Dear brothers and sisters, I have really found a treasure. That is what I said to myself and to one of my friends after reading this article. Actually it is some very wise and amazing ideas written by a very unique intellectual. That is Sayyed Qutb. I do hope that our kind moderators do not have any problems with Qutb and even if they have, I beg them to let those very wise ideas go.
I have the article in Arabic and I do hope my humble translation can convey the wounderful meanings in the original text.
Joys of Spirit
Introduction
The origin of this booklet is a message sent by Sayyed Qutb to his sister, Amina Qutb. It was published in Tunisian magazine, in its sixth volume, forth year, March, 1959, and was titled as "Distant Lights".
In the name of Allah
Dear sister, (1)
I present these ideas to you.
Once you contemplate the concept of death, you then see it everywhere and behind everything. You think of it as a prevailing force that casts its shadow over all of life. You see how it makes life trivial, inconsiderable and trembling in fear.
However, at the moment, I see it as a small and powerless force compared to the super abundant, overwhelming force of life. It can hardly snatch the crumbs falling off the table of life to feed on. The huge proliferation of life is swarming all around me. Everything is heading to growth, flowage and prosperity. Mothers conceive and give birth, in humans as well as in animals. Birds, fish and insects, they all lay eggs that hatch into life. Soil bursts out with plants that bloom with flowers and fruits. Sky pours out with rain and seas swarm with waves. Everything on earth is growing and increasing.
Once in a while, death rushes in to snap a bite and leaves. On the other hand, it may wait in silence till it can pick up the crumbs falling off the table of life to feed on, while life is going on in its way, vivid and flowing out. It hardly feels the existence of death or even sees it. It may scream out of pain when death rushes to snap a bite of its body. However, its wound heals in no time and the scream of pain soon becomes mirth. In addition, people and animals, birds and fish, worms and insects, grass and trees spring to overwhelm the face of earth with vivid coloures of life, while death is waiting there to snap a bite and leave or just pick up the crumbs falling off the table of life to feed on.
The sun rises and the sun sets; the earth goes around it, and life originates from here and there. Everything is heading to growth; growth in number and in kind, qualitatively and quantitatively. If death could alter this, then it would have long ago stopped the growth of life. Thus, it is but a small and powerless force compared to the super abundant, overwhelming force of life. It is the power of The Everlasting God from which life originates and continues.
(2)
When we live only for ourselves, life appears to us as short and insignificant. In this case, our life starts when we start to perceive the outside world surrounding us and it ends with the end of our limited lifespan.. However, when we live for others, that is when we live for an idea, life then appears to be long, deep and meaningful. In this case, our life starts with the beginning of humanity on Earth and continues after we pass away.
In such case, we gain a hundredfold of our own lifespan, and we gain it as reality and not illusion. Regarding life in such a way redoubles our feeling of our days, hours and moments, as life can not be measured by the number of years we live, but the amount of feelings we experience. Moreover, what the (realists) call (illusion) in this case is actually "fact"; a fact that is more valid than any of their (facts). That is because life is nothing else but our feeling (experience) of life. If you divest any human of his appreciation of life, it means divesting him of life itself in its real meaning. Moreover, when a human feels multiplied feeling of his life, it means he actually lives a redoubled life. I do see this matter is too intuitive to be argued about.
We live a multiplied life for our own selves when we live for others. Moreover, the more we multiply our care for others, the more we multiply our appreciation of our own life and the more we multiply this life itself at the end.
(3)
The seed of evil stirs up, but the seed of good bears fruit. The first rises fast towards the sky, but its roots are near to the surface; they are not deeply rooted in earth. It blocks light and air from reaching the tree of good, which in its turn grows slowly and steadfastly as its deep roots compensate for the lack of light and warmness.
However, when we go past the counterfeit, glittering appearance of the tree of evil and examine whether it is truly strong, it appears to us as weak, fragile, puffed up, not having real solidity. While on the other hand, the tree of good endures in the face of affliction, keeps firm against storms and continues growing calmly and slowly, not caring about thorns and dust thrown on it by the tree of evil!
(4)
When we touch the good side in people, we discover that there is much goodness that our eyes may not be able to see at first glance!!
I have tried this myself with many, even with those who appear at first as wicked or having little compassion.
If you show some sympathy to their faults and foolishness; show some true cordiality to them, show some genuine care- not artificial- to their interests and their concerns, then the spring of goodness in their souls will be revealed to you. That is when they give you their love, cordiality and trust in return for the little things you provide them from your own self whenever you give them in loyalty, sincerity and purity.
