Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 156
156 grandfather was or who th eir great grandfather was , h owever , a human being remembers the name of his ancestors. But Muslims underwent a period of time where they forgot their history and became like animals that feel no need to relate to their past. O r they copied other nations and in believing their ancestry to be inferior, they discarded it. They have rejected everything from their past history, and they did not feel the need to follow their previous traditions. The result was that disorder was created amongst them. Just as on a river, when several boats are bound together by ropes [ to form a bridge] so that children can cross. The young cross them, men cross them , and women also c ross them ; e ven cows, bulls, camels , horses , and goats cross over them , b ut when the boat’s ropes break at some p oint, their ties become loose , t hen one boat goes one way a nd the other goes another way. No country or nation can benefit from such boats because after the ties break , the boats drift away from each other and each one’s direction changes. It is the same case with nations. Those nations which maintain their traditions and do not forget their history are like those boats , which are tied together and form a bridge over a river. Thus , they are very useful for people. The nations which forget their past and disregard their former traditions are like those boats without a ny ropes to bind them together, and nor is there a boatman. These boats drift along with the currents. These boats are of no use to any person, any community , or any nation. Therefore , past traditions or the directives and practices of the forefathers are extremely imp ortant for a nation’s guidance. Unfortunately, Muslims ignored them completely and because of this , i f we wish to learn about our forefathers’ way of life, their habits, and traditions, i t is difficult for us to so. The truth is that after the c ompanions ra of the Holy Prophet sa , we know no thing about our forefath ers , even though many notable events within the nation’s history took place in the period after the era of t he c ompanions ra. T he c ompanions ra were a few poor and simple people. After accepting the Holy Prophet sa , with the help of God Almighty, they worked towards spreading the message of Islam. In those day s , there was no government administration or any government offices. During the time of the companions ra , there was very little municipal progress, and they did not build roads, canals , or bridges. In fact , they never had enough time to do those things. In the time of Banu U ma y ya h , Muslims did spend time work ing on such progress, and they