The world is changing so do our lifestyles. There are two kinds of people that I want to talk about. First, people who were once leading the mischievious life and then fortunately, figured out the purpose of this life. These are the servants who are now living by the commandments of their Lord. They are known with their admirable characters from which some of us get ‘light’. Some among them are known while others prefer anonymity to publicity. Brilliant to see that some of these slaves of Allah have been raised to the scholary ranks.
Sometimes it even becomes difficult to believe in the fact that these people were completely once eaten up by the glitter of this world. They had forgotten the purpose of their lives. But they took few steps torwards their Creator and thus they bumped into the immense mercy of the Creator for indeed “Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” (Qur’an 13:11)
Today these people help spread the light of Allah. But I think it’s wrong to think that all of these righteous people we see and hear of today, have been God-conscious since the time they were born…No, some of them had to go through a series of great metamorphic change of their lives untill Allah guided them.
On the other hand I feel like its fair to expound on the second group of people. Yes, those people who were once ‘butterflies’ that only loved ‘flowers’. They had the best characters among their communities. Due to other reasons, they strayed away from the right path.
However, I personally think it’s bad to look at them with a demon eye as if they are already dead. It’s appropriate that those who can, should continously show these brothers and sisters the right way.
The fact that these people believe in Allah, is evident enough that there is still good in them. Even if we think 90% of someone’s characters is bad, it’s still irresponsible and unfair to treat them based on only those ‘bad characters’. We should try to expand the 10%-good in them by warmly reminding them about their purpose of life.
It’s important to always remember tha this category of people were once good-practising Muslims. Hence, reminding them is better than taking a scholarly-teaching-strategy-approach towards them. An Indication of that is what Allah has already pointed out by saying;
“And remind, for indeed, the reminder benefits the believers.” (Qur’an 51:55)
Of course the reminder should be from authentic knowledge because knowledge acts as a firm foundation of someone’s faith.
I verily think its of utmost importance to conclude that ‘though these brothers and sisters may look like evil centipedes now, they may still posses some butterfly qualities’.
