Assalamualaikum Wa Rahmatullah,
(May Peace and Mercy of ALLAH be upon you)
As published in New Sunday Times, today, 24 July 2016
Part of my job responsibilities
before retiring from a multinational company a few years ago was to look after
human resources.
Based from my interactions with personnel,
I arrived at the conclusion, as the saying goes, that “people behave the way we
expect them to behave”.
Now, I spend my time reading,
writing, travelling and of course not missing to performing prayers at the
surau nearby.
Based on my observations on human
behaviour, I have come up with the hypothesis that people can be categorised
into three groups, irrespective of their age, gender, locality, educational and
economic background.
GROUP 1: People in this group follow the example of Prophet
Muhammad.
When people approached him in a
rude manner, he smiled and reacted politely.
On many occasions, these people
embraced Islam after seeing the good character as exhibited by the
Prophet.
People in this group are normally
mature. They are not self-centered, and politeness and compassion come
naturally to them.
Group 2: People in this group choose to keep quiet. This is because
they take the stand that “if you have nothing good to say, then it is better to
say nothing”.
More often than not, they say
that people can gauge our intelligence whenever we open our mouths.
We can say that this group of
people possess a balance between intelligence and emotion.
Group 3: These are the people who lash out at others if what was communicated
to them was not to their liking. Being abrasive in nature, they just don’t care
whether their words hurt other. Insinuation becomes second nature to them.
Having said that, perhaps people in
this group are intelligent, but they lack emotional stability.
To conclude, I believe that life
is simple, so we should behave properly and not complicate matters.
If we treat others nicely and
with respect, then by the Law of Averages, people will treat us in the same
manner.
Ahad, 19 Syawal 1437H
