Broken Mirrors
![]() |
Photo Credit |
Mirrors are truly fascinating. They give us an exact replica of not only ourselves but also each and everything in our surroundings. We trust the replica in the mirror so much that even though we have never seen our own faces in reality, yet we always believe the image as our own, whenever we stand opposite to it. But the funny part is that we never fail to believe that any of the things in the mirror are real. We never believe we can get of any of the objects that the mirror show. Because we know that it is nothing more than an illusion. We know that there is nothing beyond the empty images. For, once the mirror is broken, all lies will shatter
This world is a similar place. It portrays a very beautiful picture of life and everything in it look as good as real. But fortunately or unfortunately, it is not. The real life is the life of hereafter. And everything happening then will be everlasting. But why is it that we find ourselves being tricked by the world into accepting it as a reality when we know that one day, the world will come to an end and all lies will again shatter? Why is it that unlike not putting an effort in obtaining things from the mirror, we tend to run after things of this world to obtain them?
One of the scholars, Sheikh Kamaluddin says that there are two things that keep us away from remembering the reality of our ultimate life in hereafter. The first is secularism which tends to remove religion and God from various spheres of our lives. Sheikh Hashim said a few days back that there is absolutely no way to find out the true objective of life without wahi. It is only God who can tell us why we are in this world and what we are supposed to do and which is only and only to worship Him. Allah says in Quran “I only created jinn and man to worship Me” (Surat adh-Dhariyat, 56) Secularism asks us to build systems and organizations by removing God from its ideology but how can these systems and organizations show us the true reality when these are itself built on unreal objectives?
And the second thing that keeps us away from accepting the reality is the attractiveness of the dunya i.e world. It keeps pulling us and makes us forgetful of the one true reality. Fancy buildings, fancy clothes, fancy degrees and fancy lifestyle seem to us as iron structures for the future unaware of the fact that the iron structure is built in a water bubble which one day will definitely burst.
![]() |
Photo Credit |
The best way to live in this world is what Prophet Mohammad S.A.W said “Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a traveler/wayfarer” A traveler journeys through various stations but never make the mistake of investing in permanent structures around him/her for he/she knows that such an investment would be nothing but a wastage of time, effort and money. The traveler carries with him nothing more than basic needs and focuses all his/her energy to the final destination for he/she knows that the true happiness lies in attainment of the true desired destination, no matter how difficult the journey becomes.

I liked the saying of the Prophet(SAW). We need to exist in this world as if we were a traveler so that we don't become lost in THIS world and forget the hereafter…something to think abt!!
I would also like to say that some people misinterpret this and believe its true meaning to be that we shouldn't strive for anything in this world- degrees, grades, jobs- ambition, in general. The truth is that we are permitted to strive for worldly things as long as they do not make us forget the Hereafter.
yeaaah I agree with u MK. We are supposed to strike a balance definitely.
@MK: Yeah,the very word 'Deen' means 'way of life',which life? obviously the worldly … but the mistake the many religious and secular people do is that they both go on extreme … one removes God from every sphere of life while the other tries to separate Deen and Dunya,and call that to strike a balance as if both are different,u will only find them different when you have secular germs still in your thought process somewhere either latent or obvious … am unable to find any balance in both because wat need to understand is the difference b/w the objective and the means to get this objective … objective is to please Allah and means is deen itself which includes Ibadat(thru every Salaah,fasting,Pilgrimage,Zakaat,Jihad in pure sense but don't limit it to these five only,it extends to implementation & sustainance of islamic Political System i.e. Caliphate, Judicial System,Economic System,Social System,Educational System and so on till you in every sphere of life,there be supremacy of God and world be panacea to the humans!) or in short means are watever we do for it by abiding Deen in dunya …
…..