Blessings of Khilafat — Page 164
164 A Parable There is a parable that explains the lack of sensitivity that results out of being used to something. It goes like this: God once said to people, ‘You always complain of your difficulties to be more severe than others. You are now allowed to replace the one you think are severe with that which you consider to be less painful. ’ They all threw away their problems and opted for others in exchange. One person who suffered headaches, got rid of his headache and took the diseased swollen foot of someone in return. A deaf person, having thrown away his deaf ears, preferred to be blind. Similarly, everyone exchanged his pain for what he thought was not as painful. When they walked back home, the one who had opted for a heavy diseased foot felt that it was hard to take a step forward with it; the one who had opted for blindness sorrowfully missed his ears for though he could not hear but at least he could walk, but now he was simply unable to see anything. Eventually, they concluded that their previous ailments were less severe and prayed to revert to them. The point of the parable is that being accustomed to some pain makes it less painful. That is why God has stated that when the skins of the inmates of the hell will be burnt up, He will give them new ones in exchange so that their sense of suffering remains intact and they keep feeling the punishment. Those doing some good by habit do not get its true reward, and when one has become accustomed to the chastisement he is undergoing, his suffering decreases to a great degree. In other words, habits are like a bandage that covers up a wound, even though from the inside it is filled with puss.