Ways
of
Blame

You know as humans travel on their ways through their lives,

they all like to think they are going to end up as

the kind of person they want to be.

And as they grow, they may change their minds

as to exactly what it is that they want to end up as,

and the route they want to take to get there.

But usually great things are achieved in small steps,

each one a marker of progress made.

And usually there's a feeling of satisfaction

when a step has been achieved,

a certain pride in the achievement.

Reaching a new level feels good,

and the result of achieving a successful outcome

after effort applied, or a skill practiced,

or a problem wrestled with and finally solved,

is joyful satisfaction

and a feeling of pride that swells in the heart.

At least for a while

until they start thinking about the next step,

and how much better they can be.

That's the reward.

That's the reason that they do so many things.

They join together as teams to get it,

and thousands of people gather to share in the pride of success

for no more contribution than turning up and shouting support,

and paying for the pleasure, of course.

We take pride in our group,

our team, our tribe, our nation or heritage,

and the achievements we associate with them.

And as we know, the focus that comes

from always trying to do better than before

eliminates boredom from our daily tasks

And it is even part of our Deen to compete to be the best,

as long as we are competing at being the best at doing good.

But as well as the joy of achievement

we are also going to have to experience the disappointment and painful feelings of failure,

and it's in the nature of things that we are going to fail more often than we succeed.

And if we don't find a way to deal with those feelings of failure

we can easily give up,

get depressed about what we haven't managed to do,

and even hate ourselves for being failures.

And here is where the Deen shows its usefulness,

as we can use it to help us control our minds and emotions.

Because by living in the Deen we learn restraint in our emotions,

and learn not to drown in dissatisfaction with ourselves

and the limitations as to what we can do.

In the end we always have to accept that we can only do as much as we can.

And restraint also helps us

not to get drunk on the exhilaration of success

when we achieve a major milestone.

For success can also harm us.

Success can turn into vanity or conceit,

having a high or exaggerated opinion of ourselves

or our accomplishments,

being proud of things that aren't true about us,

lying to ourselves and others

about imaginary talents and achievements.

Success can make you a blowhard,

a boastful person,

which doesn't endear you to other people

any more than people of that kind endear themselves to you.

People may like to have bright and intelligent friends,

but as they often say in this part of the world

'Nobody likes a smartass'.

In the Deen we don't boast,

nor do we put ourselves down.

The best way of life is the Middle Way.

We live our lives grateful to Allah

for our natural talents, and our ability to develop and use them,

and that gratitude keeps our pride in check.

But Scottish muslims can be proud of being muslim

and sharing in the heritage of Islam,

as well as being proud to share in their Scottish heritage,

with all its triumphs of imagination and invention.

Living in the Deen doesn't stop you from being part of anything that is good.

In what is good for you

the muslim way of life is there to help you.

The Azan from the minaret may call muslims to prayer,

but at the same time it also calls them to success,

and by following the Deen with the help of God

we can achieve it.