“When you wake up in the morning, jump out of the bed and shout, ‘Great! Another Day!’ you are a success.” This was a view expressed by a prominent businessman, but it could very well be a scholar, a sage, an ascetic, depending upon how you interpret success. Anyone, in fact, who regards a new day with such optimism is surely well-equipped, mentally and emotionally, to tackle whatever life has in store for him. But, whether we regard the appearance of the new day as one more joyful occasion for work or not, can we honestly say that we have ever stopped to ponder over the miraculous aspect of the day following night, for all eternity, as a result of the earth rotating on its axis and of the sun’s never ceasing to flood with life-giving light our ever-changing hemisphere?
Have we ever thought of this alternation of day and night as a totally unique occurrence, and of this all being part of the divine pattern which produces such advantageous conditions for human existence? Nowhere in the universe, in fact, are there prime conditions such as we have on earth for the emergence and development of life as we know it.
The denizen of such a sphere would have no rising sun to stir his enthusiasm and no peaceful sunset to signal the moment for rest.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is an Islamic spiritual scholar who has authored over 200 books on Islam, spirituality, and peaceful coexistence in a multi-ethnic society.
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