A man once wrote a letter to Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (1863–1943), a leading Sunni Muslim scholar of the Indian subcontinent whose influence continues to this day. He asked about the wisdom behind a particular religious commandment. Maulana Thanvi replied: What is the wisdom in asking about wisdom? You ask us about the wisdom behind God’s commands, while we ask you about the wisdom behind your own unproductive activism.
Many people have a habit of asking questions that are not really needed. They lack the ability to examine themselves and reflect on their own responsibilities. Instead, they take great interest in finding faults in external matters and probing the reasoning behind them. Such an approach is not encouraged in Islam because it moves away from purposeful living. Those who develop such a mental attitude can never succeed in finding the truth.
When it comes to earning a living or building a house, every person thinks only of himself. Everyone is most concerned that his income be good and his house well built. But when it comes to religion and the Hereafter, people prefer to debate issues that have nothing to do with their own lives.
A senior scholar who spent thirty years issuing religious opinions (fatwa) at a major institution once said that during all those years, most of the questions brought to them were about others, and very few were about the questioner himself. People would ask: How much share do I have in so-and-so’s property? Is it permissible to pray behind such-and-such a person? Many such questions came to them. But almost no one asked about his own religious responsibilities—how he should fulfill the rights of those under his care, how he should behave with his neighbours, how he should deal with people during times of disagreement or complaint, whether it was right for him to trouble someone he was harassing, whether he should withhold money that belonged to someone else, or whether it was right for him to insult a person he was humiliating.
A person remains occupied with others, whereas he should be occupied with himself. He lives in external issues, whereas he should be concerned with his inner issues. He judges the faith of others, whereas he should seek a standard by which to judge his own faith. Everyone notices a wild animal running outside, but no one notices the wild animal of hatred and revenge that has settled in one’s own mind. Everyone can see what happens outside the place of worship or observe the worship of others, but no one notices what happens within a person’s own worship. (Al-Risala, March 1981)
