SPIRIT OF ISLAM FEBRUARY 2018

23 Spirit of Islam Issue 62 February 2018 guidance as to the correct response to give in any situation calling for principled behaviour. Those who turn to Satan seldom realize that they are launching themselves on the downward path to self-destruction. Often, the experiences which we have in life are the result of the circumstances which we find ourselves in. Pain and deprivation may be our lot, we may be forced to live in poverty. Such circumstances call for curbing our impatience and indignation, and to show gratitude to God for whatever mercies He has chosen to bestow upon us. One may, on the contrary, find oneself in a position of rank and affluence, in which case it is arrogance, overweening pride and miserliness which have to be guarded against. Then one should go out of one’s way to be unfailingly humble and to be consistently generous in spending for God’s cause to the point of leaving oneself with nothing more to spend. Perpetual counting and accumulating of wealth must be avoided at all costs, for its glitter has such a mesmerizing effect that it begins to take the place of faith and religion. The lust for power must likewise be tamed and extirpated and one’s energies devoted instead to furthering the interests of others. How many believers, who are ostensibly imbued with religious fervour, suffer a moral collapse the moment they have to go through an exacting phase in life? How many give way to scepticism and despair the moment they have the merest whiff of adversity. It is at such junctures in life that they should prostrate themselves before the Almighty and beg for forgiveness, mercy and guidance. God will be there. He will not fail them. o