove to be of any use. The right way is that a person should understand the situation, do peaceful planning and sedulously avoid provoking others. From the beginning to the end, life is a struggle. In such a scheme, there is no room to complain about intolerance, rather one should learn to manage the situations that have the potential to take the form of intolerance. Just talking about intolerance is tantamount to escaping from one’s duty. If at all one wants to play a constructive role as regards this issue, one should educate members of the society. I once happened to meet a social activist who said that previously he was engaged in social work, but had abandoned it because he realized that his social activism was a kind of social critique. Therefore, those who want to do something about the issue of intolerance must not protest against it in speech or writing, but educate the masses. The government cannot do anything substantial in this matter, because it involves training minds of people so that they can understand that unwanted situations will always remain in society; one should not react against them but rather consider them natural. We have to explain to people the value of tolerance rather than criticizing the government or political authorities for inaction. o Maulana Wahiduddin Khan editor@thespiritofislam.org Be Rational If you want to be successful, try to steer your life in a rational manner. Don’t give it over to your desires.