Page 26 - Deep Thinking

24 DEEP THINKING

truly useful.
Useless Worries
When one fails to control thoughts and direct them towards achiev-
ing a good end, one may often feel apprehension or treat events that have

not happened as if they have occurred and become led astray by unnec-
essary grief, distress, worry and fear.
The parent of a student sitting for an exam, may fear the worst con-
sequence and as a result worry uselessly, for example, “If my child fails
this exam then he will have wasted the money that I spent on his educa-
tion, he will not be able to get married and then what will people say?
What if my neighbor’s child passes but my child fails…?”
These misapprehensions are never ending but it is important not to
lose sight of the fact that the student has not yet taken the exam. Someone
who is distant from religion and its teachings cannot resist such useless
worries. There is surely a reason for it. The Qur'an relates that the reason
why people cannot be relieved of useless anxieties is their lending ear to
the whisperings of satan:

(Satan:) "Most certainly I will lead them astray and excite in
them vain desires…" (Surat an-Nisa: 119)
As seen in the above verse, he who is occupied with futile anxieties,
who forgets Allah and does not think clearly, is always open to the whis-
perings of satan. In other words, if man, deceived by the life of the world,
does not exercise his will-power and act conscientiously and if he lets him-
self drift in the course of events, he comes completely under the control
of satan. One of the most crucial patterns of behavior of satan is that he
causes people to become anxious. Therefore, all misapprehensions, pes-
simism and anxieties such as "what will I do if such-and-such happens?"
contrived in the mind are caused by the whisperings of satan.
Allah shows people the way to save themselves from this situation. In
the Qur'an, Allah advises people that when an evil impulse from satan pro-
vokes them, they should seek refuge in Allah and remember Him:

As for those who have taqwa, when they are bothered by visi-