Minarets of
Worldly Glory
On the Day of Judgement, only those people will be successful who had surrendered to God in this world at a time when everyone else had forgotten God and had, instead, sought support from the things of the world.
Once, I struck up a conversation with a man who, around 30 years earlier, had been an ordinary mechanic. When I met him, he had become the owner of several factories. I remarked, “Your business has expanded quite considerably!” He happily replied, “I have earned so much that even if my children do not work, they can comfortably eat for a hundred years!”
Now, this is an extreme example. However, today everyone’s case is similar to this in some sense. Everyone is confident that he has ‘settled’ his matters once and for all and that he is now free of any danger for at least a ‘hundred years’.
Some people are happy by pleasing their elders. Someone is happy that he has the title deeds of vast property. Someone takes immense pride in his job and bank balance. Someone relies on his physical prowess and his penchant to boss over and control others. Someone has nothing, yet he runs after others to flatter them and feather his own little nest. He thinks he has finally found a protective umbrella to stand under and that nothing can harm him now.
However, when an earthquake strikes, all such false supports prove meaningless. There is no difference between a grand palace and a tiny hut for an earthquake. In its eyes, the strong and the weak are alike. It destroys the helpless like those who think they have firm support to bank on. It reminds us how utterly helpless a person truly is.
An earthquake is a prior indication from God that tells us what will finally happen to every one of us one day—the Day of Judgment. It is a sort of mini-Day of Judgment that reminds us of the great Day that will dawn upon us one day. When fearsome tremors and upheavals force us to lose all consciousness when buildings collapse like a house of cards when the bowels of the earth are thrown up and what is on the surface of the earth is swallowed inside—at that moment, a person realizes that, in the face of the forces of nature, he is utterly helpless. He can only helplessly watch the dance of devastation happening around him without being able to do anything about it at all.
The earthquake of the Day of Judgment will be a trillion times more severe than the earthquakes in this world. All the support we lean on will be utterly shattered at that time. People will be dumbstruck, completely losing all their intelligence. The minarets of glory that people have built for themselves will come crashing down, and nothing will remain of them. On that Day, only those who had not taken the things of this world as support will have a support to lean on. On that Day, only those people will be successful who had surrendered to God in this world, at a time when everyone else had forgotten God and had, instead, sought support from the things of the world.
