The Example of
the First Man
God created the first man Adam and settled him and his wife Eve (Hawwah) in paradise. But Adam did not fulfill his promise. God had forbidden him to eat the fruit of a certain tree, but he still ate it. Consequently, he and his wife were expelled from paradise. Then, both of them showed genuine repentance. They earnestly sought the forgiveness of God; then they were forgiven and regained their entry into paradise, provided they adhered to the faith and performed good deeds.
It appears that according to the initial plan, paradise was meant for all human beings in general. But when Adam did not adhere to his promise with God and he indulged in a forbidden act, the Creator laid down another principle for man. This principle was based on selection, that is, the paradise which had been attainable earlier for every man and woman was now attainable only by those men and women who managed to pass the divine test, while those who did not pass the test would remain deprived of paradise forever. This event (of Adam) was an eternal lesson for man. Now the only way to success for man is that if his first plan does not work, he should refrain from wasting his time in any irrelevant activity. All he should do is understand the circumstances anew and re-plan his actions.
This event took place at the beginning of human history. In this way, the Creator gave man the lesson that in the world it will repeatedly happen, for some reason or the other, that man will lose the first chance, and that on such occasions he shall have to save himself from negative thinking and instead engage in re-planning in the light of the earlier experiences. This is the only way to success in this world.
Man has been granted total freedom in the present world. Because of this, the circumstances here are not always favourable for man. Man has to undertake his journey by beating a path through unfavorable circumstances. This principle holds good for everyone whether he be religious or secular, powerful or weak. Every person or group is faced with such circumstances. In such situations, we have to refrain from blaming others, from complaining and protesting against them. This is because making complaints or protest is nothing less than a waste of our time and resources in this world. On finding that the first plan has not been successful, one should not waste one’s time in holding others responsible for this. He should rather judge in an unbiased way, according to his circumstances, and plan anew for further actions.
The first principle of successful re-planning is for man to acknowledge his own shortcomings. He must seek the cause of failure within himself. He should admit to the cause of failure lying within himself and be able to make a correct judgment of the situation. Therefore, what he has to do now is to make a reassessment of what has gone before and in that light re-plan his actions realistically.
The principle of re-planning for life is an eternal principle. It was valid on day one and will be valid in later times. So long as man has freedom in this world and the principles of cause and effect are prevalent, everyone will have to adopt this principle. Those who follow this principle will be successful in this worldly life and those who do not do so will certainly be deprived of success in this world.
