Tight Rope Walking

One feat that acrobats perform is tight-rope walking. What a perilous journey it is, with the acrobat always in danger of tilting to the right or left and falling to the ground. For this reason, the tight rope walker holds a long bamboo cane in his hands. If his body tilts rightwards, he holds the cane to his left; if his body tilts leftwards, he holds the cane to his right. In this manner he keeps his balance and walks along the rope.

This is the method that those who are propagating the message of Islam should adopt in the present day and age. The Muslim world is at present spilt up into two blocks. Some nations belong to one political camp and some to another. This grouping has affected Islamic movements and organizations. They have also joined one camp or the other and support one camp and oppose the other.

This situation is an obstacle to communication of the message of Islam. Islamic movements require the assistance of these Muslim countries. But the price that is being paid for this assistance is that every movement becomes the tool of one political camp or another, doing irreparable damage to the Islamic cause.

Under these conditions, those who preach the message of Islam should adopt the technique of a tight rope walker. Keeping a balance in their relations with both camps, they should continue their constructive work.

Taking the side of one camp against another is certain to involve the preacher in irrelevant, issues. The only way to avoid unrelated issues, and engage wholly in missionary work, is to follow the technique of the tight rope walker. □

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Prayer

Prayer is an attempt to move the Prime Mover. Most people in serious trouble instinctively reach for the Hot Line to God called prayer.

                                                                        Sam Levenson