Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
7. The Revolution of the Prophet
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lush tree standing in front of his house. “If I plant a
seed,” he thought, “it will take at least ten years to
grow into a full tree.”
So what he did was to uproot a large tree and,
hiring several labourers to transport it from where
it had stood, he installed it in front of his house.
“Good,” he thought, “I have achieved ten years
work in the space of a single day.” How shocked he
was, then, when next day he woke up to see the
leaves of the tree withering away. By evening its
branches were hanging limp, and within a few days
the leaves had died and fallen to the ground; all that
remained in front of his house was a stump of dry
wood. A few days later the priest was visited by a
friend, who found him walking restlessly in his
garden. “What’s wrong?” he enquired. “Why are
you so upset today?” “I am in a hurry, but God
isn’t,” the priest answered, and went on to tell the
whole story of the tree. In whatever happens in the
world, there is a part played by God and a part
played by man. It’s like a machine, which functions
when two cog-wheels revolve in unison: one of the
wheels is God’s and the other man’s. Man’s success
can only come from his keeping to God’s pace. If he