Islam and Peace
The Spiritual Goal of Islam
~ 70 ~
then he got up again and went to another place.
From there too he got up. Only when he had gone
to a third place did he finally perform his ablutions.
The disciple found this very strange. With proper
reverence he observed, ‘Sir, you have done
something new. Twice you sat at different places
and then got up and finally you performed your
ablutions at a third place.’ Maulana Thanawi
answered that at the first two places he had found
ants creeping about on the ground. He thought that
if he dropped water on them, they would be in
trouble. Finally he had gone to a third place where
there were no ants, and only then did he perform
his ablutions.
This shows that when we should not harm even
tiny creatures such as ants and earthworms, the
harming of human beings is out of question. We
ought to live in this world doing no harm and
giving no pain. That is in the true spirit of Islam.
These anecdotes very aptly illustrate the reality of a
true mystic or spiritual person. One who has
reached an advanced stage of spiritual uplift,
having found the true essence of religion, no longer
