SENSE OF DISILLUSIONMENT

The Second Caliph, Umar ibn Khattab, often expressed his sense of disillusionment with people he had come to like, when on further acquaintance with them he discovered them to be idle. His feelings have been expressed in this saying: “On learning that he does not work, he appears to me of no value [he has debased himself in my eyes]”. Whichever way you look at idleness, there is no gainsaying the fact that it is a great evil. It causes one to fritter away one’s best talents and leaves one unqualified to face life. A student who is too lazy to study cannot ever hope to acquire knowledge or have his critical faculties sharpened in any way. His failure in his examinations will leave him without the qualifications required to obtain a good job. Without the necessary groundwork, he will find himself leading a vacant existence, simply drifting from pillar to post. Even people who have managed to qualify themselves suitably cannot afford to rest on their laurels. When their period of formal education is over, it is equally necessary to be consistently hardworking. 

Sometimes, one inadvertently slips into idle ways because there are no economic pressures in life. Those who inherit legacies or have property or investments which bring them some return are an easy prey to idleness. But this is no existence for a human being. Anyone who allows the poison of idleness to creep into his system might as well be dead. 

One must opt for a regular job which brings one a suitable income and keeps one mentally healthy, so that he never becomes a financial or emotional burden on anyone else. Or, if one is financially independent, one should turn one’s attention to higher things, pursue noble ends, serve worthy causes and keep oneself fruitfully occupied every day. A person with no sense of commitment is only living on the fringes of existence. He is out of touch with reality and will soon lapse into utter degeneracy. No really superior being has ever been found among the ranks of the idle. As the old saying goes, the devil finds work for idle hands.