Setting Oneself Right

A traveller buys a ticket for a certain destination, then boards a train bound for another. He does not realize his error until the train has left the station. Imagine how he feels! The seat in which he was relaxing now gives him nothing but discomfort. As soon as the train reaches the next station, he will get off in order to return and catch the next train.

A believer’s attitude to his eternal journey is the same as this traveller’s. Whenever anything happens which will divert him from the path to his eternal destination and will adversely affect him in the next life, he is extremely ashamed of himself. He wastes no time in admitting his mistake. He gets his bearings and immediately starts travelling in the right direction.

The true believer may err, but he turns away from his wrongdoing. He may be angry for some reason, but then his anger cools and he becomes forgiving. Self-respect does not prevent him from admitting his mistakes. If, however, a person persists in his evil ways; if he is not ready to forgive others on being offended by them; if he refuses to admit his own mistakes and shortcomings; then, though he may lay claim to being a true Muslim, he is not one in God’s sight. If a person does not want to admit his faults in this world, he will have no difficulty in finding words to justify them. In some cases worldly status is enough to screen a person’s faults. In eternity, however, such things will be of no help to anybody. There, realities will become so plain that even the blind will be able to see them.