Maulana Wahiduddin Khan I Discover God
How grand and imposing the dome of a mausoleum appears from afar. Less so when the great edifice is entered and there appears, lying as low as could be, a solitary grave. What a contrast between the mighty dome–a symbol of human greatness, and that low-lying grave–a testimony to man’s utter helplessness. The two constructions present a picture of the startling and agonizing discrepancy between what man seeks in this world and what really comes his way.
He seeks to consolidate his own position on earth, to establish his own greatness; but the best that he achieves in the end is a grave, concealing one devastated and done away with by death. Man seeks to take his fill of worldly pleasures, but it is a mouthful of earth that remains as his final portion. He seeks to devour everything in sight upon this earth, only to be himself devoured by this very earth.
When he speaks, he seems to be defying God, but he cannot truly defy God, for God hears all that he says. By his own actions, he sets himself on an infernal course. If only he realized the consequences of his deeds! If only he saw the folly of condemning himself to a fate that he does not have the strength to bear!
So clear is the picture of truth that appears before man on this earth, that one would not expect him to deny it; yet he does so. Willfully and scornfully, he casts truth to one side, putting his own interests first. Sometimes his own faults loom before him, clear as the midday sun, yet he does not acknowledge them. Sometimes his attention is drawn to some truth. Despite having no reasonable argument with which to defend himself, he finds words with which to cast the blame on his admonisher.
He takes a strong stand against oppression, but it is oppression perpetrated by others that he objects to, not which he himself is guilty of. Blissfully oblivious about his own corruption, he is quick to expose dishonesty, and take a stand against it, when he views others as corrupt. When it comes to fulfilling the rights of others, he is negligent in the extreme. He is quick, though, to take up the cause of those who have been denied their rights by others besides himself.
In order to consolidate his own power, man raises false slogans, not caring if a whole nation has to suffer as a result. He seeks to advance his own interests at the expense of others, not bothering that in his attempt to trample on the rights of others, he is in fact trampling on truth. He lives in a dream world, though the only world worth living in is the one based on truth and reality.
Man has been created to dwell in Paradise, but he seems to be bent on denying himself its pleasures as he careers on the downward course to hell.