Spirit of Islam, Sep-Oct 2026

T here is an ancient Chinese story about an old man who lived in northern China. In front of his house stood two enormous mountains. They obstructed his way and prevented sunlight from reaching his home. One day, the old man made an extraordinary decision. He called his sons and said, “Let us remove these mountains by digging them away.” His neighbours laughed at him. One of them said, “You are being foolish. Look at the size of these mountains. How can you possibly remove them with your hands?” The old man calmly replied, “You are right. The mountains are enormous, and I am an old man. But after I die, my sons will continue. After them, their sons will continue. The mountains cannot grow any bigger, while with every day’s digging they will become a little smaller. If we continue, one day they must disappear.” This story contains a great lesson. It tells us that perseverance can overcome apparently insurmountable obstacles. People generally become discouraged because they compare the magnitude of a problem with the effort they can make today. Seeing an enormous mountain before them, they conclude that their small effort is useless. But this is a wrong comparison. The real comparison is between a limited obstacle and continuous effort. THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE Keep Digging Every Day Great achievements seldom appear suddenly. They are generally the accumulated result of small efforts made consistently. A book is written page by page, knowledge acquired lesson by lesson, and a great institution built step by step.