FROM MAULANA’S DESK
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, born in 1925, in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, is an Islamic spiritual scholar who is well-versed in both classical Islamic learning and modern disciplines. The mission of his life has been the establishment of worldwide peace. He has received the Padma Bhushan, the Demiurgus Peace International Award and Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Peace award for promoting peace in Muslim societies. He has been called ’Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’ and is recognized as one of its most influential Muslims1. His books have been translated into sixteen languages and are part of university curricula in six countries. He is the founder of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality based in New Delhi.
FOLLOW REASON, MANAGE EMOTIONS
LIFE is the art of making right decisions. Successful is one who is able to take right decisions at crucial moments. Someone who is not able to do this shall ruin his life. There is certainly no alternative to right decision-making.
Sometimes, man is caught between reason and emotions. On one hand, there are emotional pressures from family, from friends etc. and on the other hand there is a rational demand. In such situations, don’t waste your time. Follow the practical formula: ignore the emotional pressure and respond to the rational demand positively.
Emotional pressures are always manageable but rational demands do not give man a second option. We should learn the art of managing the emotional pressure in an appropriate manner and opt for the rational demand. This is the only advisable course of action in such a situation.
Once, a woman wanted my advice on an issue she was facing. She was working in a multinational company and sometimes she used to return late from work. This job was a necessity for her. Each time this used to happen, her mother used to get angry. My advice to her was that she should maintain the job. Reason suggests that she should fulfil its demands properly so as to not lose the job. As far as her mother’s anger is concerned, that was an emotional problem. So, I told her that when you reach home late and your mother becomes angry, tell her politely “Oh Mother, I am hungry right now. Please give me food and we shall talk later!" She followed this formula and in this way her problem was solved comfortably.
Emotional pressures are always manageable but rational demands do not give man a second option.
Life is governed by reason and not by emotions. What is reason? It is only another name for the law of nature. The laws of nature cannot be altered. It is beyond man’s capacity to alter these laws. They do not give you any alternative other than following them. Emotions on the other hand, can be managed. Here the formula is: either follow the laws of nature or perish.
Man has always been amidst two factors: external factors and internal sentiments. Successful is the one who makes his plan by considering the foreign factors. Those who follow their internal sentiments are doomed to fail. Always remember that inner sentiments are manageable while rational factors have to be followed. No excuse is permissible in this regard.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
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