Forty Gems of Beauty — Page 124
124 him) says that an attempt should be made to raise the morale of the people by creating hope, faith, self-reliance, and self-respect in them, instead of dragging them down the pit of degradation through despair, frustration, inferiority complex, and a defeatist mentality. Whoso wails loudly over minor errors and unimportant drawbacks of the people and moans that they are finished and doomed, he himself creates in them despair and an inferiority complex through such observations and thus opens the way to their doom. The Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him) has, therefore, in profound wisdom, enjoined that while people may be suitably reprimanded for their errors as a reformative measure, crying over each little mistake and wailing that they have neared the brink of ruin is tantamount to consigning them with one’s own hands to doom, and that every reformer should beware of this course. In this respect, the attitude of our chief (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came into evidence when, once upon a time, a party dispatched by him ran back from the battlefield to Medina. The thought that turning one’s back to the enemy in battle is unlawful in Islam made them so deeply distraught with an overwhelming sense of shame that they would not come up before the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him). When he saw them cowering in the corner of the mosque, hiding their faces, he went over to them in person and called out to enquire who they were. Shamefacedly, with eyes downcast, they said: % + ,E" 5 ) “[O Prophet of Allah,] we are the runaway party. ” Sensing in them the feeling of self-defeatism, he told them that they were not runaways, rather, they had retreated only to attack the