In the last article, we talked about some leaders, and how they acted wisely in life’s situations and as a result, people’s lives and communities were impacted. Today, we continue our talk about wisdom in different situations. Wise Solomon says: “And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.”
So any wise person is capable of estimating everything and every situation perfectly, thus their words and actions will have great impact.
Furthermore, they may transform attitudes and persons thought to be failures into successes, as happened with the mother of Thomas Edison, the teacher of Teddy Stoddard and the wise famous Churchill, Britain’s Prime Minister.
Hence, Solomon the Wise says: “A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back.” And again: “There is desirable treasure, And oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man squanders it.”
Therefore a wise person wins through patience and humility, while the foolish and haughty lose, and that is exactly what happened with the Chancellor of Harvard University in 1884, when he lost what he should have gained, thanks to his imprudence.
Lack of wisdom leads to loss:
“The Chancellor will be very busy all day,” said the secretary of the Chancellor of Harvard University in Boston, when a couple in plain clothes asked to see the Chancellor without a prior appointment. “We’ll wait,” the countrywoman replied.
They waited for several hours, the secretary hoping that they would be discouraged and leave, but they didn’t, and insisted on meeting him.
The secretary decided to ask the Chancellor to meet them just for a few minutes, so they might leave. He agreed in exasperation and anger, for someone in his important position had time only for the elite. Besides, he detested all peasants dressed in cheap gingham.
When the couple stepped into the Chancellor’s office, the lady told him that they had a son who’d studied at Harvard for one year, but he passed away in an accident, and they decided to give a donation to have a memorial constructed in his honor at the Harvard campus, because he loved this university.
“Madam,” he replied harshly, “we can’t erect a building for every student who studied at Harvard and died, or else this university would look like a cemetery”.
The lady replied that they would like to donate a building to the university to be named after their son.
Then the Chancellor looked at their ragged clothes in anger and replied cynically, “Do you know how much such a building costs? The cost of the university’s buildings was over seven and a half million dollars!”
The parents fell silent, and the Chancellor seemed pleased, thinking he’d got rid of them.
However, the lady said to her husband: “Mr. Stanford, if that is all it costs to establish a whole university, why don’t we establish a new university that bears our son’s name?!!”
Her husband agreed immediately, and the couple Leland and Jane Stanford left, leaving behind an astonished and regretful Chancellor.
Thus, they established the great Stanford University in California, which bears their name, as a memorial to their beloved son, for whom the Harvard University Chancellor didn’t care.
A wise person is just:
The wise man is a just one, he evaluates all matters patiently, and this is the exact path followed by God’s men and the wise judges and rulers who knew justice and acted patiently and wisely in life’s situations, which they experienced.
The Prophet Daniel:
Scripture presents us with one of the unique models of wisdom: Daniel, the prophet who saved chaste Susannah from death. In Babylon, during the captivity of the Jews, there lived a very rich man named Joachim, who was married to a very beautiful and God-fearing woman, Susannah.
Joachim had a garden near his house, where the Jews used to meet, among whom were two elderly judges, sought by each and every one who had a lawsuit.
When the people left, Susannah used to enter the garden for a walk. When the elders saw her, they fell in love with her. However, they did not tell each other.
One day, they went their separate ways, but both turned back and returned to see her, so they admitted to each other their passion for Susannah, and then they agreed to seek an occasion when they could find her alone.
One day, while they were waiting for the right moment, she entered as usual, with two maids, wanting to bathe in the garden, for the weather was warm, and the two elders were hidden and watching her, then she sent the maids to fetch the items she needed to bathe and to shut the garden.
As soon as the maids had left, the two old men got up and ran to attack her. They threatened her that they would testify falsely against her that she was with a young man, and that was why she sent the maids away. Susannah sighed, not knowing what to do!!
If she sinned, it would be evil before God, if she refused, she would not escape their wickedness and lies, but she chose not to do evil before the Lord.
Then Susannah screamed aloud, and the two old men also hollered at her, as one of them ran to open the garden gates. Then the people rushed in to see what had happened.
The elders accused her that she was with a young man who had escaped, therefore they led her to the Assembly, and there their story was believed, since they were elders and judges, thus they condemned her to death. Then she cried out to the Lord and He responded.
As she was being led to execution, God stirred up the spirit of Daniel and he cried aloud that he was innocent of Susannah’s blood. Therefore, the people turned and asked him to explain his words, and he asked them to investigate the issue, then they all hastened and returned to the court.
Daniel told them to separate the two elders from one another, then he asked the first about the tree under which he saw Susannah and the young man. “The mastic tree”, he answered. After that he left him aside, and went to ask the other one about the tree. “The oak”, he replied.
Then the false testimony of the two elders was revealed and the people rose up against them and condemned them to the fate they had planned for Susannah.
The Judge Shurayh:
Islamic history also presented Shurayh, the wise judge who was renowned for his impeccable sense of justice.
The Umayyad prince Musa Ibn Essa, cousin of Emir Al-Mu’minin Al-Mahdy wanted to buy a garden owned by a woman and her siblings; he managed to buy her siblings’ share, as for hers she refused to sell. So he ordered his servants to destroy the wall separating the lands, then the palm trees of both fields mingled together, so the woman submitted a lawsuit to Shurayh the judge, who summoned the prince.
The prince received the summons and sent the chief of police instead of him to the judge so he might pardon him. The chief of police did his best to wriggle out of it, because he knew the judge, but to no use. When he went, the judge imprisoned him.
When the prince learned what had happened, he sent his commissionaire –a position equivalent to Chief of the Presidential office – however he imprisoned him as well. After that, he sent the closest friends of the judge himself, but he imprisoned them, too. When the prince found out, he opened the prison and released them by his authority.
When the judge was informed of what the prince had done, he acted wisely. He wrote in his letter of resignation: “I swear to God, we didn’t seek this position, but they forced it upon us, and they guaranteed us dignity if we accepted it.” Then, he decided to depart the city.
When the prince learned of this, he followed the judge who insisted that either everybody would return to prison or he would go to Emir Al-Mu’min to seek dismissal from his position, so the prince submitted to the judge and put them back in prison.
Then the prince was led to the judicial council, and the woman presented her claim, so all the detained were brought out and the trial began. The prince confessed to what he’d done, therefore the judge’s verdict was that the prince should return to the woman what he’d taken from her and build another wall. The prince agreed and the woman left. After the Assembly ended, the judge seated the prince in his place, so the prince was amazed. Then the judge told him that his job is judicial and at the same time to honor the prince! Thus he was astonished at the wisdom and fairness of the judge.
Truly as the Scripture says: “The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, And his tongue talks of justice.”
To be continued…
