Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Sunday Guardian | June 14, 2020

The petal of a flower and the feather of a bird are incredibly beautiful, but at the same time both are very delicate. Merely touching them with the hand can cause a disturbance in their pleasing structural form. This phenomenon is an indication that the Creator of the petal and the feather possesses subtle aesthetic tastes. He desires that human beings should behold and appreciate His beautiful creation, but not trample on or treat it destructively. The Creator wants man to draw nourishment from nature for his soul, but at the same time He does not want man to pass on his filth and dirt to the constituents of his natural environment.

In this world created by God, there is something even more fragile and delicate than a petal or a feather, and that is, the human heart. There is nothing in the world tenderer than a person's heart. Hence, someone who breaks the heart of another person will be considered guilty of committing a grave crime in God's eyes. A person who tramples on and crushes with his feet an artist's splendid artwork will have, according to the artist, committed an enormous crime. But guiltier of a greater crime is one who tramples on another person's heart, destroys his peace of mind and indulges in activities aimed at jeopardizing his work.

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Those persons who witness these happenings but do nothing, have an equal share of responsibility as the one who is directly guilty of wrong behaviour. They do not take any action to stop the oppression by the wicked nor do they expend their capabilities in defending the ones who are being wronged.

Most guilty of crime are those who take up leadership roles in the name of bringing their community out of its state of oppression, however, when an individual from their community presents himself with an issue, they make no effort to alleviate his difficulty.