Two Ways of Living Life

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost (1920)

The above lines (taken from Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”) beautifully describes two distinct ways of living a life.

First let us look at the “More traveled road”. This is a style of life which is mediocre, in which a person lives like the normal “crowd”. He does not have a vision of what he would like to see in future. Making difference in the society, bringing a change in this world etc. is not even in his remote thoughts. All he is concerned about is his survival, his family, his means of earnings and other trivial things. The maximum achievement in such lifestyle is a well-settled job (with adequate means of sustenance), a happy family and well-educated kids. This type of crowd does not have the vigor to put effort towards a cause rather (in many cases) they do not have a goal. When they look at the “wrong” things around him, he is taken over by hopelessness and all he can think is: “It is beyond my scope to make any change”. He always looks for safety. Venturing, entrepreneurship are not found in his dictionary. When such person reaches old age and when he looks back at his passed-life, he will not have anything significant to enumerate which has affected other’s life. After his death, people will not have anything significant about him to remember. His name is “lost” and surely he is not missed by the society.

The analogy of such people is like a spectator in a soccer game. They watch events and maximum thing that they can do is cheer (or boo) which is not even noticed by the guy sitting next to him.


The other way of living life is what Frost described as the “Less traveled” road. This is the road in which a person tries to be distinct. He tries to be outstanding from the normal crowd (success of which depends on what God has destined for him). He has a vision, a goal to make a difference in the society. His efforts are completely directed towards realizing his vision and achievement of his goals. He doesn’t view his job and “means of survival” as the end but as a means-to-end. This does not mean that he deserts his family/job etc. but contrary to that many times such people fare far better than the normal crowd in these areas. It is just that their center of struggle is not restricted to his survival and his family, rather he has bigger goals. The key to the success of such people is time management and one can hardly find them idle. They never suffer from hopelessness and they always strive to change things which they don’t like. The attitude of this person is to set a goal and strive for it. He does not care about success; primary importance for him is to work towards his goal. Such people do not search for safe-havens rather they are entrepreneurial and venturesome. Indeed, when such a person reaches old age, he can look back at his past-life with dignity. He feels satisfied that he has struggled for “something” during his age and has positively impacted the society. Names of such persons are engraved on hearts of people after their death, and they are missed by the society.

The analogy of such people is like that of a player in a soccer game. These are the people who impact the whole arena and are not silently impacted like the spectators. Indeed, if such people were to be absent in this world, then nothing would be left except selfishness and the world would become a wretched place to live.

Misconceptions about Islamic-Organizations

Islamic-organization is one word which not only alarms Non-Muslims but also repels many Muslims. In this post, I will try to bring some of the fears that Muslims have about Islamic-Organization and try to evaluate their genuineness.

1) Many Muslims feel there is no need for organization. There favorite punch line is “We as Umma’h are an organization”.
2) Some other Muslims feel: Organizations create a division and hence Fitna’h.
3) Others feel Organizations are necessary but are “scared” that they will come under government’s radar.

Let us examine these conceptions.

Claim (1) looks more like an excuse of not willing do any positive work and a way of discouraging people who are trying to contribute towards the welfare of Muslim community. One should ask him/herself what he/she has accomplished out of his individual effort. Has he/she run any successful project for the community? Even if an individual has run a project in his local community, does he/she have any macro-vision of how they could make a difference on a larger scale? In many cases, that I have seen, such people don’t even feel that a change is needed in the world. Most of them are indifferent to events happening around and at max they have casual opinions.

Attainment of any goal requires a group of individual who share a common vision. It is not enough for a group of individuals to share a common vision but also to put effort in an organized way and hence the need to have an organization. The favorite punch “we as Umm’ah are an organization” is an incorrect statement because neither all people in Umma’h share a common view nor will they put efforts in attainment of his goal.

Claim (2) is again an excuse of laziness because any work that is initiated will be disliked by few in the community. If a person starts to satisfy everyone in the community, he will end up doing nothing. Indeed, some low caliber individual of an organization may create differences in the community, but that does not justify stopping work for the welfare and revival of Islamic work. It is a way of stereotyping based on acts of few (bitter) individuals who are way far from the spirit of Islam.

Claim (3) is due to Nifaq in the heart (May Allah save us all from this!). One should read surah al-Tauba (Chapter-9) to see how Allah has addressed the Munafiqs who held back from helping Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Islam. Indeed the claim of a person is incomplete (rather false) if he doesn’t consider Allah and his Prophet dearer than anything in this world. Islamic-Organizations in US and many parts of the world are well-registered and work in a COMPLETE lawful way. If someone is scared even after this then it is nothing but a psychological phobia.