Man is born a gregarious animal. It is not in his nature to be isolated from the rest of his race and when that happens it is hard for him to survive or flourish.
Man is not a self-sufficient creature and needs the support of others throughout life. His interdependence on others can be judged by the mere fact that a human child takes the longest of all creatures to learn to look after himself. And if he is forced to live away from loved ones, his emotional dependence and affinity keeps him closely entwined with them. This is why a person who chooses to live by himself is often teased and stigmatized with titles like 'hermit' and 'loner'. Such a person is looked at with skepticism and mistrust. People wonder at his sanity and try to avoid his company.
Man on his own cannot achieve much in life. On the other hand, when he pools his mental and physical abilities with others, mega miracles are achieved.
The human soul must mingle with others in order to reach the sublime heights of acquisition in any given field of life. Man must live a life which is more expansive in approach to various things. It is only through the experiences and perspectives of others that we come to know of areas which we may not encounter in a direct way. The joys and sorrows of others have much to teach us. Their tragedies often help diminish our own pain and suffering, and their joys and quests inspire us to strive harder and to keep up our hope and faith.
Mixing and associating with others gives us a vantage point in life. It gives us opportunity for unique experiences and thus unique memories. A person who refuses to allow others to enter his life is an unfortunate soul. Such a person can only have an isolated outlook on life because he does not have the privilege of having others contribute to his experiences.
The experience of meeting people is like the flowing water of a river; for it allows the flow of fresh thoughts to pass through our lives. Contrary to this, life lived in a cocoon of isolation is like the putrid rancid water of a stagnant pool, and can only give rise to a character which is the same. Just like such water is a breeding space for disease and pollution, an isolated soul gives rise to contempt and hatred, self-righteousness and conceit. Isolation renders the human soul incapable of magnanimity and understanding, of love and sacrifice, of accommodation and generosity. This in turn produces a monster who believes himself to be right and above board in all he does. He believes his own deeds as the ultimate achievement of success. He believes that his approach to life, and toward religion and God, is correct which becomes the biggest catalyst to his lethargy and failure to further advancement through effort and perseverance.
They say that an enemy is your best friend if he points out your weaknesses to you, and a friend who hides them from you does you the greatest dis-service. So when we share our experiences with others and allow them to criticize us, we must realize that we are going through a process of self-improvement and evolution. When we look around us, we see everybody in the shape of the evolved human species. But in actual fact, very few are eligible for the title of 'human'. Only those who accommodate and adjust to the changing times and factors of life are the ones who are evolving constantly and acquiring the supreme characteristics of the human being that God planned to put behind the steering wheel of this planet.
If we go into isolation and concern ourselves only with the well-being and interests of our self, we will be responsible for the decay of first the family unit and then the entire society. If we sit in a darkened room and spend hour upon hour rolling the beads between our fingers, how many people will benefit from this ritual? How will it help feed the hungry children in our neighbourhood? And how will it save the down-trodden of the society from further exploitation and degradation?
Our religion does not ask us to waste our time in rituals; rather, it compels us to go out and help improve the lives of our fellow human beings. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, educate the ignorant. But the Muslims of today have isolated their own interests from the interests of humanity. We seem to be concerned only with our own betterment and salvation. But we must not forget; turning beads in dark isolation will bring salvation neither to the nation nor to us. Islam is a religion of practise and deeds, of 'amal' and 'ilm'.
The meaning of the title of my essay is: 'So What Needs Be Done?'
And here lies the answer: instead of isolating it, we need to mingle our soul with those of others in the world around us. The need of the hour is 'ilm' ie. knowledge, and 'amal' ie. is practice. Without the employment of these, we will remain an incongruous tribe of ignorant people isolated and far removed from the path of reality. At the end of our journey, we will realize that our isolation benefited us neither in this world nor will it redeem us from God's wrath in the next.
Man is not a self-sufficient creature and needs the support of others throughout life. His interdependence on others can be judged by the mere fact that a human child takes the longest of all creatures to learn to look after himself. And if he is forced to live away from loved ones, his emotional dependence and affinity keeps him closely entwined with them. This is why a person who chooses to live by himself is often teased and stigmatized with titles like 'hermit' and 'loner'. Such a person is looked at with skepticism and mistrust. People wonder at his sanity and try to avoid his company.
Man on his own cannot achieve much in life. On the other hand, when he pools his mental and physical abilities with others, mega miracles are achieved.
The human soul must mingle with others in order to reach the sublime heights of acquisition in any given field of life. Man must live a life which is more expansive in approach to various things. It is only through the experiences and perspectives of others that we come to know of areas which we may not encounter in a direct way. The joys and sorrows of others have much to teach us. Their tragedies often help diminish our own pain and suffering, and their joys and quests inspire us to strive harder and to keep up our hope and faith.
Mixing and associating with others gives us a vantage point in life. It gives us opportunity for unique experiences and thus unique memories. A person who refuses to allow others to enter his life is an unfortunate soul. Such a person can only have an isolated outlook on life because he does not have the privilege of having others contribute to his experiences.
The experience of meeting people is like the flowing water of a river; for it allows the flow of fresh thoughts to pass through our lives. Contrary to this, life lived in a cocoon of isolation is like the putrid rancid water of a stagnant pool, and can only give rise to a character which is the same. Just like such water is a breeding space for disease and pollution, an isolated soul gives rise to contempt and hatred, self-righteousness and conceit. Isolation renders the human soul incapable of magnanimity and understanding, of love and sacrifice, of accommodation and generosity. This in turn produces a monster who believes himself to be right and above board in all he does. He believes his own deeds as the ultimate achievement of success. He believes that his approach to life, and toward religion and God, is correct which becomes the biggest catalyst to his lethargy and failure to further advancement through effort and perseverance.
They say that an enemy is your best friend if he points out your weaknesses to you, and a friend who hides them from you does you the greatest dis-service. So when we share our experiences with others and allow them to criticize us, we must realize that we are going through a process of self-improvement and evolution. When we look around us, we see everybody in the shape of the evolved human species. But in actual fact, very few are eligible for the title of 'human'. Only those who accommodate and adjust to the changing times and factors of life are the ones who are evolving constantly and acquiring the supreme characteristics of the human being that God planned to put behind the steering wheel of this planet.
If we go into isolation and concern ourselves only with the well-being and interests of our self, we will be responsible for the decay of first the family unit and then the entire society. If we sit in a darkened room and spend hour upon hour rolling the beads between our fingers, how many people will benefit from this ritual? How will it help feed the hungry children in our neighbourhood? And how will it save the down-trodden of the society from further exploitation and degradation?
Our religion does not ask us to waste our time in rituals; rather, it compels us to go out and help improve the lives of our fellow human beings. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, educate the ignorant. But the Muslims of today have isolated their own interests from the interests of humanity. We seem to be concerned only with our own betterment and salvation. But we must not forget; turning beads in dark isolation will bring salvation neither to the nation nor to us. Islam is a religion of practise and deeds, of 'amal' and 'ilm'.
The meaning of the title of my essay is: 'So What Needs Be Done?'
And here lies the answer: instead of isolating it, we need to mingle our soul with those of others in the world around us. The need of the hour is 'ilm' ie. knowledge, and 'amal' ie. is practice. Without the employment of these, we will remain an incongruous tribe of ignorant people isolated and far removed from the path of reality. At the end of our journey, we will realize that our isolation benefited us neither in this world nor will it redeem us from God's wrath in the next.
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