LOVING THE ALIEN
Tolerance is a divine characteristic, an attribute that God desires to see in all his men and women. It is as much a part of the true character of Islam, as it is of all the religions of the world. Yet our youth, perhaps for want of a precedent, exhibit a distinct lack of the former. Is it their fault? Is it the fault of their elders?
One feels that a search for the entity at fault is a superfluous one. More emphasis need to be given to the social attitudes established generations before us and in a way our generations react to them . The widespread feudal influence in urban educational has given rise to various concepts of courage, bravery and honour that do not necessarily carry any degree of correctness. One of these is misconception , that tolerating someone's else's views is the same as acquiescing to their validity. This is not so, not even the least.
We all know, "Without any doubt , God is with those among you, who are patient". Tolerance is a function of patience, and does not in any way mean that one is cowed, overawed or even afraid of the other person's views. It means , that one knows one's views are better , and therefore is willing to tolerate the other's views.
Although using Islam as a reference, the tolerance I speak of is not exclusively religious tolerance. It is greater than that. It is the tolerance of the truth. The truth, as we all understand, changes from person to person. What for me is the ultimate, incontrovertible, unalterable truth could, for the next person , be a lie. And what for him could be the most indispensable all of the truths could, for me, be a joke. The truth transcends human existence. The truth is not what should be. he truth is what exists, not what should have existed.
Do we tolerate each other enough to live in peace ? Well , sadly we don't. All of us just try to impose and enforce our thoughts on the other person Then also we do not care about the moral attitudes either. The new generation is always hostile to the views of their parents and elders, but gradually they learn what their elders say to them , mostly comes true somehow. Politics is yet another supreme example. "War" ... the deadliest form of intolerance, can make "peace" go to ashes.
We do not have the mettle to tolerate the West , and similarly the West does not like to tolerate us. Some people ask a question, "Do we have a choice?" , and the answer not surprisingly , is "yes".
The admission of tolerance does not mean that one loses the strength to take a stand. Nowhere near that. In fact it actually determines he fact that even one eventually does take a stand, one will be morally and physically stronger. Tolerance is not, repeat not, the admission of weakness. It is the admission of strength and restraint. And there can only be restraint, when there is strength.
"The most powerful among you , is not the one who can defeat some wrestler in the ring , but the one , who can control oneself , when angry ." (Al-Hadith)
All alonmg our lives we hear from our elders, "Silence is Gold", and I guess their practical experiences come in handy right here, when they teach us to try to understand others , and not go for the cutthroat approach.
Source : The News
(edited)
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