SPIRIT OF ISLAM FEBRUARY 2018

13 Spirit of Islam Issue 62 February 2018 The Garden of Paradise is an exquisite and unblemished haven, which God has specifically created for the truly righteous among His servants. Every situation which confronts a man in this world invites one of two kinds of responses. It is on the basis of this response that one will be pronounced fit for Heaven or for Hell. Man is an aware, sensate being, who is stirred by the situations he faces in life, and who reacts to them mentally and physically, in word and deed. God has given man this freedom to see how he uses it—whether, for example, he returns abuse for abuse, malice for malice, or whether he suffers these things, yet offering only prayers and goodwill in return. In this world there is no escaping adverse sets of circumstances in which unpleasantness occurs over and over again, thus arousing strong antipathies. But believers are exhorted, by divine commandments, to rise above the treatment meted out to them and to confront negative treatment with positive behaviour. When a true word is spoken, one acknowledges it, another denies it. An issue arises, eliciting justice and mercy on the one hand, and cruelty and oppression on the other. Adverse circumstances come into being, arousing feelings of humility in one and contumacy in another. Attitudes of goodwill and regard for others are faced off by the urge to hate and avenge. These opposing reactions are what determine our fate in the Hereafter; the positive taking us to Heaven and the negative to Hell. We should never lose sight of the fact that it is by them that we stand, or fall. o Great Minds! Only those who stand firm in the face of adversity, are finally able to advance towards a new & successful life.