Conveying the message to others is not for others alone as many of us think. It is a part of our own intuition just like the blood in our body which does not only need to keep flowing to supply nourishment and oxygen to every tissue but also to keep itself healthy. If its flow is hampered, its chemicals will react bizarre and it will neither be a source of life for the body any longer nor will it be able to keep itself a fluid of balanced contents to keep itself furnished with the virtues of clotting, bleeding and nourishing.
A preacher may be taken as some obsessed creature in pursuance of his mission but, as one can see, he is also providing life to those he gets acquainted with. Nevertheless, not everybody values what a caller to the truth has to offer. Only the ones who recognize the message he is trying to forward would pay heed.
The other day walking down the street and looking through windows into shops, I saw a lady in a jeweler’s shop sitting in front of dazzling trinkets shining through a glass case; but, much to my amazement, she was really not looking at the jewels but the shoes another lady next to her was wearing. What would you call such a person! She does not know what she is ignoring. Probably she doesn’t realize that they are real jewels or else she is preoccupied with things of least importance sitting in the middle of precious pearls.
As for me, I thought that we have been doing this all our lives; we pick stones and ignore pearls and diamonds—which are scattered around us in the teachings and the words of wisdom propagated by men of understanding.
On the other hand, a compelling reality that needs to be kept in sight of the preachers is that if people believe that their caller is telling them something which would benefit them, they would respect him, be appreciative and grateful to him, and would also enquire further.
Once I was joined by a group of colleagues just before entering an oral post graduate examination. The format of the exam was introduced recently and supposed to be very complex. We students were supposed to face some people acting as patients of which some were aggressive and abusive; we had no choice but to participate in it. We were also informed that during our performance the examiners, from some higher station, would watch our expressions and conversation. So every participant was listening with tremendous care and concentration without missing any point. At that time, a point sprang to my mind. Suppose, we all stood up and started thrashing this person claiming that he was lying because we had not seen this sort of exam so far. Merely because of the fact that we were so anxious about it and felt that this examination would be very knotty! More explicitly, suppose we rebelled and silenced the person who was reporting this nerve-racking scenario, what fools we would look! When I conveyed my thought to a couple of my colleagues after the exam that evening, they were amused; they even laughed at this thought but also admitted that we would be most insane people to act in that way.
But on the stage of life, such rebellious behavior has indeed been resorted to many times in the past. Prophets (sws) of Allah conveyed to mankind the reality of this life and the life in the Hereafter but folks stood up and affronted them; beat them, and even killed them just because they did not have the courage to face the facts conveyed by these noble representatives.
Accepting this life as a test and preparing for the next one would mean sacrificing so many interests in life, so much which we yearn not to let go of. It is certainly a thorny project to work on and is really a tricky path to tread. However, triumphant is the one who decides and treads this path with utmost sincerity and devotion.
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew, 7:14).