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The word ‘success’ has as many varied connotations attached to it -- as much as there is diversity in human thoughts. More often than not, the word is vociferously employed to gauge material abundance that, in simple terms, is an inexhaustible supply of everything under the sun. On deliberation, may be not everything, rather every article that brings life closer to that hackneyed but ever-invigorating aphorism: ‘Life should be a bed of roses.’ Looking around, it appears that every individual has embarked upon an unending struggle of weaving an empyrean around him, toiling ceaselessly like a spider whose eternal quest is to maintain a cobweb with an eerily frightening mercilessness for intruders, utterly oblivious to the fact that a cobweb, after all, is as frangible and vulnerable to the vagaries of nature as the tiny and hapless intruders are to the spider. And the word ‘intruders’ also needs some elaboration lest the simile is thought of as being used for some insidious vagrants wanting to snatch away the rights of others! Nay, these are the downtrodden and the dispossessed of this blessed land of ours, whose only intrusion is to ask imploringly for those amenities that so many of us take for granted. And if they are afforded what they ask for, it is with such unspeakable ignominy that the self-respect of the indigent individuals is trampled irreparably. It might occur to some that all I am doing is trying to berate those who have been amply blessed and honoured by the Almighty and that too is born out of an utterly narrow malignity that can never bear to see anyone thriving. While my own word might be as untrustworthy as that of Ananias, I humbly submit that my ramblings are but the consequence of an insufferable consciousness of the suffering humanity. I also concede that I am one of those whom I have reviled in that the vilifier becomes the vilified. The point is that we have to start seeing what is usually hidden from peoples’ ken. We cannot just disport ourselves in the lavishness of our lifestyles while the majority keeps languishing in poverty. Before it becomes a rude awakening on the Day of Judgement, this realization is imminent that the success that we deem success is a mere mirage. Explicating beautifully the true nature of man and the ultimate criterion of success, the Almighty says in the Qur’an:
These verses unambiguously typify the
myopic vision we cherish viz-a-viz success and the unseemly attitude we
adopt toward those who are indeed honoured in the eyes of the Almighty.
The tone of these verses is that of indignation and denunciation. They
declare forcefully that one should have no misapprehensions about the resources
that Allah has rendered at one’s disposal and should not be lured into
taking them as a yardstick for success. Conversely, if one finds oneself
in consternation by an untoward situation where from it becomes exceedingly
difficult to maintain even a precarious subsistence, by no means should
such an individual construe it as ignominy. The verses, after establishing
a principle, although directly address the affluent leaders of the Quraysh,
but are almost as pertinent, if not more, to the moneyed of our times.
Unfortunately, our minds have been so obfuscated by the wealth we amass,
the brightly shinning vehicles we steer, the palatial houses we call ‘homes’
and the impeccable attires we adorn that the very essence of the Qur’anic
concept of success has lost its meaning in our lives. The phraseology
has become utterly distorted. One would quite often hear someone saying,
about a people, the phrase ‘Oonchay log’ (lit. elevated people). Don’t
be misled into thinking that it is the mention of some highly pious and
God-fearing people that scoff at the prospects of material gains and vie
with each other for feeding the destitute. These people on the other hand
are as intoxicated by their riches as an antelope is by the prospect of
grazing in a lush green field, blinded by its insatiable hunger, unmindful
of the bloodthirsty predator prowling somewhere around. Their only merits
are unfathomable riches, which for them can buy everything and everyone
they can think of, a house that is as vast as would make even the Pharaohs
in their sarcophaguses envious, a vehicle called car which is looked at
by every soul with such bewilderment as if it is a UFO. And then of course
they ingratiate themselves with the community leaders, which makes them
even loftier. Needless to mention the merits or should I say demerits of
‘Neechlay log’ (lit. inferior people). They are more than obvious; but
allow me to say that such mind-set is despicable.
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