THE CAUSE WITHIN

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) once said: “A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.”

This saying, in simple symbolic language, expresses a truth about life. If you are standing straight, no one can jump onto your back. A person can only do that if your back is bent. Riding is possible on a bent back, not on a straight one. Life works the same way: defeat in this world is really the price of one’s own weakness. Someone gains control over you only when you give them the chance by becoming weak. That is why reason and realism demand that whenever you see someone gaining power over you, your first step should be to look within and remove the weakness that gave them the opportunity.

In the life of the Prophet Muhammad (e), during the battle of Uhud, the Muslims at first were winning. But their victory later turned into defeat. The reason was the mistake of a group among the Muslims themselves. When the Quran commented on this event, it said nothing about the injustice or aggression of the other side. In its comment (3:152), the entire warning was directed only at the Muslims, so that they would become deeply aware of their own shortcomings. By correcting these shortcomings, they could ensure that in the future no one would be able to take advantage of them and defeat them. Whenever someone is defeated by another, it happens because of his own weakness. Identify your weakness, overcome it, and you will have no cause for complaint or protest against anyone.