COLLEGE PARK, MD –
Last week we delved briefly into the purity of intention and the mission of the Prophet Muhammad; we can take just as valuable of a lesson from the Prophet Noah, peace upon them both.
Prophet Noah was a man of determination and preparation. Most people aren’t, though.
While his countrymen thought they were safe in the desert from torrential disasters, our Prophet Noah knew better.
He had the insight to know a storm was coming, and that he needed to prepare for it.
As the widely cited quotation of Arthur Schopenhauer acutely pinpoints, “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
The story of Prophet Noah is no different.
While he was busy preparing the ark that would serve as a means of worldly salvation for so many species, he was ridiculed.
Many of the very people who would have been best off listening to Prophet Noah and serving him in his mission chose instead to oppose him.
The similarities with the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, peace upon him, are striking.
For Prophet Noah, it was the onset of the flood.
He was no longer seen as the fool with an ark in the desert, but as the captain of the only vessel capable of navigating humanity’s survival.
Talk about a turning of the tides.
What then did he do with his newly activated status? Well, he acted prophetically, of course.
He could have turned away all of the nay-sayers. It could have been his moment of vengeance for all the torment he endured, peace upon him.
But, in his wisdom, Prophet Noah understood intuitively that for his mission to be accomplished his adversaries would benefit alongside him, or the mission would be aborted and he would perish alongside them.
It’s not only for those who are loyal to us to benefit from whatever truth we aim to live by. We must be able to rise above our lower selves and not desire to see loss for anyone.
Yes, we must extend a hand up onto the ark to those who ridiculed and violently opposed us building it. We must not be pained at seeing them benefit from the work they did everything in their power to stop us from undertaking.
Some people will only join us at the point when the matter is self-evident, they will not support us along the way. Others won’t even join us when the matter is self-evident.
If barring our former adversaries from benefiting from our toil is important to us, all our work will be for naught. That is the ultimate victory for those adversaries – for us to choose to lose with them than for them to benefit with us, to give up the reigns at the last moment and allow them to lead us to perdition.
Our Prophets, upon them be peace, show us time and time again that we must remain steadfast to our principles in power as well as weakness.
Preparing,
Tarif