Lest the Scourge of God
Should Visit Us

Those who keep milch cattle are faced with a problem: how to preserve the cattle’s milk from their calves. In some places this problem is dealt with by tying a thorny piece of wood to the head of the calf. When the calf goes to drink its mother’s milk, before it can do so the thorn pricks into the udder, causing the cow to shy away. As a result of this thorn the calf cannot drink its mother’s milk.

So it is with the Muslims today. They have been entrusted with a divine message which they are duty-bound to communicate to other nations of the world; but they have brushed aside this duty and have instead picked political and economic quarrels with those they should be addressing with the word of God. They have become worldly rivals of other nations. This politics of confrontation has become a thorn on the face of the Muslim community, which pricks non-Muslims, scaring them away before they can discover the Muslims’ true position. Thus an atmosphere favourable to understanding the message of Islam is not allowed to develop. This prevents non-Muslims from seeing Islam in its true perspective.

If we truly believe in the advent of the last day, when people will be taken to account for their actions, then we must shed this thorn. If we do not do this there is a real danger of our being visited by the scourge of God, and having to bear others’ sins as well as our own. □

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Let him who believes in God and the Last Day either speak good or keep silent, and let him who believes in God and the Last Day be generous to his neighbour, and let him who believes in God and the Last Day be generous to his guest. (Hadith)

Be Mindful of God wherever you are, and follow up a bad deed with a good one for it will erase the bad, and behave well towards people. (Hadith)