Start with the Self

:statisfie Salam


A man was on his death bed, Someone asked him to give some wise counsel before he departed:

"When I was young I wanted to change the world and solve its problems, As I got older I realized that perhaps I should lower my sights, I thought I would be better served in changing my country as time went on I realized that people of country could not be changed. I decided to change the people of my town , but they also did not wish to change, When I reached my old age I thought I would try changing my Family, here also I found my endeavors go to waste, try as I might my family members would not change.

"Now that I am on my death bed, I have realized that if I had sought to improve myself, and removed my own defects, then perhaps my family members would have been influenced. Then seeing the behavior of my family people of my town would have been influenced. By seeing the spiritual change and improvement of the people of my town, the people of my country would have been influenced. And perhaps through the people of my country the world may have been influenced."

* Source Unknown.:statisfie


May Allah give us all the Tawfiq to improve our own behavior and conduct and a sinner like me in particular, Ameen

Something I had to learn the hard way. My only regret is that it took 35 years of my life to get to this point...

King of Nines said:

Something I had to learn the hard way. My only regret is that it took 35 years of my life to get to this point...

Click to expand...

Salam,,,when i was a kid I had a mentality like him too Make a difference & so on
That's why they said, DEAD people should be our IDOL coz we could see the beginning and end of their lives

Greetings and peace be with you Riana17;

Thanks for the story, and I think it highlights the dilemma we face from reading our scriptures. On the one hand we are told to spread the message and try and influence others, on the other hand we are told to change ourselves.

I am slowly coming to the understanding that I have to change myself, before anything I say or do has meaning to anyone else.

In the spirit of searching for God

Eric