Evil is not deeply rooted in the human soul to the extent we may sometimes imagine. It is only in that hard outer shell by which humans face the struggle of life to survive. Whenever they feel safe, this hard shell reveals sweet and pleasant fruit. It only uncovers to those who can make people feel they have peaceful intentions, and can give them true cordiality and real sympathy in their struggle, pains, errors and foolishness as well.
Showing some generosity at the very beginning can achieve all this sooner than many would expect. I have tried all of this, tried it myself. I do not raise it as just some winged words resulting from dreams and illusion.
(5)
When seeds of love, compassion and good grow in our souls, we then release ourselves from a lot of burdens and troubles. We then do not need to falsely flatter people because we will be truthful and sincere when praising them. We will be able to unveil treasures of goodness hidden inside their souls; we will find good qualities which we can truthfully praise. No human is completely bereft of a good side or a good merit that makes him deserve a kind word. However, we are not able to detect or see this good side of a human unless the seed of love grows inside our own selves.
Moreover, in such case we no longer need to bear the burden of getting upset with them or even enduring their faults and foolishness. Instead we will sympathize with their weaknesses and their imperfections and not hunting for them; that is when the seed of love grows inside our own selves. Naturally, we will not bear any grudge against them, or be frightened of them. That is because we only bear grudge against others when the seed of love is not growing enough inside us. Moreover, we fear and guard against them because we lack the confidence of good.
How much tranquility, ease and happiness we grant ourselves, when we grant others our compassion, love and confidence. That is when the seed of love, compassion and good grows in our own selves.
(6)
When we isolate ourselves from people thinking that we are purer, more kindhearted or more intelligent than them, then we have not done something important. We only choose the easiest way and the least effort.
The real accomplishment is to associate with those people while being filled with tolerance, kindness, sympathy in their weaknesses, faults and imperfections and having the true desire to purify, educate and raise them to our level as much as we can.
This does not mean to abandon our high principles or to falsely flatter those people by praising their vices, or showing them that we are higher than them. It is the accommodation to all these contradictions, and having the tolerance required to achieve that accommodation , that is the real grandeur.
This is only the part I have translated till now. I hope I can finish translating the whole article and post it to you inshaaAllah.
Amany
I have the article in Arabic and I do hope my humble translation can convey the wounderful meanings in the original text.
Joys of Spirit
Introduction
The origin of this booklet is a message sent by Sayyed Qutb to his sister, Amina Qutb. It was published in Tunisian magazine, in its sixth volume, forth year, March, 1959, and was titled as "Distant Lights".
In the name of Allah
Dear sister, (1)
I present these ideas to you.
Once you contemplate the concept of death, you then see it everywhere and behind everything. You think of it as a prevailing force that casts its shadow over all of life. You see how it makes life trivial, inconsiderable and trembling in fear.
However, at the moment, I see it as a small and powerless force compared to the super abundant, overwhelming force of life. It can hardly snatch the crumbs falling off the table of life to feed on. The huge proliferation of life is swarming all around me. Everything is heading to growth, flowage and prosperity. Mothers conceive and give birth, in humans as well as in animals. Birds, fish and insects, they all lay eggs that hatch into life. Soil bursts out with plants that bloom with flowers and fruits. Sky pours out with rain and seas swarm with waves. Everything on earth is growing and increasing.
Once in a while, death rushes in to snap a bite and leaves. On the other hand, it may wait in silence till it can pick up the crumbs falling off the table of life to feed on, while life is going on in its way, vivid and flowing out. It hardly feels the existence of death or even sees it. It may scream out of pain when death rushes to snap a bite of its body. However, its wound heals in no time and the scream of pain soon becomes mirth. In addition, people and animals, birds and fish, worms and insects, grass and trees spring to overwhelm the face of earth with vivid coloures of life, while death is waiting there to snap a bite and leave or just pick up the crumbs falling off the table of life to feed on.
The sun rises and the sun sets; the earth goes around it, and life originates from here and there. Everything is heading to growth; growth in number and in kind, qualitatively and quantitatively. If death could alter this, then it would have long ago stopped the growth of life. Thus, it is but a small and powerless force compared to the super abundant, overwhelming force of life. It is the power of The Everlasting God from which life originates and continues.
(2)
When we live only for ourselves, life appears to us as short and insignificant. In this case, our life starts when we start to perceive the outside world surrounding us and it ends with the end of our limited lifespan.. However, when we live for others, that is when we live for an idea, life then appears to be long, deep and meaningful. In this case, our life starts with the beginning of humanity on Earth and continues after we pass away.
