Secrets of Success

Waiting For a Chance

It cannot be denied that sometimes incidents do ease man’s difficulties and that everybody experiences such chances in his or her life. History has recorded many of such incidents and chances some of which are as under:

(1) Imadud Daulah occupied Isfahan and Faris and threw out the governor of Isfahan. Not before long his army’s provisions were exhausted. He was afraid that his men would loot the property of people and infuriate them. Thinking this he looked at the ceiling and saw a snake poking its head out of a hole and then withdrawing it. The snake repeated this action several times. He ordered the demolition of the roof to find out where the hole of the snake leads. When they reached the other end of that snake-hole they found some utensils full of golden coins stored for emergency by a former ruler of the territory. Imadud Daulah ordered they all be taken out. Thus he was saved from a big financial crisis.

(2) After defeating Amr Laith, Shah Ismail Samani met with financial crisis. Soldiers were likely to plunder public wealth. So he ordered the soldiers to vacate the city. While marching out the soldiers saw a crow flying over their heads with a necklace in its beak. They followed the bird, which dropped that necklace in a well. At the command of the king some soldiers went down the well to find therein a box full of precious stones. Slaves of Amr Laith had hidden it at the time of his arrest but could not take it out thereafter.

(3) Shaikh Muslihuddin Sadi Shirazi has narrated a story about a shooting contest: A prince had placed a narrow ring at a high place so that sharp shooters may try to pass their arrow though it and earn a big reward. All the expert archers failed. In the meanwhile a man who did not know even the basics of archery tried and hit the target and got the prize.

But can such stories guide people and can a man ever rely on such chances?
The proportion of success through chance is much less that that achieved by efforts and incidence of success by chance is very less. It also happens that chance gives a fruit bitter than poison. Wise men never sit idle waiting for a chance. They never ignore apparent causes and fall in a superstitious chance. Such chances are less than one in thousands.

Suppose 10,00,000 people live in a city. An airplane is about to drop two gold coins in the city. Can one leave his business keeping his eye on that plane?

If we do so and if our pocket is empty our stomach too would remain empty!!
Those nations, which do not rely on their own efforts and await favorable global conditions for drawing mercy from them, are sure to be destroyed.
A student who does not study and awaits an unusual happening bestowing him good marks by chance is never likely to succeed.

One of the religious leaders of Islam has said something which is very important in the eyes of the wise people: “A nation that has natural resources on land and in water but does not utilize these great divine blessings and becomes poor, the Almighty Allah would drive it away from His Mercy.”
No nation of the world has ever won nor any individual ever succeeded without utilizing the apparent natural causes. They must have taken the trouble to walk towards the goal with a strong faith in Allah’s Omnipotence, without waiting for favorable chances.

In the words of a poet:
A great man must have a greater resolution to solve his difficulties.
Freedom depends on the sword. So great people always rely on it.
It is a law of nature that those who get habituated to rest, ease and luxury,
Are sure to be weakened.
May be some people or nations get some success owing to chance. But success resulting through chance is as baseless as winning a gamble.
In the words of a wise man: “A short cut is most difficult and dangerous. Though long routes do take more time to pass through but man reaches his destination safely and easily.”
Sometimes man also reaches his destination via short cuts. But if a nation remains idle waiting for a short cut it is doomed.
Advanced societies never wait for chances, but idle and lazy people who do not even want to think always say: “Just see this chance! Man must be so lucky...”
However, a thing, which has never contributed to the success of the nations, is something called ‘coincidence’ or ‘chance’. If the advanced people have ever got a chance it was the chance to work and to strive.

Those who do not want to perspire and want to scale great heights via the imaginary staircase of ‘chance’ fall down before they could go any further.
It is said that an apple incidentally fell on Newton and he discovered one of the greatest laws of (the law of gravity). However there is misunderstanding here as people have seen such things several times but never discovered any laws from them.
The truth is that Newton possessed the necessary means for finding out the said law. He thought over it and had studied and any other man of thought and research too could have made such a discovery.

If a scientist analyzed light by observing the foam of soap it was not chance. He had done studied and worked on that subject earlier. Otherwise washer men see such bubbles every day but derive nothing from them and never discover any law.