Viewing Things from a Positive Angle
Sufi Shafeeq Balkhi and Sufi Ibrahim Adham were contemporaries. It is said that once Shafeeq Balkhi came to his friend Ibrahim Adham and said that he was going on a business trip, so he had come to meet him before leaving, because the journey would take several months. A few days after this meeting, Ibrahim Adham saw that Shafeeq Balkhi was back again in the mosque. He enquired as to how he had come so soon from his journey. Shafeeq Balkhi replied that during his business trip he reached a place which was unpopulated, so he set up his camp there. There he saw a disabled bird which could not fly. He felt pity for it. It made him wonder how this bird could survive in this deserted place. Meanwhile, when he was engaged in this thought, another bird arrived. It had something in its beak. When it landed near the disabled bird, the thing which it had in its beak fell down in front of the disabled bird and it ate it. Then the strong bird flew away.
Seeing this, Shafeeq Balkhi exclaimed, “Subhan Allah (Glory be to God!), when God can send food to a bird in this way then why do I need to travel from one place to another for my survival? Therefore, I cancelled my trip and returned home.” After listening to this, Ibrahim Adham said, “Shafeeq why did you prefer to become like the disabled bird? Why did you not want to be counted in the category of the bird which survived itself as well as succouring others by its labour?” On hearing this, Shafeeq Balkhi kissed Ibrahim Adham’s hand and said Abu Ishaq: “You have opened my eyes. What you have said is absolutely correct.”
From a single incident, one took the lesson of discouragement whereas the other took the lesson of encouragement. In every incident there are always two sides. How one views a particular incident is a test of one’s own calibre. From one point of view a thing appears to be wrong and from another point of view the same thing appears to be right. Viewing an incident from one angle, a negative lesson is taken while from another angle, a positive lesson is taken.
