The Moral Vision
Capability and Alertness
~ 124 ~
the time of appointment, he had given the secretary
a copy of the book. “I took it from him and read it
during the night, in order to familiarize myself with
the thought of the person I was going to meet the
next day.”
Lenin was the founder of modern Russia. He was
an extraordinarily gifted man. Two of his qualities-
—capability and alertness—are illustrated in the
above incident. He had studied so assiduously that
he knew four different languages and was able to
converse fluently in each one of them. Then so alert
and on the ball was he that—despite his enormous
preoccupation with affairs of state—he read the
book of an unknown Indian at night, just so that he
could have some prior knowledge of that person’s
thought when he met him the next day. Lenin made
every effort to cultivate this natural talent; he made
the most of the opportunities that were provided
him; that was how he rose to the ranks of
triumphant world leaders.
These two qualities—capability and alertness—are
required for any kind of work. They are
indispensable for the service of the Islamic cause,
