According to the Bible, Jesus Christ said:
‘Whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.’ (Luke, 6:29)
This does not mean to surrender to your rival, but simply to engage in wise planning. This saying embodies a great piece of wisdom. By adhering to this policy, great success can be achieved in life.
When at the time of controversy, you agree to offer your “shirt” to someone, you save your time and energy as a result. It is a kind of ‘buying time’ strategy. This is a formula for wise planning.
It is not “shirt” that matters. The most important issue is that in every situation there are enormous opportunities. If you entangle yourself in the problem of the “shirt”—that is, someone wants your shirt and you are not willing to give it away—you will then certainly remain unaware of all the other aspects of the situation. In particular, you will not be able to see the abundance of opportunities all around you. Due to this negative involvement, you will lose your positive thinking.
There are evidently far greater arenas for action than fighting for a “shirt”. In such a situation, if you prevent your mind from succumbing to negativity and try to reflect on the issue with positivity, then you will realize that the real problem is not to keep the “shirt” in your hand, but to avail of the opportunities around you.
The above saying of Jesus Christ is a maxim of universal application. All the prophets adopted this strategy, in one form or another, and on each occasion this method proved to be successful.
For example, ancient Makkah was the hometown of the Prophet Muhammad. At that time the leaders of Makkah forced him to leave the city and settle elsewhere.
The Prophet duly left Makkah and migrated to Madinah. This was like giving away the “shirt” at the time of an unjust demand. But the Prophet accepted this with a positive mind. At the time of his migration, he said:
‘I am told to opt for a town that will swallow all other towns.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1871)
The implication of this saying was: ‘If I fight with the Makkan leaders on this issue, I will be wasting my time and energy. But if I leave Makkah and settle in some other town, there will be enough time for me to re-plan peacefully for my mission.’
The Prophet quietly migrated from Makkah without any protest and settled in Madinah. He adopted the peaceful method for spreading his mission. The result of his devoting himself entirely to this peaceful agenda was miraculous: without fighting, he was able to conquer the hearts of people. It has been proved that when the heart is conquered, everything else is also conquered.
The secret of success in life is not to make others suffer losses at your hands. The secret of success in life is to plan one’s time and energy wisely and to avail of the opportunities within one’s reach. All this should be done in a silent manner. The result of this peaceful strategy on the part of the Prophet Muhammad was that seven years after his migration from Makkah, he was able to organize a peaceful march to Makkah and enter the city without facing resistance from his opponents. This event is mentioned in Chapter 110 of the Quran.
At the time of controversy people generally fight with others. But this is not a wise course of action. The wise course is to avoid fighting and strive to reach your goal through quiet planning, all the while keeping a low profile. One should discover the available opportunities and try to peacefully utilize them. This is the law of nature, and the law of nature never fails. If you follow this strategy based on the law of nature, you will certainly have success.
Source: The Age of Peace
