‘Naumedi kufr hai’

It’s said that when adversity knocks our door, either we achieve hallmarks of success or hallmark of failure, there is no third option. In other words, we succumb or sustain.

Man has explored the space, conquered highest mountain peaks yet has failed to keep adversity at bay. One cannot escape without tasting the fruit of adversity. Even Adam could not dare to defy this rule of nature. Adversity comes without any invitation card in our lives. However, the only difference is the time period, somewhere it lasts for a short period, and somewhere it gets stuck like lice in old clothes.

Adversity is an indispensable part of human existence, no matter how much humans excel in technology and science one can’t escape the ineluctable signs of adversity. .Scientists work day and night to benefit humankind in achieving the highest quality of life yet after each discovery there is another milestone that challenges the mental faculties of humans in the form of Ebola, Aids , cancer or Tsunamis and hurricanes etc. This leads to the inescapable conclusion that the adversity is connected with the existence of humans.

What happens when adversity knocks at a personal level…

Adversity arrives with small steps in our lives, stripping us of erstwhile friends and relatives. Nobody wants to be a partner of adversity. Our well-wishers flee like war vehicles chased by the enemy forces in a battleground. Their loyalties but as natural change. These nimble and visionary are the first to respond to the disaster that has just made its humble entry into our life. .Although some of these well-wishers listen to you not because they want to find a solution to your problem but their core mission is to make you wallow in self-pity.

Unfortunately, adversity struck person often fails in every venture he tries his hand. It seems nature too is in a conspiracy to isolate him from any act of worthy enterprise. By now the person suffers a sense of loss of, diminution and worthlessness. He gets completely caught in the whirlpool of hopelessness from where it seems no point of return. The theory of ill fate stamped by the well-wishers with their own interpretations on the role gets embedded in the attitude of the victim to the degree that all his exertions seem futile. These wisdom heads don’t stop here, they remind the victim of the bad karma he has committed against them,  along with proper day and date, henceforth, concluded whatever has happened is because of the implications of the bad deeds /sins of the victim.

This shaming shames the victim further, he believes and owns up everything told by his well-wishers,(since he’s at their mercy now).. Obviously he does not have an option. His confidence level is shattered to a million pieces. His back is crumbled by the burden of sins he has committed and death only seems a solution to escape the clutches of remorse feelings. Out of blue, his well-wishers show him the door of the guardian angel, who only can salvage him now. The poor fellow nods solemnly to the kingdom of the guardian angel, the savior. After a few days, the poor fellow is seen wearing multiple colored rings, believed to change the fate of the victim. Enormously impressed by the miracles of the guardian angel, the victim does not realize when he emptied his soul and pocket.  This relation of angel vs evil comes to an end when the victim runs out of money. Now the poor fellow is all by himself and he realizes his stupidity and finally accepts his fate.

What I mean to say is that adversity never cares about sins or mistakes, when it has to come it comes, similarly like the joy that arrives without any invitation card. Adversity is just a phase. It’s not adversity that defeats us, but its hopelessness that defeats us.

As rightly said,’Na umedi kufr hai’, roughly translated as “Hopelessness is a sin”. Sentimental, perhaps, yet appropriate for the human interest who blame and shame a victim for his unaccountable sins.

(Zia Darakshan)

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