Page 336 - Quranic Wisdom - New.indd

Here is a Silver Lining

minority community’s ability and finally it emerges as a creative
minority. All civilizations were the result of the efforts and
struggle of some creative minority.

This law of nature itself is not enough to make the minority
a creative minority. It requires wise leadership. It is a fact that
the minority is always under pressure from the majority. This
is but natural and there is no exception to this rule. It is a very
critical situation. At this juncture, the leadership of the minority
community is put to the test. If the leadership of the minority
takes the pressure from the majority as a negative experience,
and follows the course of complaint and protest, the minority
community will end in disaster. Such leadership plays a negative
role for its people. It is this kind of leadership that is referred to
in an Arabic poem thus: “If the crow becomes the leader of a
nation, it will certainly lead its people to a disastrous end.”

This law of nature means that the minority is always
in an advantageous position. It can overcome the
majority. Every minority is potentially in a position
to give a gift to the world, that is,
a new civilization.

The opposite of this situation is that when a minority comes
under pressure from the majority and faces some problems,
however, its leadership plays a positive role. The leaders of the
minority community tell their people that the situation they are
facing is not a problem, rather it is a challenge, and that they
should try to meet the challenge with all their might. This kind
of positive leadership gives the right direction to its people: they
adopt the course of struggle rather than the course of lodging
complaints. It is this kind of positive leadership that leads its
people toward playing a healthy role, and thus giving rise to a
new civilization.

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