Trust and believe

Certain things hit you like an avalanche, making a deep impression on your mind and psyche. A very well known Urdu scholar and poet Janab Zulqurnain Khairoowala has written a beautiful piece that can be loosely translated as under:

There was an acrobat who was walking on a tight rope tied between two high rise buildings. He was nicely balancing himself with a large beam in his hands and his young son on his shoulders. Hundreds of spectators standing down below were witnessing this act with bated breath. His progress was slow but sure. At last when he made to the other building all in tact, spectators cheered him loudly giving him the finest ovation.

He asked the cheering crowd what they thought whether they believed that he would make it back to the first building from where he started? Everyone shouted ” yes”. They said that they were even prepared to put their money at stake such strong was their belief. He said that he’d do so but with one small difference. Instead of his son standing on his shoulders, he would take someone from the audience! There was a pin drop silence. They all believed (yakeen) the trickster to complete his act but would not trust (bharosa) him with their lives!

He has then beautifully summed up his story by clearly bringing out the finer nuance between trust and believe. He says that when we trust someone then we are not afraid to take a plunge. We all believe in almighty, but we don’t trust because should we trust him, we would never doubt his omnipresence in our lives.

Hats off to Zulq Sahab for such a deep message in such simple words.