The skill of breaking the mirror, the insistence on beautifying the face
Mufti Muhammad Tasleemuddin Al-Mahmoodi
The nature of man is outwardly very complex but in reality very clear. He smiles immediately at praise, but gets angry at being corrected. Criticism based on truth feels like an attack on his self, while flattery based on lies gives temporary satisfaction to his heart.
In the current circumstances, flattery has become the easiest and most popular path, and telling the truth the most difficult. The person who points out our weakness seems like an enemy to us, and the one who soothes our ego is called a well-wisher. However, the reality is that criticism refines a person and flattery hollows him out from within.
Today's man wants to look in the mirror, but on the condition that the mirror only shows praise. If it states the truth, then the mirror is blamed. This attitude has spread from the individual to society, where accountability is considered enmity and reform is considered malice.
Nations and societies never progress on the basis of flattery. History is witness to the fact that progress always comes from self-accountability, reforming conditions, and accepting the truth. Societies that run away from criticism learn to live with their mistakes, and this is the beginning of their decline.
Criticism, if done with sincerity, does not wound, but rather tells the cure for wounds. In contrast, flattery gives temporary pleasure, but ultimately causes intellectual and moral destruction.
Today, the greatest need is not that we find more people to praise us, but that we have people available who have the courage to tell us the truth, and that we develop the capacity to hear the truth.
A mirror is never an enemy, it only shows the face.
The enmity is actually not with the mirror, but with one's own reality.