The Fifth Word

The Fifth Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

Indeed, God is with those who fear Him and those who do good. (16:128)

If you want to see what a truly human duty and what a natural, appropriate result of man’s creation it is to perform the prescribed prayers and not to commit serious sins, listen to and take heed of the following comparison.

Once, at a time of general mobilization, two soldiers found themselves together in a regiment. One was well-trained and conscientious, the other, a raw recruit and self-centred. The conscientious soldier concentrated on training and the war and did not give a thought to rations and provisions, for he knew that it was the state’s duty to feed and equip him, treat him if he was ill, and even to put the food in his mouth if the need arose. He knew that his essential duty was to train and fight. But he would also attend to some of the rations and equipment as part of his work. He would boil up the saucepans, wash up the mess tins, and bring them. If it was then asked him: “What are you doing?”, he would reply: “I am doing fatigues for the state.” He would not say: “I am working for my living.”

The raw recruit, however, was fond of his stomach and paid no attention to training and the war. “That is the state’s business. What is it to me?”, he would say. He thought constantly of his livelihood, and pursuing it would leave the regiment and go to the market to do shopping. One day his well-trained friend said to him:

“Your duty is to train and fight, brother. You were brought here for that. Trust in the king; he won’t let you go hungry. To feed you is his duty. Anyway, you’re powerless and wanting; you can’t feed yourself everywhere. And this is a time of mobilization and war; he’ll tell you that you’re mutinous and will punish you. Yes, we have two duties. One is the king’s duty: sometimes we do his fatigue duties and he feeds us for it. The other is our duty: training and fighting, and sometimes the king helps us with it.”

Of course you will understand in what danger the layabout soldier would be if he did not pay attention to the striving, well-trained one. O my lazy soul! That turbulent place of war is this stormy worldly life, and the army divided into regiments, human society. The regiment in the compari-