While a policy of reconciliation leads to success in life, the tendency to protest always proves to be counterproductive, says MAULANA WAHIDUDDIN KHAN
It is often seen that whenever a group wants its demands to be met, it takes the route of protest. However, it is not just a question of protest. The real question is about the result of protests. These kinds of protests only increase losses, instead of gaining anything.
The protest method is a kind of mob activism. But the fact is that this kind of method has lost its relevance in modern India. A commentator has rightly said that protest activism generates more heat than light.
Our world is based on natural laws. One such law can be referred to as the ‘Give and Take Principle’. When you cannot change the law of nature, there is no option other than to meet the challenge. Any other method in this regard only means wasting time and resources. These protests only produce a vicious cycle of negative thinking among people, which is an obstacle to their own progress as well as that of the nation.
The need of the hour today is to refrain from a protest culture and to replan activities on constructive and peaceful lines. A strong nation can be built only when we have duty consciousness in us. This guiding principle was given by Gandhiji in these words: Duty before right.
The best society is a duty-conscious society. This is a universal principle. Perform your duties, and you will automatically receive all the things that you want. All ‘super-achievers’ in history were the ‘super-givers’. It was this ‘super-giving’ culture which made them ‘super-achievers’.
In the present situation, simply protesting will not work. We need to evolve a new way of thinking. We have to try to establish a duty-conscious rather than a rights-conscious society.
Life is full of differences. The way of wisdom is to not let differences reach the stage of confrontation. If it does, it would necessarily lead to violence. Complaining will not help in achieving anything. A complaining person is like the gramophone needle, stuck at one place on the record, doomed forever to remain in the same repetitive groove.
According to the law of nature, human life is based on challenge and competition in this world. Due to this nature of human life, it is but natural that in this world there will always be problems. The need in such a situation is to observe ‘sabr’, patience, which means adopting the ‘buying time’ strategy.
Sabr is not inaction. In fact, sabr means not wasting time in engaging in negative reaction against others and using this time for positive planning. Negative reaction, in terms of the result, is to weaken oneself while positive planning is to make oneself stronger. Sabr gives you an opportunity for self-planning; and self-planning leads to self-strengthening, which in turn results in success. Sabr, or patient planning, is the key to all kinds of success.
Therefore, if you want to save yourself from unwanted results, then adopt the policy of reconciliation. This principle has been given in the Quran in these words: “Reconciliation is the best.” (4:128)
Complaints and protests will never work. The policy of reconciliation always leads to the desired result, while the policy of confrontation always proves to be counterproductive.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, 95, is an Islamic spiritual scholar who has adopted peace as the mission of his life. Author of more than 200 books, he is known for his Gandhian views, and considers non-violence as the only method to achieve success.