The Need for Wisdom
According to a tradition recorded in books of Hadith, “Wisdom is the lost property of a believer. He should take it wherever he finds it” (Sunan At-Tirmizi, Hadith No. 2687). This shows that a word of wisdom is not something belonging to some religious belief. Anyone may take it from wherever one finds it and may use it towards his own ends. This teaching is very important in that it greatly extends the sphere of re-planning.
This means that when the time comes for a group to engage in re-planning, they should not differentiate between their own people and others. Everything pertaining to wisdom should be acceptable to them: they should gather any piece of wisdom available anywhere and should re-plan their actions accordingly.
This principle of re-planning cannot be determined in advance. Re-planning is always done in changed circumstances, which has nothing to do with some religious belief or the other. Rather it has to do with understanding and insight. Everyone has the right to use his insight, engage in deeper thinking and assess the situation or circumstances in an unbiased manner. He should discover the meaningfulness of the eternal principles of nature. In this way, it will become possible for him to achieve his goal without disturbing the system of nature.
There is an example of this principle in the life of the Prophet of Islam himself. In the 5th year of Hijra, the Prophet of Islam was in Madinah when he learnt that the leaders of the Quraysh were planning to attack Madinah with a 12000 strong army. The Prophet consulted his Companions as to how to solve this problem without bloodshed. One of his Companions was Salman Farsi who belonged to Iran. He said that in their country when kings wanted to avoid war, they would dig a trench between them and their opponents. In this way a buffer was established between the two parties to avoid war. The Prophet of Islam approved of it and he and his companions worked day and night to dig a long trench towards the open border of Madinah. In this way, the war was averted.
The method adopted by the Prophet of Islam is an example of re-planning. Earlier there was no way to save themselves from confrontation. This way of averting the war adopted by the Prophet shows that following the method of non-Muslims is as correct as following the method of one’s own community. Both the methods are always equally important to achieve success. One example of this is found in the Quran: “Believers, be God’s helpers, as Jesus, son of Mary, said to the disciples, ‘Who will be my helpers in the cause of God?’ The disciples said, ‘We shall be God’s helpers.’ Some of the children of Israel believed in him and some denied the truth; we supported the believers against their enemies and they triumphed over them.” (The Quran, 61:14)
From this verse of the Quran, we find that the method adopted by the Christians invites God’s help or succour, and success can be achieved only by God’s help.
Another significant aspect about the Christians was that they understood the importance of the printing press, published translations of the Bible in different languages and spread them all over the world.
During the times of the Companions of the Prophet of Islam, printing press did not exist. Therefore, the Companions used to read out the Quran to people. In the present age of the printing press what is now required is to follow the Christian pattern. The translations of the Quran should be prepared in different languages and spread all over the world. Where the Companions of the Prophet were reciters of the Quran, we now have to become the distributors of the Quran. This is an example of re-planning as regards the publication of the Quran.
