Making The Right Choice The Sunday Guardian | January 30, 2011 | Page 15
The chapter entitled Al-Tin (The Fig) of the Quran is very short, but it has a great lesson, a universal message for all men. The translation of the relevant verses is as follows: "We have indeed created man in the best of moulds, and then We cast him down as the lowest of the low." (95:4-5)
Anyone who goes through these verses will discover a great meaning. Everyone by nature has a unique personality, but nothing in this world is all good. The human personality has minus points as well as plus points. One who makes the most of his plus points is successful, whereas one who becomes a victim of his minus points is doomed to failure. The plus and minus points can be summed up under the headings of reason and emotion. One who obeys reason achieves success, while one who is led by his emotions faces disaster. Reason, implying unbiased thinking, leads to a realistic approach. It makes you mature and guides you to give well-considered responses and to plan all your actions in a rational way. The emotional approach is another name for irrational approach. One who is swayed by his emotions becomes unrealistic. His actions are typified by the saying: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." With a change of word, it becomes: "Emotional people rush in where angels fear to tread." The emotional approach can come at a great cost. Dealing with things emotionally is like mishandling glassware. You can mishandle ironware, but you cannot behave like that with glassware, because it might fall and break.
Similarly, in any human situation, you have to handle matters with great care; otherwise the result will be like the smashing of delicate glassware.