In such case, we gain a hundredfold of our own lifespan, and we gain it as reality and not illusion. Regarding life in such a way redoubles our feeling of our days, hours and moments, as life can not be measured by the number of years we live, but the amount of feelings we experience. Moreover, what the (realists) call (illusion) in this case is actually "fact"; a fact that is more valid than any of their (facts). That is because life is nothing else but our feeling (experience) of life. If you divest any human of his appreciation of life, it means divesting him of life itself in its real meaning. Moreover, when a human feels multiplied feeling of his life, it means he actually lives a redoubled life. I do see this matter is too intuitive to be argued about.
We live a multiplied life for our own selves when we live for others. Moreover, the more we multiply our care for others, the more we multiply our appreciation of our own life and the more we multiply this life itself at the end.
(3)
The seed of evil stirs up, but the seed of good bears fruit. The first rises fast towards the sky, but its roots are near to the surface; they are not deeply rooted in earth. It blocks light and air from reaching the tree of good, which in its turn grows slowly and steadfastly as its deep roots compensate for the lack of light and warmness.
However, when we go past the counterfeit, glittering appearance of the tree of evil and examine whether it is truly strong, it appears to us as weak, fragile, puffed up, not having real solidity. While on the other hand, the tree of good endures in the face of affliction, keeps firm against storms and continues growing calmly and slowly, not caring about thorns and dust thrown on it by the tree of evil!
(4)
When we touch the good side in people, we discover that there is much goodness that our eyes may not be able to see at first glance!!
I have tried this myself with many, even with those who appear at first as wicked or having little compassion.
If you show some sympathy to their faults and foolishness; show some true cordiality to them, show some genuine care- not artificial- to their interests and their concerns, then the spring of goodness in their souls will be revealed to you. That is when they give you their love, cordiality and trust in return for the little things you provide them from your own self whenever you give them in loyalty, sincerity and purity.
Evil is not deeply rooted in the human soul to the extent we may sometimes imagine. It is only in that hard outer shell by which humans face the struggle of life to survive. Whenever they feel safe, this hard shell reveals sweet and pleasant fruit. It only uncovers to those who can make people feel they have peaceful intentions, and can give them true cordiality and real sympathy in their struggle, pains, errors and foolishness as well.
Showing some generosity at the very beginning can achieve all this sooner than many would expect. I have tried all of this, tried it myself. I do not raise it as just some winged words resulting from dreams and illusion.
(5)
When seeds of love, compassion and good grow in our souls, we then release ourselves from a lot of burdens and troubles. We then do not need to falsely flatter people because we will be truthful and sincere when praising them. We will be able to unveil treasures of goodness hidden inside their souls; we will find good qualities which we can truthfully praise. No human is completely bereft of a good side or a good merit that makes him deserve a kind word. However, we are not able to detect or see this good side of a human unless the seed of love grows inside our own selves.
Moreover, in such case we no longer need to bear the burden of getting upset with them or even enduring their faults and foolishness. Instead we will sympathize with their weaknesses and their imperfections and not hunting for them; that is when the seed of love grows inside our own selves. Naturally, we will not bear any grudge against them, or be frightened of them. That is because we only bear grudge against others when the seed of love is not growing enough inside us. Moreover, we fear and guard against them because we lack the confidence of good.
How much tranquility, ease and happiness we grant ourselves, when we grant others our compassion, love and confidence. That is when the seed of love, compassion and good grows in our own selves.
(6)
When we isolate ourselves from people thinking that we are purer, more kindhearted or more intelligent than them, then we have not done something important. We only choose the easiest way and the least effort.
The real accomplishment is to associate with those people while being filled with tolerance, kindness, sympathy in their weaknesses, faults and imperfections and having the true desire to purify, educate and raise them to our level as much as we can.
This does not mean to abandon our high principles or to falsely flatter those people by praising their vices, or showing them that we are higher than them. It is the accommodation to all these contradictions, and having the tolerance required to achieve that accommodation , that is the real grandeur.
This is only the part I have translated till now. I hope I can finish translating the whole article and post it to you inshaaAllah.
Amany
Salam alikom wa Rachman tullah wa burrahktoh, Alhamdulillah for sharing this and taking the time and effort to translate this for us, it really is very powerful in the remembeing of our conduct and often of our urge to not engage with people who seem cold or unkind. Jazak alak ghairun wa barak Allah feekom dear sister 
