THE CONSEQUENCES OF WRONG DEEDS
The consequences of wrong deeds are invariably evil; no one can disown the bad outcome of his own misdeeds. This is a law of nature, the application of which is explained in the chapter Al-Talaq (Divorce) of the Quran:
How many a town rebelled against the commands of its Lord and His messengers and We called them sternly to account and punished them severely, so they tasted the evil consequences of their conduct and the result of their conduct was ruin. (65:8-9)
There is a well-known formula in the world of physics: every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This formula applies to human life also. If you take a wrong step, you cannot escape its bad results. It is a law of nature from which no man or woman is exempt.
It happens generally that when a wrong-doer has to face the consequences of his wrong-doing, he tries to find a scapegoat. But this kind of scapegoat can be found only in the dictionary and not in real life. When you take a wrong step and after some time the results are undesirable, do not delay in accepting that it is your own fault. You should say quite frankly that you were wrong. If you try to blame others, you will very soon discover that there is no taker for this kind of blame.
If you accept your mistake in such a situation, it will actually benefit you. It will enable you to make a reassessment of the whole matter, and that will in turn enable you to re-plan your strategy.
If you accept your mistake in such a situation, it will actually benefit you. It will enable you to make a reassessment of the whole matter, and that will in turn enable you to re-plan your strategy. And finally it will enable you—when you have missed the first train—to board the next one.
Man has certain limitations. You may work out a plan with good intentions but, due to miscalculation, you fail to achieve your target. This kind of failure can be forgiven; your excuse on this occasion will be quite acceptable. You can say that your assessment had not been realistic, and that that was why you failed to achieve your target.
But this is not the end of the matter. If this happens, you have to say that you were wrong. Accepting the mistake is the best way out of the difficulty, but if you try to find some scapegoat and try to put all the blame on that supposed scapegoat, it will not work.
This kind of explanation is bound to boomerang. If you are facing such a situation, do not try to blame others. Doing so is simply a waste of time, because there is no taker for it. So, as soon as you discover that you have made a mistake, accept it in terms of its consequences; and do so immediately. You have to understand that you may have lost the first chance but that now there is time to avail of a second chance. But success in availing of this second chance depends solely upon your acceptance of your own mistake and not putting the blame on other people.
