Dibba Junior, my good brother,
It was a great conversation we had last night as I sauntered around the precious beaches of Kololi and you, in the hoods of Nema Misra.
I was quite impressed that you mentioned the critical matter of INTENTIONS regarding the above subject, for truly intention is at the very core of this matter. In the words of Abdullah Anik Misra “Make a good intention for Allah’s sake: purify your intention to earn for Allah’s sake, to provide for your family, to not have to borrow and ask from others, and to do works of good for others.”
I shall only hasten to add that once purified, those intentions must metamorphose into ACTION for truly “an ounce of action is worth a ton of good intentions!” As Allah teaches us in verse 105 of Surah Tawba of the Glorious Quran “Wa Qul’imaloo fasa yarallaahu amalakum was Rasuluhu…” (And say: Work; so Allah will see your work and (so will) His Messenger…”
Shall I not not share with you, then, some wisdom from the Persian poet Maulana Jaluddin ar-Rumi? His luminous words are gifts from the True Source to clarify such matters as we are discussing in this epistle. I have seen many a young lad go astray by misconstruing concepts like barakah and related recondite matters, thereby falling prey to the destructive vice of fatalism. Rumi teaches great wisdom in his poem “On the Limits of Fatalism”:
You have feet – why make out you are lame?
You have hands – why then hide your fingers?
When a master puts a spade in a servant’s hand
He doesn’t need words to make his meaning clear.
Our hands, like that spade, are signs of God;
Understand the signs He flashes into your heart
And give your life to be in harmony with them…
Reflect on the foregoing verses, my good brother, and know that it takes more than one or two readings to fully grasp the gems of wisdom conveyed through such beams of light reflected unto us my the great sages of the human race.
Never forget these words of Rumi:
If you really trust in God, then work hard,
Sow the seed, and lean on the Almighty’s help;
Struggle as long as you can in the way of the prophets.
Effort isn’t a war with destiny:
Destiny itself has imposed on us this effort…
Take heed, young man, and keep on keeping on within the spirit of the Quranic and Biblical Injunctions I shared with you in part 1 of this series. You have shown good signs of following those edicts but as our grandmother, the late Mba Jankay, would advise ‘suwo si bori nyaa wo nyaa; fo e saa lafaa buso la.’ (No matter how fast a horse runs, you would still give it a few more lashes for it to keep speeding on.)
I wish you good luck in your upcoming events this weekend of June 7, 2019. Your service to that organisation is also within the spirit of the scriptural advice in this epistle. The great sage Fakhruddin ar-Razi is right: the central teaching of the Quran is: devotion to the Creator; and service to His creation!
Keep up the great service you are rendering in support of the noble aspirations of our people.
Mon petit frère, Bon et heureux week-end! que Dieu te bénisse.
Yours,
Momodou Sabally
The Gambia’s Pen
