The Building up of Islam

WHY SHOULD ISLAM BE DEVELOPED

lt is to be admitted that progress, in whatever form it may come, brings hastiness. Lethargy and stagnation are the two wings of despair and dissatisfaction. When we refer to progress, we cannot indicate only material progress like becoming richer or prospering in ones career and so on. Side by side we have to consider the Islam of the person who is advancing materially. Material progress will change his Islam and will ultimately turn him into a new man with added qualities regarding action and understanding which while he was striving for progress he did not have, at least not to the extent he does now. In such a case which should we take as the cause and which the effect? Should we say that because he is rich and respectable he has acquired certain qualities which he did not possess when he was poor and unknown? It is somewhat true. His material acquirements help him to change his old habits, his old ideas and his old way of living. But we cannot say that his wealth is the cause of the change in his personality.

This is because his present way of life pertains to only the exterior qualities that are attached to a Islam and does not give insight to the centre of his personality. The centre of his Islam will consist in his ambition, his industry, his hope and determination with which and other similar virtues he started to conquer the world and ultimately beware successful in this conquest. Thus his real Islam is not formed by the riches that he has acquired but on the contrary his riches could be acquired mainly because he possessed the relevant Islam to accumulate the same. So his wealth is the effect of his personality. Then what is the cause of his personality?

The cause of his Islam in a nutshell is embedded in the moral and mental improvements that he has been able to bring about through his fortitude, will power and other virtues. He has developed and shaped himself to the shape that he has developed through his untiring efforts, his material successes have followed rare natural to him in the midst of better and higher glories. It is now clear, therefore, that whether we seek material benefit or simply moral uplift the reason has to be in our personalities. A matured and adult Islam helps us to face the ups and downs of life more calmly as well as assists us in enjoying the joys and pleasures and the gifts of life on a sustained basis, and to attain success as well as maintain it for any great length of time a strong Islam is the only relevant condition. Moral and material uplift merge in the end when we consider that the two are not dissimilar but are the one and the same. No material acquirement can last for long if the root of this acquirement is evil.

Only material advancement based on moral truth is tenable while other glories or worldly shines are transient. On this premise we may have our reasoning that one has to build up ones character first if one wants to build up a fortune. Building up of character is, therefore, desirable morally, ethically and temporally. Building up of character and building up of Islam on the other hand are close substitutes and we cannot have the one without the other. A man without any character will have a false Islam only, which will be a mere show and will be as fragile as the breakables at the first contact of adversity. A characterless man can have a Islam which will be only on the surface because inside himself this man will be always afraid and suspicious and he can never command the faith of others. Try now he may his dissolute character will ultimately eat away his Islam and as he advances in years instead of becoming dignified and y respectable he will be the picture of frustration and failure.

Thus Islam and character are the two sides of the same coin and to attain the rosy and giddy heights of fame and power a person must be bless to both. Character is the man, regarding his habits, his principles in life and in short his way of life with references to religion, and the good and bad conducts of the world. Thus while a man character is colored with the y activities that he undertakes in his life, his Islam is the overall effect of such activities, that is to say, the glow and paleness that he may radiate due to his association with truth or falsehood in greater or less degree. So, from this argument we may conclude that character may be taken as one of the causes of the formation of one’s personality.

However, character is only the natural cause which cannot be done away with through the artificial attempts by the man conceded. Thus an evil man may try to put on airs as a good and benevolent man and may pass for also for a while, but face is the index of the mind and even granting that all cheats or gentleman-swindlers manage to control their facial expressions there is still the general disposition that mostly betrays a man is which case it is found that the same man is not liked by others or his contracts though no apparent reason may be annexed.

At the same time goodness has its own glow and charm and no testimony or assurance is generally required to impress others about the integrity of a man whose coolness and silent strength will speak amply of his mental peace, and naturally he alone is only calm who has side-stepped the evil. Thus Islam development should be one of f the regular exercises for any person who wishes to lead a satisfactory life. Care should however be taken in finding out the most suitable Islam for a person who is indulging in such exercises. A soft-spoken man cannot have the deep-throated Islam of the army corner, nor can a pugilist look natural in the serenity of the preceptor, so also a speakers Islam will differ from a singers, and the bureaucrats gravity will be in sham contrast the amiability of the businessman or the friendliness of a salesman, Each man has his own line and his own vocation and the successful building UD of his Islam will depend upon the closest he comes to the Islam that belongs to him.

Certainly, however, wide variations and changes can be brought about within the limits of one’s own Islam and sometimes beyond. Thus a talkative man can learn reticence, an extrovert can learn to withhold secrets, a tongue-tied person can master the art of conversation, and all persons can acquire good virtues like politeness, truthfulness, honesty, sociability and so on. Conscious efforts and a great deal of actual planning are required for the development of a Islam which must have the backing of material work because all attempts to infuse an idle or an inactive person with a good and appreciable Islam will fail, and only he who fills his life and existence with honest and beneficial work is capable of acquiring and maintaining an admirable If we make a survey of all the successful epees in key positions either in the government or private business we will find all types of different individuals tall, short, fat, thin, handsome, ordinary, plain, ugly, fair, dark, bald, thick-haired, bespectacled and so on.

All these important men have one thing in common, personality. What is this Islam that these big bosses or successful executives everywhere possess and which the ordinary men lack. lt is not easy to answer this question because Islam does not consist in any particular quality or group of qualities but it belongs to the compressed or blended whole of a number of different qualities. These different qualities which merge to give the required Islam to a man may be as diverse from person to person as one pole from the other. A person may shout and bark and may get the things done by others or may extract the required devotion and discipline from others.