IF YOU ARE WORTHY SONS OF ISLAM
CHILDREN´S OWN PAGE
Mohammad Yaqub Khan
Editor: The Light
DEAR CIIILDREN,
I am sure you have heard the name of Umar, the Great, the Second Caliph of Islam. He was a mighty ruler. His very name struck terror into the hearts of most proud potentates. And yet he never looked upon himself as a whit more than a humble servant of God. One day as he was marching at the head of an army, he stopped all of a sudden in front of a tree and his eyes bubbled with tears. His officers and men who had all halted were surprised at this strange sight. ”Why have you halted and what brings these tears to your eyes?” – someone ventured to ask him.
”Long long ago”, replied the Caliph, ”while I was yet a boy and used to herd Camels, I one day fell asleep under this tree and the camels strayed away, at which I got a good hiding from my father. My heart is filled with grateful emotions that by the grace of God Almighty, I am passing to-day by the same tree, at the head of an army. The thought has overwhelmed me and hence the tears of thankfulness and gratitude.”
What was it, dear children, that made these camel-drivers the rulers of the world? Remember it was just one thing. It was their living faith in God, their truly Islamic character. Let me tell you just one incident from the life of this great ruler of Islam. One day, the Caliph, got on the pulpit to address the people on am important state affair. ”Listen, O people I”, he started. He had, however, hardly uttered these words when someone from among the audience got up and said: ”We are not going to listen to you”. This is how Maulana Shibli puts it in his sweet lines:
ایک دن حضرت فاروق نے ممبر پر کہا
میں تمہیں حکم جو کچھ دوں تو کرو گے منظور
ایک نے اٹھ کے کہا یہ کہ نہ مانینگے کبھی
کہ ترے عدل میں ھم کو نظر آتا ہے فتور
There was all hush. Everybody looked at the man who had interrupted the mighty Caliph. The Caliph however did not in the least mind it. He only asked the man if he had any good grounds for refusing to listen to him. ”Yes, indeed!” replied the man. ”The shirt that you are wearing is obviously made of the sheets of cloth that were the other day distributed as the spoils of war. You must have got just one sheet, as did everybody else and surely for a tall man like yourself one sheet can never suffice for a shirt. It seems you must have taken more than your due share. We shall not listen to you until you have cleared your position.”
At this, the Caliph turned towards his son, Abdullah. Abdullah got up and, to borrow the sweet lines of Shibli, said:
ہوئے یہ ابن عمر سب سے مخاطب ہو کر
اس میں کچھ والد ماجد کا نہیں جرم و قصور
ایک چادر میں جو پورا نہ ہوا ان کا لباس
کر سکی اس کو گوارا نہ مری طبع غیور
اپنے حصے کی بھی میں نے انہیں چادر دے دی
واقعہ کہ یہ حقیقت ہے ک جو تھی مستور
نکتہ چین نے یہ کہا اٹھکے کہ ہاں سے فاروق
حکم دے ھم کو کہ اب ہم اسے مانیں کے ضرور
That is, the son of the Caliph said that his father was not at fault. When one sheet could not suffice for his shirt, he, Abdullah, gave him the shirt of his own share too.
This satisfied the critic. He got up and said:
” Now. O Faruq! Here we are at your command! Let us have your orders.”
Do you understand, dear children, what made the early sons of Islam the rulers and leaders of men? Independence of spirit on the one hand and implicit obedience to the law of God on the other. The man who stood to question Umar had true Islamic courage in him. He was not in the least daunted when, in his opinion, the Caliph seemed to be at fault and pulled him up there and then. The Caliph on his side was not in the least offended. If it were some Mulla or Pir of our day, no disciple would dare say a word against him, even if he were to see him do most objectionable things with his own eyes. And if someone were to have the temerity to find fault with him, the Pir or the Mulla would lose all temper, would fret and fume and roar down on the poor critic with his pious fury.
This is the greatest evil of our present-day society. There is no independence of thought, no independence of spirit. And this, dear children, is the A B C of all greatness. Someone has rightly said that a free mind can never dwell in a slave body. India can never be free, so long as we are not free in thought and free in spirit. If you want to revive the lost glory of Islam, you will have to begin at the right end—
viz., the revival of the spirit of Islam. Remember that the Flag of Islam stood for Liberty, Equality, Fraternity long before the French Revolution took up that slogan. If you are to be the worthy sons of Islam you must stand by that Flag of the Freedom of Spirit and with Islamic courage fight for it, suffer for it and if need be, die for it.
M.Y.K۔
(The Light – May 24, 1935)
