Playing or Praying?
By Khalid A.
London , UK

Our nation believes in praying for everything but not duly playing one’s part to achieve the goal. Prayers for cricket and hockey are not uncommon. But the Almighty is at a loss when two Muslim teams play and pray against each other! The question then is: will the match be won by playing or praying? Soon, a time will come when Generals will pray for victory in battles and an elected cabinet will pray for higher exports and bumper crops. The Health Minister will pray for eradication of all diseases and students will pray for higher academic achievements.

Sometime back, our leaders advised us to pray for rains. I am reminded of an old folk tale about two brothers: one was a farmer and the other a potter. The first one asked his mother to pray for rain and the other asked her to pray for a dry sunny weather. She advised the first one to work harder at the water well and the other to cover all the mud pots with a suitable covering.

Allama Iqbal said:

“Khabar naheen kya hai naam iska, khuda-fraybee kay khud-fraybee?

Amal say faarigh huwa Musalmaan, banaa kay taqdeer ka bahaana ”.