THE POLICY OF DELINKING
Finding sure Solutions
THE British educator E.E. Kellet (1864 - 1950) writing about the Prophet Muhammad in his book, A Short History of Religions, observes, ‘He faced adversity with the determination to wring success out of failure.’
What was the method which led the Prophet to this unusual success? It was adherence to the policy of delinking two issues. An example of this policy is in 610 CE, when the Prophet Muhammad began his mission in Makkah, a town of Arabia, to propagate the ideology of monotheism—belief in the one God and worshipping Him alone. It was the first quarter of the seventh century and in those times the Arabs were mostly polytheists.
Four thousand years prior to this, the Prophet Abraham had built a mosque in Makkah in which to worship the one God. It is this mosque which is called the Kaaba. But, in later periods, people belonging to various Arab tribes began to worship other deities in Kaaba until, finally, every prevailing tribe had their own deity, so that there were a total of 360 deities within the precincts of the Kaaba.
Wisdom demands that before embarking on a mission, a person should review the situation in a dispassionate way, and refrain from launching oneself on a course of action with an eye only on the problems, for this goes against nature.
From the point of view of his mission, this was the greatest issue faced by the Prophet Muhammad. Instead of taking steps which would have resulted in a violent confrontation with the custodians of the Kaaba, the Prophet analyzed the situation dispassionately and came to the conclusion that the prevailing situation there had a positive side to it.
As different tribes of Arabia would come to Makkah all year round to worship their dieties, almost on a daily basis in and around the Kaaba, there would be gatherings of substantial numbers of people. The Prophet Muhammad adopted the policy of delinking two issues: the worship aspect and the gathering of people there. He decided to temporarily ignore the first issue and to avail of the gathering of visitors there as an audience for his mission.
The Prophet adhered to this policy of delinking for a period of thirteen years, until finally a substantial number of Makkans became his companions. It is this wise strategy which has been described by E. E. Kellet in these words: He faced adversity with the determination to wring success out of failure. In other words, the Prophet adopted this principle for his mission: Ignore the problems, avail the opportunities.
The principle adopted by Prophet Muhammad in Makkah was not, in fact, a religious principle. This principle was based rather on the law of nature. According to the general law of nature, this principle applies to everyone, whether one’s mission be religious or secular.
The truth is that, according to the law of nature, in every situation two things exist at the same time—problems and opportunities. It is not possible that problems will exist and opportunities will not. That is why wisdom demands that before embarking on a mission, a person should review the situation in a dispassionate way, and refrain from launching oneself on a course of action with an eye only on the problems, for this is a way which goes against nature.
The principle of delinking helps a person to save oneself from opting for violent methods and utilizing peaceful means to achieve one's goals.
Result-oriented action in this world is that which is based on peace. The method based on violence will always be a failure.
In this world the only practicable method is that which is based on positive planning: that is, ignoring the problem and discovering the opportunities present, and availing of them. This is realistic planning. And in this world, realistic planning alone is successful so far as the result is concerned.
In present times, those who are involved in violence show that they are unaware of the principle of success based on the policy of delinking. Since these people are going against the law of nature, they can never be successful in this world. They are fated only to carve out a history of destruction. They can never create a history of progress and development. The eternal law of the Creator for this world is that the way of violence never works and that only the way of peace is feasible.
Result-oriented action is that which is based on peace. The method based on violence will always fail, just as a farmer would be unsuccessful if he dropped a bomb on his field expecting lush green vegetation to flourish there.