OBSERVATIONS

Ray is a historic in Iran. A story is related to it. We need to learn how the strife within the community could result in self-annihilation. Ray was in Iraq earlier but now lies in Iran. It is known as an academic centre. Famous historian Yaquout Hamidi’s accounts bear witness that around eight hundred years ago, in 617 Hijri, he passed through the city. He found the city a heap of rubble. Mosques, madrassas and serais (inns) were in shambles. Survivors, mainly children, women and old men were grieving over the dead and the ransacked properties. He wondered as to how the city could witness this scale of devastation even though it was not invaded by anyone.
He met a wise old man among the survivors. He told him that the city was inhabited by three major communities. Shias constituted nearly 50 per cent of the people in the city. The remaining people were divided among Hanafis and Shafiis.
First the Hanafis and Shafiis fought unitedly against Shia and killed them all. Later the Hanafis and Shafiis fought against each other and nearly all men among the Hanafi men were killed leaving behind their kids and women. Still later Jews and Zoroastrian from Isfahan attacked the Shafiis and clinically finished every single of them. The city was now left with only women and children from all these communities who were grieving over their misfortune.

Muslims should work towards long-term planning. The problem is that Muslims look for immediate results from their struggles, rallies, demonstrations or anything that they are working for. This is against the principle of nature. Muslims fail to achieve their goals because they are hasty and want “urgent and immediate” results. Others, be it the Jews or so many other communities not only work hard, but also plan on a long term basis. Trees take a long time to grow, but once they grow, they remain strong. Same with birds and animals who migrate in search of food and water. They travel great distances for months to get the right food. But Muslims want to reap the benefits without working hard, without any sacrifices. They want to get the world and God, along with heaven too. Muslims have remained the chronic complainers… always complaining about other communities, the government, the leaders and many other things. If they focus on working hard, they will achieve their goals. They cannot expect success to drop from the sky. They should accept and take responsibility for their own lives.

Muslim localities in many parts of India lack basic facilities, like electricity, clean toilets, sanitation facilities or supply of clean water. Yet we want to spend loads of money on building air-conditioned mosques. We have a list of virtues that will take us to heaven. But we do not have a list of services which we can provide to the community. If Muslims think that only by building mosques, they will go to heaven, then that is not so. Give the community the basic rights so that they can live with dignity. We are losing the spirit of service and also losing the fear of God that He will look at the deeds we do in this world.