The ant as a teacher

One feature of Muslim life is the constant search for hidayah (divine guidance) in all aspects of human life. Muslim life is tempered on a daily basis by his pursuit of `inayatullah (divine succour or patronage). This is because those who know this world for what it is are aware of the fact that nothing in this world is stable, nothing in our cosmos is permanent. Those who know this world for what it is are constantly humbled by the feeble nature of our existence in comparison to the inimitable chemistry of our Creator and the unknowable tapestry of His majesty.

The Prophet (pbuh) once asked the companions, and rhetorically too: “Where are the real believers in the Almighty in this city”? The companions all chorused: “Here we are O! Prophet! We believe in Him”. Then he, the Prophet, asked them once again: “What is the evidence of your faith in him?” Then Muadh bn Jabal, that companion of exemplary character, responded by saying: “The evidence of my faith in Him is that each time I take a step forward, I am aware that I may not be alive to take the next one”! I once told someone in distress: “Brother, we are all like pawns in the chessboard of the Almighty; we constantly live with the illusion that we are the ones in control of our affairs; we often forget the real control is with Him.”

Thus, the Muslim life cannot but be tempered by the desire to make use of the Qur’an as his compass in life and his secret weapon. A Muslim who knows what this world really is would want to know how our forebears, those who had been privileged to come this path, have succeeded in leaving behind such milestones and achievements as would forever remain indelible in the sands of time.

He would approach the Quran to read the unread: the unread in the life and times of Prophets Adam, Nuh, Lut, Isa, Musa and Muhammad (Upon them be peace and blessings of the Almighty).

Thus, whenever we desire to know the meaning of our world, the Quran beckons us to ponder our lives and the lives of creatures which are lesser in status than us. Please ponder the above verse of the Quran and the story below.

One Sunday morning, a wealthy man sat in his balcony enjoying sunshine and his coffee when a little ant caught his eye. The ant was going from one side of the balcony carrying a big leaf several times more its size. The man watched it for more than an hour. He saw that the ant faced many impediments during its journey, paused, took a diversion and then continued towards its destination.

At one point, the tiny creature came across a crack in the floor. It paused for a little while, ‘analyzed’ the situation and then laid the huge leaf over the crack, walked over the leaf, picked the leaf on the other side then continued its journey!

The man was captivated by the cleverness of the ant; one of the tiniest creatures in nature. The incident left the man in awe and forced him to contemplate the miracle of creation. Here the ant becomes a ‘teacher’. In front of his eyes, the man beholds a tiny creature of Allah, lacking in size yet equipped with a brain to analyze, contemplate, explore, discover and overcome life obstacles.

But in addition to these wonderful endowments and capabilities, the man also noticed that this tiny creature also shared some human shortcomings: it is burdened by the worthlessness of existence and the pursuit of the worthless.

In other words, about an hour after its ‘long journey’, the creature eventually arrived at its destination tiny hole in the floor which was the entrance to its underground dwelling. And it was at this point that the ant’s shortcomings that it shared with the man became evident. How could the ant carry into the hole the large leaf that it had managed to carefully bring to its destination? It simply could not. Thus, the tiny creature, after all the hard work, after the stress, the pain and strain could not take the leaf inside its real dwelling. Eventually, it had to leave it behind and went home empty-handed!

Brethren, ponder this story and ask yourself about ‘the ant’ in you and me. Is it not true we equally have ‘big leaves” we are carrying all around the city? Is it not true that we are burdened by the demands of our family and our job? Is it not true that we are weighed down about the search for more money, bigger accommodation, newer cars and the clothes to wear?

Is it not true that when eventually we reach our destination, our ‘holes’ (graves), all these shall be left behind the same way the ant left the big leaf behind? Is it not true that all material acquisitions of this world are actually of no value; that what should count in our lives is the uncountable?