Don’t give me a scissors, give me a needle!
Sultanul-Awliya, Hazrat Nizamuddin Awliya (rahmatullah alayh) is among the most renowned and revered saints of India. A huge railway station, the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station, and an entire colony is named after him in New Delhi, referred to as the Hazrat Nizamuddin colony.
On one occasion, one of his disciples brought a scissors as a gift for Hazrat Nizamuddin (rahmatullah alayh). He returned it saying: “Do not give me a scissors as a gift, which is only good for cutting and shearing, but rather give me a needle, that is used to join.” Obviously it was meant in a figurative sense.
The Awliya Allah (saints) were paragons and embodiments of love, mercy, kindness, sympathy and compassion towards the general public. It is through the warmth of that love and mercy that Islam spread and flourished, until thousands upon thousands were salvaged from the fire of hell and found their path towards paradise. If this is the case of the Awliya Allah, one can well imagine the love and mercy that the Ambiya u must have possessed?!
Imagine then what must have been the level of love, mercy, kindness and compassion of Hazrat Muhammed (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), whom Allah has referred to in the Quran as ‘Mercy unto the Universe’?!
The believer is an embodiment of love and mercy
Hazrat Muhammed (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said, “The believer is a person of love and there is no good in the one who doesn’t love or is not loved!” (Tabrani). In this amazing Hadith, an outstanding quality that defines the personality of the Believers has been mentioned – the quality of giving love and the quality of receiving love.
Furthermore it has been stated that one who neither gives love nor receives love is one who is bereft and devoid of all goodness. The giving of love requires a generous, clean and open heart, otherwise love will not emerge from such a heart. And when a person is the owner of such an open and generous heart, then automatically such a heart will attract the love of other hearts, like one magnet attracts another magnet. But the heart that does not have this quality, repels other hearts, because such a heart will be a closed, mean, dirty, dry and hard heart. Obviously nobody is attracted to such a heart!
Hatred will destroy everything
This is the lesson of love that a world so full of hatred is so desperately in need of. Today we live in a world that is dominated by hatred and harshness. In all directions the atmosphere is one of hatred and detestation.
This hatred has wrecked communities, countries and nations. It is the ‘scissors’ that is cutting mankind into pieces and generating suspicion and animosity between families, communities and citizens of countries and continents. This hatred silently fuels a fire that is about to erupt and burn and destroy everything around it.
Destructive role of hate mongers
Unfortunately hate mongers are found in all segments of society. Hate mongers gain instant publicity and attract many people. The main reason is because they manipulate the fear factor and sensationalise it in their hate speeches. Hatred is spread and propagated by politicians for short term gains, by the media for fulfilling the agenda of its masters and funders, by academics who justify it through elaborate but baseless arguments and by the general public who take their cue from their leaders, their media and their intellectuals. The result is a world that is cruel, callous and heartless, devoid of mercy and love.
A Muslim should display love and mercy
In a recent lecture at Darul Ihsan Centre, the President of Jamiatul Ulama of India, Moulana Sayyid Arshad Madani emphasised, “In today’s world the effort of the Ulama in particular and the Muslim public should be to promote the proper picture of Islam and to display love and mercy to mankind in whichever way possible.”
There is an urgent need for all peace loving, sober-minded leaders and people to spread the message of love, peace and mercy in a world that is being engulfed in the flames of hatred! Become ‘needles’ of love, rather than ‘scissors’ of hate!
Mufti Zubair Bayat
Ameer of Darul Ihsan Centre