Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Teachings of Islam | Al-Risala April 1988
In the material world which God has created, we find concrete symbols of the attributes which God desires man to possess. Iron is one such substance as epitomizes the qualities of strength, staunchness and the ability to bind and give support.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Teachings of Islam | Al-Risala November, 1987
‘Worn out after an interminable meeting, a Tel Aviv company director said with a sigh, “If the children of Israel had been led by a committee instead of by Moses, they’d still be in Egypt.”’ (Reader’s Digest, October 1984)
After adopting the teachings of Islam, the attitude formed in the believer is that of gentleness. In Islam he discovers the reality that God is great (Allah-o-Akbar). This discovery brings to him the realization that greatness belongs to God alone; it does not belong to him or to anyone else. As a result, modesty, humility and tolerance are engendered within him. Having a temperament marked by such virtues, in particular, tolerance to the maximum degree is a necessary condition for adherence to the path of gentle behaviour.
Wealth is one of life’s necessities. But it is not life’s goal. If wealth is necessary to fulfill life’s material requirements, then it must be acquired as the mainstay of human existence. But if wealth is projected as life’s goal and its ever-increasing acquisition is considered the most important task, then it can become a source of great misery, which will destroy its seekers not only in this world but also in the Hereafter.
One of the noble feelings that a believer should possess is the urge or desire to come to the assistance of others. He should fulfill their needs without expecting any return.
Islam, as we learn from the Qur’an and Hadith, is a religion of nature. Islam and nature being indeed each other’s counterparts. Nature loves cleanliness and abhors pollution: that is why this highly desirable feature of human existence — cleanliness — is one of the basic tenets of the Islamic faith.
Islam aims to build a peaceful society at all cost. It is because higher human objectives cannot be achieved in the absence of peaceful circumstances. The spiritual as well as moral progress of the individual is possible only in peaceful atmosphere. Hence the atmosphere of peace is essential for the building of good society. Academic research too is possible only in peaceful circumstances. The task of the propagation of truth too can be performed only in peaceful atmosphere.
Jihad means struggle. Any sincere effort for the cause of religion will be called Jihad. Man’s self leads him to evil. So waging war with the self is jihad. Sometimes friends or acquaintances pressurize you into engaging in activities, which are not right from the moral standpoint. At that time, refusing to yield such pressure and sticking firmly to an upright attitude are forms of jihad.
If you happen to be in an open field when it starts to rain, you hasten to find shelter. This is not cowardice, this is realism. Similarly, when there is an earthquake, you immediately leave your home for an open space. This too is not defeatism, but an acknowledgement of the reality of nature. Where some difficulty arises between man and nature, the solution to the problem lies only in acknowledgment, not in confrontation.
