Day and Night

Yet man prays for evil as fervently as he prays for good. Truly, man is ever hasty.

We made the night and the day twin marvels. And We enshrouded the night with darkness and gave light to the day so that you might seek the bounty of your Lord and learn to compute the seasons and the years. We have made all things manifestly plain to you.

(The Quran 17:11-12)

The order of day and night tells us that the way of God is for darkness to precede light; both are equally necessary in the divine scheme of things. Just as there are benefits in the light, so are there advantages in the darkness. If there were no difference between day and night, how could man systematically divide his time between work and rest?

Man should not run away from darkness and be a seeker of “light” alone. One with such a desire shall have to leave this world of God and find another world for himself, for the fulfillment of such a desire has no place in the divine scheme for our world.

Impatience is one of man’s greatest weaknesses. He
feels that he should never have to face any phase of darkness and should receive light without waiting. This unwillingness to accept the divine scheme of God is a serious weakness. This antipathy to God’s plan is the cause of much human destruction.

God wants man patiently to restrain himself from indulging in the ephemeral pleasures of the world in order that he may continue his journey towards the next world. But, in unseemly haste, he seizes upon temporary delights. Then he is unable to continue his journey onwards. It is this foible which is the cause of his being deprived of the blessings of the next world.

In our present world, real success is achieved only through patience, not through haste.