This world is full of contrasting people: The rich on the one hand and the poor on the another; the smart and the dull; the intelligent and stupid, energetic and lethargic, enterprising and slothful, and so on and so forth. People's nature appears so divergent that not only do people not seem to have anything to do with one another but they appear to be at loggerheads with each other and feel that the other is responsible for preventing their progress. The rich may feel that the poor want to take away all of their wealth in the name of socialism or charity and they develop animosity toward them. The enterprising man feels that all of his labor is going to waste due to those who are slothful because they seem to negate all of his efforts and the progress achieved thereby. The educated feel similarly about uneducated and so on. If we examine this issue closely, Allah must have wisely considered the various aspects of maintaining a balance in this world and thus created it so. In reality the rich and poor are interdependent and so are others who seem so divergently opposite to each other. The rich have money which they can invest in industries and businesses to ensure a return on their capital thereby creating jobs for the poor. They also need the poor to buy their goods and services in order to run their businesses profitably. It is only due to the rich-poor divide that the poor continue to struggle in order to become like the rich. The rich usually do not maintain much contact with the poor except occasionally, but they can be called rich only in comparison to the poor. So if they want to have the status of being "rich", then they have to associate and mingle with the poor to some extent at least. The poor feel downtrodden in the presence of the rich but they need them to finance the businesses in which the poor get jobs, an opportunity to learn, and a chance to rise up in life. This is also true of all other fields in which much disparity appears, but in which each group is necessary for another to exist. The educated need the uneducated to value them, thereby paying them a handsome salary which ensures a steady income. They need the less educated to read their books, newspapers, follow their advice, etc. If the highly educated remain in ivory towers to safeguard their education and culture, then the less educated lose touch with them and their education, however worthy it may be, loses its value . Those who are enterprising take risks and thereby progress by leaps and bounds. But if they fail, then they suffer tremendous losses from which they may not recover. In order to compensate for these, Allah has created the middle class, who do not want to take risks, but want a steady income to support their families and have a peaceful life. The same goes for criminals, gamblers, womanizers, drug addicts, etc. This tribe requires the police and legal machinery to be alert and involve themselves in protecting society from their vices, otherwise the machinery of government itself may begin to devour people and their money or become lazy and careless. Every time a criminal exploits a loophole in the law, it makes society more efficient in blocking that loophole in order to make the process more foolproof. The religious people are in the service of Allah, but they would not be valued if it were not for those who commit crimes. These are their most valued customers for these are the ones who need the guidance of religion and Allah so dearly. Many times it appears that talented good people are trapped and exploited by unscrupulous businessmen, but the reality is that the best customers for the talents of people who excel are these ruthless businessmen who will extract every drop of useful talent from them, often for a petty price. But then the success of talented people lies in passing on their talents to the world and not so much in earning money which is dearer to businessmen who will go to any lengths in order to obtain it. Therefore, although we have people with divergent natures, interests and social status, each group needs the other in order to survive. Although one should be aware of one's strengths, weaknesses or follies, one should not hate or totally cut oneself off from those of an opposite nature because it is only due to the existence of the opposite that we can value ourselves and our own nature purifies itself by interacting with those of an opposite nature. We should, therefore, take all human differences into account and try to forge good relationships with all kinds of people that Allah has created in His wisdom in this world. As someone has wisely said: "It takes all kinds of nuts (including us) to run this world". Dr. Shabbir Thingna,
