COLLEGE PARK, MD –
If we’d like to understand a mode of being or attitude, it usually helps to look at the forefathers of that mode or attitude. One mode of being or attitude I’m sure none of us would like to exhibit is one of ignorance.
In order to successfully avoid this ineffective trait, we can look to ignorance’s father – Abu Jahl – to find out his habits, and run far away from them.
Seeing, but not seeing
Abu Jahl (AJ) was the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. You’d think he would be well-acquainted with the Prophet, peace upon him.
However, no matter how many times AJ saw the Prophet, he never actually saw him. AJ never saw the Prophet, peace upon him, as the Prophet; he could only see an orphan of the Tribe of Hashim.
AJ had no cultivation of his second eye, and, thus, he could receive no benefit from a blood relation to The Chosen One, The Best of Creation, peace upon him.
The man’s ignorance blinded him to the ultimate benefit, and made him of no benefit to others. Like a true failure, he lost in this life and the next. That’s the way it works with ignorance.
Like AJ, a founding father of one of the most destructive qualities we can exhibit, if we refuse to acknowledge matters any deeper than what their surface indicates, we’ll be blind to all the goodness and possibilities for improvement around us.
We’ll be barred from healthy and fruitful relationships, enriching experiences, and true knowledge of any kind.
If we are barred in that manner, we’ll be bankrupt of any ability to share our privilege, lift and heal ourselves and others, and lay down to rest belonging to something bigger than ourselves.
If we aren’t vigilant and contemplative upon matters like these, we’ll unknowingly slip into a meaningless life.
What a miserable condition, indeed. The stakes are high to open the second eye.
Tarif