By Dr. Ali Al-Halawani
A good word is just like a key with which you can shut one’s mouth but opens his heart…
A child once related…
Following a long and tiring day, my mother prepared the dinner table and brought us some toasted bread;
The bread was completely burned.
My father took a piece of that bread and gave my mother a lovely smile!
Towards me he turned his face and asked: How was your day at school today?
Though I cannot remember my answer to him, I can recall the scene in which he started to spread the toast thinly with butter and raspberry jam and started to eat it… the whole of it!
Upon the time I left the dinner table, I heard my mother as apologizing to him that she burned the bread while having it toasted in the oven…
By Allah! I will never forget my father’s reaction and reply to her apology…
“Never mind my dear,” he said!
“I sometimes like to eat extra-toasted bread to feel the burning taste!” he continued.
Later on that night, when I went to kiss my father goodnight, I asked him if it was true that he likes to eat burned bread?
Warmly, he gave me a big hug and said some memorable words which need contemplation and thorough reflection:
“My dear son! Your mother had a very hard day; she was really exhausted. Moreover, a small piece of extra-toasted bread or even a completely burned one will not kill me!
Life is full of defective things…
And, there is not a person who is perfect or faultless…
We have to learn to accept the shortcomings and defects of other things in life…
As well as to forebear the defects of others…
This is one of the most essential factors of building successful relationships with others…
This is what makes these relationships strong and sustainable…
A piece of burned bread shouldn’t be used or allowed to break a beautiful heart…
Let people excuse one another…
Let them forgive and ignore others’ defects as much as possible…
Let them raise themselves above tiny and trivial issues and things…
Constant criticism does not but kill the beauty of anything and everything…
If constantly blowing winds were to hit a tree, the tree would lose all of its leaves and fruits and would become naked…
A human being is just like that tree…
If someone is constantly and brutally criticized, he will become negative and non-productive…
Learn to appreciate and praise the good deeds of others and to overlook their errors and mistakes…
A good word is just like a key with which you can shut one’s mouth but opens his heart…
Continuous fighting and constant reproach kill the pleasure in everything even if this was unintended or meant…
Overlook and play ignorant and do not be heedful of everything as not everything deserves to be attentively attended to…
Do not exaggerate; do not overact; if you find a stone on your way, pick it up and throw it behind your back and continue your march; this should be a common culture and a learnt personal skill…”
To all, please forgive us and overlook our mistakes when we commit some;
Human selves constitute horizons and valleys; maybe our selves are in valleys other than yours; maybe our chests contain and hide what we cannot divulge or discharge to anyone!
Maybe!
Who knows?!
Be merciful as Allah the Almighty is the Most-Merciful to all creatures. This is a divine attribute; try to have some thereof for your own good.
———-
Dr. Ali Al-Halawani is Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Translation, Kulliyyah of Languages and Management (KLM), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was Assistant Professor and worked for a number of international universities in Malaysia and Egypt such as Al-Madinah International University, Shah Alam, Malaysia (Mediu) and Misr University for Science & Technology (MUST), Egypt; Former Editor-in-Chief of the Electronic Da`wah Committee (EDC), Kuwait; Former Deputy Chief Editor and Managing Editor of the Living Shari`ah Department, www.islamOnline.net; Member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS); and member of the World Association of Arab Translators & Linguists (Wata). He is a published writer, translator and researcher. You can reach him at [email protected].
Share