Principles of Life

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Principles of Life

“When one’s ego is affected,” says a contemporary psychologist, “It turns into super-ego, and the result is breakdown.” Umair ibn Hubaib ibn Hamsha, in his final days, gave this piece of advice to his grandson, Abu Jafar Alhazmi:

“One who will not bear the minor evils of a foolish person shall have to bear greater evils from him.”

Both these quotations, although differently worded, imply that there is only one sure way to avoid the malice of others – keep out of the line of fire.

We have the entire universe before us. We see it, we experience it, and so are forced to believe in its existence. Even when a man rejects the godhead, he still believes in the universe. But when and how did it come into being? Explaining its existence as the creation of God is no final answer—so it is generally held—since the very next question which arises is if God made the universe, then who made God?

One of the important points made in the UNESCO constitution is as follows:

Since war began in the minds of men it is in the mind that the defence of peace must be constructed.

Pubilius Syrus, a Roman writer of the first century B.C. who wrote in Latin is recorded as having said: “A good opportunity is seldom presented and is easily lost.”—An observation which may well be taken out of the Roman context and universally applied. For it is a matter of common circumstance that chances to make progress in this world do not conveniently present themselves at every juncture. They are few and far between. But most people, unconvinced of how imperative it is to realize their special importance, fail to grasp them in time.