Islam As It Is
Islamic Character
~ 135 ~
forever go on bearing the heaviest of loads. A
society made up of such people cannot but flourish
and progress.
A society in which this is not the case is inevitably
doomed to ruin. When people do not keep their
promises and refuse to accept the truth when
confronted with it, when they take prompt action
against others out of a sense of personal grievance,
regardless of whether it is humane to do so or not,
their society becomes like a world in which steel has
ceased to be steel, in which the very rocks have
begun to break up into splinters like so much old,
rotten wood.
HAVING OTHERS AT ONE’S MERCY
The severest test of a man’s integrity is the
realization that he has an enemy at his mercy.
Generally, from such a position of advantage, his
first impulse will be to destroy the enemy,
especially if he considers that the circumstances
exonerate him from all moral responsibility.
Even at such moments, however, one who truly
fears God will not forget that his Lord is watching
