Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Soulveda | February 10, 2017
Imagine that a scientist, whose instruments tell him that within a few minutes an earthquake will strike, is standing in a building. There are, at the same time certain mundane affairs to be dealt within the building. What will he do? Talk about trivialities or warn people of the earthquake? Clearly, the other matters which he has to attend to will recede into insignificance. He will forget all about them and raise just one cry; he will tell people to leave the place immediately, for an earthquake is about to shatter the place into pieces. Far from giving people a lecture on the mundane matters that have to be attended to, within the building; he will implore them to abandon the building at once.
Now think of a person standing in between this world and the next. On the one side, he can see the present world. On the other, the gardens of paradise and the fire of hell stretch out before his eyes. What would he be expected to do in this situation? Will he stress the importance of worldly issues or will he draw people’s attention to what lies ahead?
Clearly, he will not dwell on mundane matters. Worldly issues will recede into insignificance besides the desperately pressing issues of eternity. He will have just one message for people that they should guard themselves from the fire of hell and become worthy of admission into the gardens of paradise.
One who does not know of the coming of an earthquake might be forgiven for dwelling on other matters. But one who sees an earthquake coming will be able to think and talk of nothing else. He might not even be able to construct a coherent sentence, urging people to take precautions against the earthquake that is going to strike. He might only be able to muster a desperate, ‘Earthquake! Earthquake!’
It is the same with one who calls mankind to God. The caller to God is one who can detect, from behind the veil that lies between this world and the next, the fragrance of the gardens of paradise and the heat of the fire of hell. Such a person can think and talk of nothing but the next eternal world. Everything to do with this ephemeral world will fade from his mind as if it did not exist at all.