ONE EVENT, TWO OUTCOMES

Jamil Akhtar Khan, a reader of my books, is working in a city in Saudi Arabia. In a letter dated January 24, 1992, he described an incident he personally witnessed:

This incident, in his own words, is as follows:

“It was an evening in July 1991. The call to prayer for Maghrib had already been made. I was leaving my room. Outside the gate, a few boys were seen teasing a passersby. When they saw me, the boys rushed toward me. One of them was holding a wild animal, resembling a rabbit. They kept trying to scare me. One even wanted to throw an iron rod at my shoulder and watch the spectacle. I sensed that if I engaged with them, things would go wrong. So, I decided that, no matter what foolishness they did, I would not react. I walked quickly toward the mosque. Seeing my indifference, the boys left me alone, and I reached the mosque safely. After finishing my prayer, when I was returning to my room, I encountered another scene. The same boys were now fighting with a Pakistani Muslim. They had thrown the wild animal on his body, and he became furious. He hit one of the boys. This was where the trouble started. As a result, a dozen boys pounced on him. Some were hitting his head, others were pounding his back. One grabbed both his arms from behind, while another twisted his chest. Whenever he managed to break free from one, another would latch onto him. They beat him mercilessly. Who would have dared intervene and risk their own trouble? Eventually, a Saudi passing by stopped his car, felt pity, and intervened to stop the fight. That man must have spent several days in bed with injuries and sorrow.”

In the same situation, one person’s ‘ignore it’ policy left him unharmed, while the other’s impatience led to trouble. The one who ignored the situation could have simply walked a few steps briskly and reached his room. Instead, he reached his room later, but exhausted and injured. I thought to myself: if impatience could lead to such consequences in an individual matter, how much more dangerous could it be in a collective situation?”