Everyone of us knows that feeling of despair when we see no hope for things to get better. There are so many people in the world who believe that there is no hope of a bright future for them and sometimes for others. But why is it that some people who see the worst of times are hopeful for their lives? People who are oppressed can imagine and fight for a world without oppression? Men who lose their families start working for refugees? Women who are raped start NGOs to protect women and stop sex trafficking? Why is it so?
Isn’t it due to the very fact that we are human beings? The fact that makes us altruistic beings rather than just ‘selfish genes’. Altruistic people come to know more about themselves. But how come these people come out to be so positive after going through a crisis that should have made them rather hopeless? Why isn’t it according to our atheist brethren who say that we are just the product of nature and/or nurture? How come our selfish genes become so selfless and how come such an atrocious environment make us so altruistic?
Maybe our atheist brethren are not that wrong.
We are shaped by our genes and our social environment but is there something else that we miss which also has a great influence on our being. By the way the Muslims call it the Rooh or the spirit that Allah gifted us with which makes us inherently good. Some might argue that these ‘altruistic’ people are just few exceptions and we would agree with them because very few people are able to know their true being and be useful for themselves and others and for us the only way to do that is to know Allah.
That is why Allah says in Surat al-Hashr ayah 19,
” And be not like those who forgot Allah and He caused them to forget their own selves. Those are the rebellious ones”.
Have we really forgotten ourselves? If your answer is yes then start this journey of knowing thyself!