“When you wake up in the morning, jump out of
bed and shout, ‘Great! Another Day!’ you are
success.” This was a view expressed by a prominent
businessman, but it could very well be the scholar,
the sage, the ascetic, depending upon how you
interpret success. Anyone, in fact, who regards the
new day with such optimism is surely wellequipped,
mentally and emotionally, to tackle
whatever life has in store for him. But, whether we
regard the appearance of the new day as one more
joyful occasion for work or not, can we honestly say
that we have ever stopped to ponder over the
miraculous aspect of day following night, for all
eternity, as a result of the earth rotating on its axis
and of the sun’s never ceasing to flood with lifegiving
light our ever-changing hemisphere? Have
we ever thought of this alternation of day and night
as a totally unique occurrence, and of this all being
part of the divine pattern which produces such
advantageous conditions for human existence?
Nowhere in the universe, in fact, are there prime
conditions such as we have on earth for the
emergence and development of life as we know it.
Other heavenly bodies are either too hot, too cold,
too gaseous, too windswept or too fiery, or can be
like Jupiter and the moon, proceeding in their
respective orbits without rotating on their axes, so
that one half of the globe is permanently
illuminated while the other is for ever plunged in
darkness. The denizen of such a sphere would have
no rising sun to stir his enthusiasm and no peaceful
sunset to signal the moment for rest. He would
have no periods of vigour and achievement
alternating with soothing periods of repose. For the
human being, accustomed to his diurnal-nocturnal
alternation, such an existence would be one of utter
staleness and weariness, with no refreshment ever
in sight. Yet this pattern, to which all living things
on earth have been attuned from time immemorial,
is something which we take for granted, and for
which we do not consider it necessary to offer up
our thanks. But this unique ordering of day and
night is God’s own doing, for the especial benefit of
man, and we would do well never to lose sight of
what an extraordinary blessing it is. (116:15)
--Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
( Ref - The Moral Vision)
