WHEN APPEARANCE REPLACES SUBSTANCE

WHEN APPEARANCE REPLACES SUBSTANCE Don’t Waste Your Energy on Trivialities I T is said that once a man came to the court of Caliph Harun alRashid (AD 766-809) and said, “If allowed, I will perform one of my tricks.” Harun al-Rashid gave permission. And the person then took out twelve large needles from his satchel. He threw a needle. It went a distance and fell to the ground in such a way that its points went right in the ground and the needle stood erect. And when he threw the second needle, it went into the hole of the first needle. And he threw the third needle, and this needle entered the hole of the second needle. He kept throwing all needles one after another, and the point of each needle entered the hole of the needle before it. Eventually, it became a chain of twelve needles. Harun al-Rashid watched the spectacle with surprise. He took out ten dirhams and threw it at the man, and said, “Woe unto you, if only you had developed this skill in some useful work.” When the Muslims were alive and vibrant, they knew what the difference between real work and acrobatics was. However, today the state of ignorance of the Muslims is so advanced that they are unaware of this difference. They are offering such praises for the trivial acts which should have been offered only for the work of real substance. Poets who compose rhymes, orators who make rousing speeches, leaders who wish to extract a commendable future for the nation by performing political trickeries, are all the same kind of tricksters as the person mentioned in this story. Caliph Harun al-Rashid said to the trickster of his time ‘Woe to you’. While today’s tricksters are receiving lavish praises and grand welcomes. At the forefront of the list of present-day tricksters are revolutionary leaders who keep on raising the glorious edifice every day through speeches. If the man of Harun al-Rashid’s time showed the play of needles, they are showing the play of words. Once, a leader was speaking at a great gathering. He concluded his enthusiastic speech on this sentence: My message to the Muslim youth is to extinguish the lamp of disbelief wherever it is found. When the Muslims were alive and vibrant, they knew what the difference between real work and acrobatics was. However, today the state of ignorance of the Muslims is so advanced that they are unaware of this difference.