We believe that a true and comprehensive
understanding of Islam would not be possible without careful recognition of the
Prophetic Tradition and the Prophet's Household. And Allah is the Source of Strength.
Valuing Obedience And Intellect
"There were two dogs. Both were given equal amount of time to be trained. They were trained when to eat, where do excrete and were also taught tricks.
However, one dog became rogue. He started to bark at everyone uselessly, create mess and would destroy the property of his master in his absence. He turned out to be a waste of time and resources (spent on training him).
The other dog, would fetch newspaper for his master, would eat and excrete at designated places and would also guard his house at night when the master would sleep. He also did tricks as and when his master told him to do perform.
The master got rid of the "rogue" dog. The second dog became his "best" friend.
This master also had two parrots. One was an orthodox parrot; green feathers, ate, slept and made noise. The other parrot, was "special". It had the ability to learn. This parrot could count 1 till 9, remember colors and recognize shapes. This parrot would also welcome guests which came to the master's house. The master realized that the first parrot was just like the rest and held no value, there were millions of such parrots available in the market, whereas the second one was unique and a prized asset, in monetary terms as well as value. This parrot was well taken care of and the master took extra measures to ensure that this parrot was kept safe and healthy.
There are millions of dogs amongst us, about whom the Quran has said in [7:176], dogs who loll their tongue, when attacked or when left alone, as they are used to lolling out their tongue. And there are millions of parrots amongst us, who do not understand what they do why they do and are of the ignorant.
When a man (the master in the analogy) like us, gives value to obedience, knowledge and intellect, then how can a God like Allah not?"
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