DIFFICULT BECOMES EASY

Critical thinking plays an important part in all aspects of life. Erroneous thinking can complicate a simple task, whereas sound thinking can simplify complex endeavours. This principle holds true across national and global affairs.

A long with more than 10,000 of his Companions, the Prophet Muhammad was proceeding from Makkah to Taif. On the way, they came to a mountainous path that did not seem wide enough for them to move on. The Prophet asked the people how the path was. Based only on the external appearance of the path, they said that it was a narrow path. It seemed as if this caravan of more than 10,000 people would not be able to move on the path. The Prophet said it is the easy path. (Sirat Ibn Hisham, Vol. 2, p. 482) He explained that the road would definitely be narrow for them because they wanted to pass through the path all together, at the same time. He suggested that they stand one behind another in a vertical line. The people did as he suggested and were then able to move along the path easily. The path that had appeared narrow to them as a group now became wide when they took the form of a line.

This incident illustrates the difference that one’s way of thinking can make. In this world, everything depends on thinking. Wrong thinking makes an easy thing difficult, while right thinking makes a difficult thing easy. This issue of difference in thinking applies to all matters, big or small. It applies to domestic affairs as well as to national and international affairs.