1. The road is set ... the choice is yours

It is born of the freedom of choice that has been given to every human being. Allah has created two possible destinations for all human beings, and there are two opposite paths leading to them.

"We have shown him the two paths." (Quran, 90:10)

"We showed him the Way: Whether he be grateful or ungrateful." (Quran, 76:3)

The first path leads to success, the other to failure. "By the Soul and the proportion and order given to it, and its inspiration as to its wrong and its right. Truly he succeeds that purifies it and he fails that corrupts it." (Qur’an, 91:7-10)

Qur'an is very emphatic that those who choose the disparate paths cannot be alike, either here or in the hereafter: "Shall We treat those who believe and do good works as those who spread corruption in the earth; shall We treat the pious as the wicked?" (Quran, 38:28)

"Is he who is a believer like unto him who is an evil-liver? They are not alike." (Quran, 32:18)

"Is then one who does know that that which has been revealed unto you (O Muhammad), from your Lord is the Truth, like one who is blind?" (Quran, 13:19)

"The Day when Man shall remember all that he strove for, and Hell-Fire shall be placed in full view for him who sees. Then, for such as had transgressed all bounds, and had preferred the life of this world, the abode will be Hell-Fire; and for such as had entertained the fear of standing before their Lord and had restrained their soul from lower desires, their abode will be the Garden." (Quran, 79:35-41)

It is, then, for each one of us to make up our mind regarding our destination and to check whether we are moving in its direction. Of course, the choice would not be difficult if we were only looking at the destination. No one in his right mind would choose Hell over Heaven or eternal failure over success. But the eternal success requires us to go uphill. It takes effort and patience. The journey to hell, on the other hand, is downhill. One can just slide to it. And so, weak and prone to temptations that we are, we slip. That slip alone would not be that much of a problem, because one can also recover from it through repentance. The real problem occurs when we lose all sense of direction and purpose and start thinking that our fall is our rise.

To complicate matters further, today big outside forces are also busy at work to smooth our slide and cheer us at our fall. It is a juggernaut of unbelievable proportions and unprecedented wickedness. The television and music videos, present everywhere and all the time, are part of it. The various NGOs working for "Human rights," "Women's rights," or whatever rights, are part of it. All those propaganda pieces that praise "moderates" and demonize "fundamentalists" are part of it.

Of course none of that can do any harm to us if we are willing to cut through the haze and see things for what they are. It is Allah's promise that both paths will remain open to us. It is our choice. The young Palestinian man who walks a mile to the mosque three to five times a day has made his choice. So have thousands upon thousands of others like him in the Ummah who have decided to shun evil and follow the path of piety and righteousness. So can the millions of others who are just wandering around.

Let us remember: We cannot get to the high ground by taking the low road. We cannot win our Creator's pleasure by disobeying Him. We cannot enter Paradise by being ambivalent about it. The clash between the two lifestyles here is actually the clash between two afterlives. And the choice is ours.

Courtesy of Albalagh.net

2) The Truck Driver and the tyre

One truck driver was doing his usual load delivery at a mental hospital, by parking his vehicle beside an open drain. He discovered a flat tyre when he was about to return from the mental hospital. He jacked up the truck and removed the flat tyre to fix the spare tyre.
When he was about to fix the spare tyre, he accidentally dropped all the 4 bolts in the open drain. As he cannot fish the bolts in the open drain, he started to panic as to what should be done?
Just then, one patient happened to walk past him and asked the driver as to why he was looking troubled. The driver thought to himself, since there is nothing much he can do or this mental joker can. Just to keep the bugging away, the truck driver informed the whole episode to the mental patient and gave a helpless look.
The patient just laughed at the truck driver and said you just cannot even fix such a simple problem? "No wonder you are destined to remain a truck driver for life".
The truck driver was astonished to hear such a compliment from a mental guy. "Here is what you can do" said the mental guy... "take one bolt from each of the remaining 3 tyres / wheels and fix it on to this tyre. Then drive down to the nearest workshop and replace the missing ones. Isn't it simple my friend".
The truck driver was so impressed with this quick fix answer and asked the patient "How come you are so smart and intelligent and you are here at the mental hospital?"
The patient replied "Hello friend! I stay here because I am crazy but not stupid".
No wonder, there are some people, who behave like the Truck Driver, thinking that others are just stupid. So, guys, though you all are learned and wise, but, just watch out, there could be some CRAZY guys in our professional / personal lives, who could give us lot of quick fixes and brush our wisdom.
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Moral:
Just do not conclude that you know everything and do not judge people by mere looks/attire stature or academic background!

Courtesy: M Junaid Tahir 

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