Know your Limits and Limitations

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Original illustration. View image

فَعَّالٞ لِّمَا يُرِيدُ

Fa’ ‘aalul limaa yureed

Al-Buruj (The Mansions of the Stars) 85:16 a Sovereign Doer of whatever He wills.

Know Your Limits and Limitations

This story grew out of a debate with an acquaintance who then belonged to the Ahmadiyyah community (whose members we Muslims often call Qadiani or Mirzai, sometimes derogatorily). He later renounced those beliefs and returned to Islam. Knowing that I am from Kashmir, he had tried to form a connection using the name of Hakeem Noor-ud-din, who spent several years as the court physician of the Maharaja of Kashmir. Hakeem Noor-ud-din was one of the most well-read and well-travelled of those involved in the missionary activity in the cause of the Ahmadiyyah, and was influential in shaping their discourse. I read up on his biography, and on page 106, I found an interesting story, which not only showcases the vision of true scholars of the ummah such as Maulvi Abdul Qayyum, but also has lessons for all of us.

The story, retold here in English, goes like this.

When Hakeem Noor-ud-din was leaving Bhopal after studying for a while with a famous scholar of Hadith at the time, Maulvi Abdul Qayyum, he asked him for some advice. Knowing his student had not yet completed his studies, and perhaps anticipating what the future might hold for him, Maulvi Abdul Qayyum gave him the following, somewhat cryptic, advice in Urdu:

خدا نہ بننا اور رسول نہ بننا

Roughly translated, it means "Do not (ever) try to be God, nor a prophet."

Obviously flustered by such an outwardly outrageous statement, Noor-ud-din said that he did not understand the message behind such a statement. Not only that, he claimed that no one present in the audience, however august, could decipher the meaning behind the statement.

Seeing that the message had been missed, Maulvi Abdul Qayyum asked, “Whom do you consider God?” He meant: what quality, in Noor-ud-din’s mind, defined God? Noor-ud-din replied, “God is the One Who possesses the attribute ‘a Sovereign Doer of whatever He wills’” (referring to Qur’an 85:16). Maulvi sahib replied, “This is what I am referring to. If something that you desire does not come to fruition, do not become distressed. Ask your ego, ‘Are you God?’” In other words, why assume that everything you want is bound to happen?

Similarly, since a prophet gets direct commandments from God, he feels distressed when people disobey those, worrying for their well-being in this world and the Hereafter, and fearing that they might end up in the Fire. But if someone rejects your opinion, or disagrees with it, does that necessarily mean they will end up in the same Fire? So you need not take that personally.

It is not apparent that Hakeem Noor-ud-din benefited from this advice, but we can certainly benefit from it and learn to know ourselves, especially our limits and limitations.

Source note: The opening verse is Al-Buruj 85:16. The biographical anecdote is retold in English; the original post cites page 106 but does not identify the biography or edition.