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on 15-07-2002 23:57
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By Steven Malik Shelton
Life should pose some profound questions for all reasonable and intelligent human beings. Why are we here? Why was the world created? What is the part we play in the drama that unfolds around us daily? What is really important and meaningful in life? Which avenues should we pursue, and which should we avoid.? Was life given to us solely so that we can avail ourselves of sport, amusement, and the gratification of frivolous whims and desires? Or is there a deeper meaning than what our senses convey to us in our present environment of air, water, fire, and earth.
It is a sad fact that many have allowed themselves to be deluded into believing that this present world is all there is. They pay no heed to the afterlife. They laugh at the descriptions of the hereafter given by the prophets, and they dismiss the outlines of the afterlife revealed in the scriptures as fabrications and fairytales.
Many are snowed into thinking that life consists merely in the acquisition and flaunting of material possessions and adornments. There adage is the one who ends life with the most toys-has won the game. They place emphasis on the temporal wealth of gold, silver, etc. but are deficient in nurturing the precious ore of the soul and the priceless riches of the human heart.
Man places himself in an extremely dangerous and futile position when he loves materials of creation to the denigration of his Lord and Fashioner; For his heart will always seek out what it is most fond of, and it is the gravest of sins to seek any-thing or anyone while neglecting or ignoring his Creator. The Creator who has Blessed him with the very powers and faculties that he now abuses and misuses.
According to the admonitions of the prophets and the warnings of the scriptures, such ingratitude will ultimately abide a person in hell fire. The prophet Jesus [Issa, upon whom be peace] is recorded to have said that the road to hell is wide and many go into it thereof; but the road to paradise is narrow, and few take this route. And in the Holy Quran it is written, Does he think that none see him? Have we not made for him a pair of eyes? And a tongue, and a pair of lips?-And shown him the two highways? But he has made no haste on the path that is steep. And what will explain to you the path that is steep? 90:7--
When a child is born it is neutral. The child has not yet developed either the will to do good, or the will to do evil. But as the child progresses, it is enhanced with the ability to choose between right and wrong, piety and impiety, good and evil. He learns that he is responsible for his actions. It is the obligation of the parents {who are the first teachers of the child} to instill within him good values, morals and insights; and to enforce this with with positive experiences which empower the child to become a responsible , productive, and God- conscious member of society.
At some point the child begins to realize that he will suffer adverse consequences if he behaves in a manner offensive to God or disrespectful to His creation. Based on what he has learned and the values that were infused within him, he develops an inclination or propensity. As the child matures into adulthood, he carries and also adds to these learned tendencies and inclinations. If he does good, it becomes easy for him to do good. If he does wrong, it becomes easier to do wrong. A human beings tendencies, inclinations and actions are based essentially upon what he loves and, therefore , what he longs for. If a person loves himself to the exclusion and the abrasion of others, he will be inclined to act along those lines. His thoughts, and consequently, his actions will center on himself, unmindful of the pain or discomfort of anyone else. And his love will be for those things that will exalt or comfort himself. His thoughts and behavior toward others will be colored or tinted by what others can do for him; And if he deduces that others can do little for him, he will do little for or think little of others. His interest in others is selfish and superficial, for he values them only in relation to what, or how much they can or will do for him. And if he surmises that they cannot be of gainful use to him, he despises them, ignores them, or, at best, considers them of little importance. Progressively his soul darkens in accordance to his dark thoughts, dark propensities and dark deeds. His soul eventually becomes blinded to the ultimate Light - The Love of God.
To a lesser or a greater degree, the person that is entangled in a selfish, covetous, love of the world is successful in acquiring the things for which his heart yearns, and thus, he begins to think of himself as clever. He is overwhelmed by the illusion that he is better off than others whom he considers not as capable of fulfilling their wishes as he is able to satisfy his own selfish whims and capricious desires. Gradually he becomes entombed in a dark pit of his own making, in which it becomes more and more difficult for the Light of Allah to reach him, and to save him.
Those who behave arrogantly on the earth in defiance of right-them will I turn away from my Signs; even if they see all the Signs they will not believe in them; and if they see the way of right conduct, they will not adopt it as the way; but if they see the way of error, that is the way they will adopt. For they rejected our Signs, and failed to take warning from them. Those who reject Our Signs and the meeting in the Hereafter, vain are their deeds; can they expect to be rewarded except as they have wrought? {7:146-147}
Last update : 15-07-2002 23:57
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