Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Speaking Tree Website | December 26, 2016
Often, people make a mistake, and then add to it by making yet another mistake—the mistake of trying to justify their first mistake. But what they should actually do on making a mistake is reflect on and seek to discover why they made that mistake in the first place. If you don’t do that, and, instead, you seek to justify your mistake after making it, you remain just where you were before. On the other hand, if you seek to find out why you made that mistake, you will save yourself from repeating it.
This is a natural fact. It is reflected in a hadith, narrated from Anasibn Malik, according to which the Prophet said, “Every person commits sin, and the best of those who commit sin are those who repent.” (IbnMajah, hadith no. 4251)
The fact is that no human being possesses total knowledge. Because of this, people often adopt wrong views and opinions. There are often errors in their plans. The virtue of human beings is not that they are immune from making mistakes. Rather, their virtue lies in their being willing to acknowledge their mistakes and to bring their actions into conformity with reality. If they openly admit their mistakes, they can change their views and can plan their actions in an even more proper manner.
A person who does not acknowledge his mistakes has to pay the price of continuing to remain stuck in his wrong approach. Accordingly, he deprives himself of confidence, because he chooses to remain in that groove even though he recognizes that it is wrong. Moreover, his actions cannot produce meaningful results, and his plans will fail to produce the results that he seeks.