Development is at its peak. Luxurious buildings. People in suits and trousers. Halls that gather thousands of…

Development is at its peak. Luxurious buildings. People in suits and trousers. Halls that gather thousands of people. Speakers — speakers who show some diagrams on a monitor, carry themselves like dandies, swagger and sprawl, drunk on the attention of their listeners, flying in the seventh heaven. Lights. Music. Combed hair, well-fitting clothes, slender figures, imposing looks. Something inside you tingles. Suddenly your heart starts pounding. “If only I were in their ranks too!” This scene looks very attractive in a video on YouTube. A promise of wealth rings from everyone’s mouth: “Get rich! Get rich! Get even richer!” Every now and then they slip in words such as Islam, Ummah, being Muslim: “Islamic finance,” “Muslim traditions,” “Islamic finance is so perfect,” “even if I were an atheist, I would choose Islamic finance,” “service to the Ummah”… But if you look closely, neither Islam nor a Muslim can be seen in their looks and manner. Finance, though, may well be there. They also seem young and sincere, muddled and raw, unripe, newly acquainted with religion, as if believing they are doing the greatest work of their lives. But everyone must check for himself what the concern in the hearts is: make a scale for yourself; on one pan of it put finance, wealth, prestige, the worry of this world; on the second pan put the answers to these: how much you fear death, how much you think of the Hereafter, how many moments you set aside for the remembrance of God and for thanking Him — and weigh with justice: which side turns out heavier? The answer is of no interest to me, nor to Tom or Harry; know it yourself, that is enough. The answer in fact shows which side you stand on, or more precisely, what you are busy with. Volume and quantity sometimes do not reflect the essence. A great volume and a large quantity do not mean the essence is that lofty and pure. Just as a speech stacked up and decorated with various terms does not always reflect the truth. Those on the stage, those beings wrapped in adornment and decoration, are only opening a market with these videos. Their show is no different from a row of stalls in the bazaar. Such stalls are not peculiar to them alone; every one of the people of this world has filled every span of the world’s square with such stalls and street displays. Wandering about gaping at them, the day turns to evening. Time passes. Wanting to join their ranks is throwing your own worth to the ground. Everyone is precious in the place where God has put him. Just as a tortoise wanting to fly would harm itself, so a sparrow’s wish to live on the ground is just as dangerous for itself. Everyone’s protection is hidden in the place where he stands and the station he holds. From now on, “progress” will keep reaching its peak, there will be no places left that the flame of “development” has not engulfed; only time is needed. Preserving one’s heart and mind, body and offspring, this world and the Hereafter — that is, saving one’s life from this fire, or perhaps cooking the food one needs in this fire without burning it — now becomes the main task. The earth may split open at any moment, the sky may at any moment rain down not rain but stones, the wind, without asking you, scatters the ashes of the world to the heavens — however many buildings and edifices you build on the face of the earth, however drunk you become looking at how tall they are, there is a Power that can wipe them out in an instant. However crowded the circle you are in, however deep you sink into the embrace of pleasure, you are still forced to taste the bitterness of loneliness; you are still doomed to give up your soul in the chain of weakness. The people of heart, the possessors of reason, take their bearings accordingly and do not stray from the mark. As long as you do not lose yourself in the forest of skyscraper towers, that is enough; otherwise, finding yourself afterward is very hard.

Akrom MALIK