There is a
very famous parable that I would like to share with a
strong interpretation which I will explain. Maybe some of my readers know
this story already, but I have been sharing this with my friends and members of
family who heard it for the first time.
There were four Cows, one of them was white and the other three were black. They used to live in a dangerous area surrounded by wolves. The way they protected themselves was that they were always together, they would stick together, watch out for each other, everyone was keeping an attentive eye, and they survived, even though the area was surrounded by wild beasts. But the three black cows had a meeting one day and they decided that the reason for the constant dangers they faced was because the white cow was giving them away. “When we try to hide at night, because we are black no one can see us, but the enemy is able to see the white cow, so why don’t we just let him go? The three of us will be together and let’s just let the white cow go away because he is just too much trouble.” So from that day on, the three black cows would be on one side and the poor white cow is alone. Basically, in today’s terms, they boycotted the white cow.
Now the wolf is very intelligent. He was able to detect the disunity that was amongst these cows. So he made his move and he attacked the white cow, and while he was devouring his flesh, the three black cows were doing nothing. They were watching, while their brother was being torn into pieces. However, the following night, the wolf attacked the three black cows. Why? Because now there was one cow short. So they were not as strong as they were the day before. Because they had let down their brother the white cow, the wolf was able to easily attack them and was able to snatch away one of the black cows.
So now there were only two cows left. So again, the following night, it was an even easier thing for the wolf because only two were left, there was little defense, so he ate one of them. On the final night there was only one cow left and the cow was trying frantically to run away from the wolf, but by now the cow had no supporters and no helpers. So the wolf pursued it with confidence and he knew this cow will get tired and fall down eventually and that there was nothing the cow could do. There was nobody to help him, so the wolf was walking around very happily with confidence, and eventually he pounced on the cow and grabbed him by the neck.
While he did that, the cow was pronouncing his last words in which he made a very important statement, a statement that is a great lesson that we can learn from. This black cow said, (while he was dying),”I was eaten, the day the white cow was eaten. I had signed on my execution form, the day I allowed the white cow to be eaten, that’s when I really died. I didn’t die now, I didn’t die today. I died when I allowed the wolf to eat the white cow”-I have written it as shared by the late Imam Anwar al-Awlaki(RH).
How does that fit into todays world you may ask? If you haven't read between the lines then you have a lot to learn. Just look at the last century where we have stood by and watched one Muslim nation fall after another, and despite that we are still watching, sitting back, doing nothing. And when we are not watching others fall, we are silent while we ourselves are falling.
We often talk about unity yet do little about uniting. It is not in a word, or a picture, a symbol or an con you stick on your social media profile. Unity is only unity when it becomes a real action. The problem is how many of us today understand that? We live in strange times where symbols take precedence over substance. Look at our places of worship. If that is not enough for those who cannot see, then what is? Without substance what is the use of all these symbols? Haven't we been warned?
People have different abilities. Some people make good scholars, some people make good Imams, some people make good teachers, doctors, lawyers and some people make a good advisor. People are different. Some people are good at doing work and not so good when it comes to speaking or theory, they are good at doing the daily work that we need. Everybody should be fulfilling a role and acting upon it. And we need to learn again how to appreciate them and assist them.
There were four Cows, one of them was white and the other three were black. They used to live in a dangerous area surrounded by wolves. The way they protected themselves was that they were always together, they would stick together, watch out for each other, everyone was keeping an attentive eye, and they survived, even though the area was surrounded by wild beasts. But the three black cows had a meeting one day and they decided that the reason for the constant dangers they faced was because the white cow was giving them away. “When we try to hide at night, because we are black no one can see us, but the enemy is able to see the white cow, so why don’t we just let him go? The three of us will be together and let’s just let the white cow go away because he is just too much trouble.” So from that day on, the three black cows would be on one side and the poor white cow is alone. Basically, in today’s terms, they boycotted the white cow.
Now the wolf is very intelligent. He was able to detect the disunity that was amongst these cows. So he made his move and he attacked the white cow, and while he was devouring his flesh, the three black cows were doing nothing. They were watching, while their brother was being torn into pieces. However, the following night, the wolf attacked the three black cows. Why? Because now there was one cow short. So they were not as strong as they were the day before. Because they had let down their brother the white cow, the wolf was able to easily attack them and was able to snatch away one of the black cows.
