Acknowledging
Someone Amounts to the Acknowledgment of God
Special merit of a person is a direct gift from God. When we acknowledge someone’s contribution, it amounts to the acknowledgment of God.
When a person fails to acknowledge someone’s excellence, the reason behind it is always the fear that in acknowledging others’ greatness, his own stature will become diminished. But he forgets that by doing so, he is incurring a very great loss and that is that his stature will become diminished forever in the eyes of God.
If a person has some special merit, it is not due to his own efforts. It is a direct gift from God. That is why acknowledging someone amounts to the acknowledgment of God, and not acknowledging someone amounts to failing to acknowledge God. That is why a person must be afraid of God while adopting the attitude of disregard for others. He should look upon his attitude as pertaining to God rather than pertaining to human beings.
One aspect of this matter is of great significance and that is that acknowledging others is not acknowledgement in the simple sense: it relates rather to the development of one’s own personality. By acknowledging another’s merit or superiority is to promote one’s humanity, whereas disregarding is to vitiate one’s own personality in respect of its humanness.
The issues of acknowledgement and disregard are of significance to all society. When one person acknowledges another, by doing so he promotes elevated human values in society. On the contrary, if he is not ready to give credit to another, the lack of appreciation and disregard will be promoted in society.
Acknowledgement and lack of appreciation are no simple matters. One who recognizes merit establishes the tradition of appreciation in the entire society. On the contrary, one who does not do so, establishes a precedent of a lack of appreciation in society. Although lack of appreciation is the fault of a single person, this failing influences society at large. This is why in the matter of disregard, a person should be aware of its being unpropitious to the ultimate extent.