So now there were only two cows left. So again, the following night, it was an even easier thing for the wolf because only two were left, there was little defense, so he ate one of them. On the final night there was only one cow left and the cow was trying frantically to run away from the wolf, but by now the cow had no supporters and no helpers. So the wolf pursued it with confidence and he knew this cow will get tired and fall down eventually and that there was nothing the cow could do. There was nobody to help him, so the wolf was walking around very happily with confidence, and eventually he pounced on the cow and grabbed him by the neck.
While he did that, the cow was pronouncing his last words in which he made a very important statement, a statement that is a great lesson that we can learn from. This black cow said, (while he was dying),”I was eaten, the day the white cow was eaten. I had signed on my execution form, the day I allowed the white cow to be eaten, that’s when I really died. I didn’t die now, I didn’t die today. I died when I allowed the wolf to eat the white cow”-I have written it as shared by the late Imam Anwar al-Awlaki(RH).
How does that fit into todays world you may ask? If you haven't read between the lines then you have a lot to learn. Just look at the last century where we have stood by and watched one Muslim nation fall after another, and despite that we are still watching, sitting back, doing nothing. And when we are not watching others fall, we are silent while we ourselves are falling.
When Palestine was
taken, we did nothing, and after that it didn't take long to see one nation
after another falling into problems. Kashmir, Chechnya, Afghanistan, the
Muslims in the Philippines, Burma, Iraq, Syria, Yemen just to name a few
and the Ummah is doing nothing. I often ask myself if an Ummah still exists and
if it does, where is the voice and actions? We are supposed to be more than one billion strong. So where is our say? Who speaks on our behalf? The Ummah even in recent times just
watched while Iraq was devoured and today our brothers and sisters in
Syria and many parts not news to the mass media are paying a very heavy price.
For those who think it will end
there...they are mistaken. It's not going to end there, because it's going to
spill over to other countries and only Allah(SWT) knows who is next.
So like the story of the cow those nations weren't taken today, they
were taken along time ago. When we allowed a Muslim nation to fall down, we
have allowed the same thing to happen to each and every one of us.
We often talk about unity yet do little about uniting. It is not in a word, or a picture, a symbol or an con you stick on your social media profile. Unity is only unity when it becomes a real action. The problem is how many of us today understand that? We live in strange times where symbols take precedence over substance. Look at our places of worship. If that is not enough for those who cannot see, then what is? Without substance what is the use of all these symbols? Haven't we been warned?
Daily I hear all talk about the importance of having unity yet what do
we do to really achieve it? From where I'm standing all I can see is that we
wait for those who have been the driving force of our destruction to speak on
our behalf while we sit silently allowing them to do so. We have established
who and by now we should understand why, and the real question is what are we
going to do about it? How long
are we going to remain disunited? What does it take for us to stick together
and work as one? All of us know that we cannot make it alone.
We need to first comprehend that none of us are the same and everyone has their
own specialties and that we should not be competing but supporting those better
than us. If we are aiming to have unity in terms of just having one group
with all the same thoughts, same abilities that would first be impossible as we
would all compete plus we should not fail to recognize that we cannot
have unity if we abandon those who aren't the same or don't fit into our
approach. We should all be working at different things as we all have short comings and
deficiencies in each and every area.
People have different abilities. Some people make good scholars, some people make good Imams, some people make good teachers, doctors, lawyers and some people make a good advisor. People are different. Some people are good at doing work and not so good when it comes to speaking or theory, they are good at doing the daily work that we need. Everybody should be fulfilling a role and acting upon it. And we need to learn again how to appreciate them and assist them.
Unity is not just uniting once in a while then going home as if you did something for a few hours once in the year. Unity is working at it everyday. Unity is not watching them fall because you are sitting in a comfortable position. Ask yourself, if you allow them to fall, who will speak up for you? We all know there are those working behind a domino affect on our destruction and yet some still allow them.
Unity is when you extend your hand and when
your brother or sister is in need, you jump to help them, that is Unity. Is that too difficult..
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.