3. THE SECOND VIEW

About a century ago (perhaps even earlier), somewhere in the world, one day an exited schoolboy came home and said to his grandfather: “Grand-pa, my teacher said that the earth is round.” “Impossible,” said his grand-father, “your teacher did not know what he was talking about; he must have been too full when he said such a nonsense.”
Three “smart” gentlemen were discussing about the telephone. “It must be invented by the English, because telephone is an English word.” “Not at all,” said the other, “telephone is a Malay/Indonesian word: it comes from “tali” meaning “rope” or “wire”, and “pohon” or “puhun” meaning “a tree”. “Not at all,” said the third person; “telephone is a Greek word; it comes from “tele” meaning “far”, and “phone” meaning “sound”. It was the Greeks who invented it.” 10
There is a story that an alien from the outer space landed with his flying saucer (UFO) on the earth. His way of speaking and producing sound was different from that of human beings. Therefore, he wanted to know how the human beings produce sound when they speak, but he did not have a chance to observe closely a human being, especially while speaking. Suddenly, the wind blew and he observed the branches of trees rubbing each other and producing sound. He nodded and made his conclusion that human beings speak by rubbing their upper jaws with their lower jaws.
An other story is that a scientist was studying the behaviour of the fleas. He trained a flea to jump over a matchbox every time he said “jump”. After the flea responded the command, the scientist pulled off two of its six legs and said “jump”. The flee jumped again, but not so successfully as before. The scientist nodded; then he pulled off two more of its legs and said, “jump” The flea jumped again, but with less successfully than before. The scientist nodded again. Then he pulled off the remaining two legs of the flea and said again, “jump”, but the flea with no more leg did not move and did not obey the order, although it was repeated several times, “jump, jump, jump”. This “smart” scientist was happy with his new finding. He came to the following conclusion and wrote it in his notebook. “The flea’s hearing lies in its legs. If it loses two legs, it cannot hear so well and cannot jump very high. The more it loses its leg, the more it loses its hearing. When it loses all of its legs it becomes completely deaf and therefore, it cannot respond to any command.”
You, dear readers, are well aware that none of the above conclusion is correct. You have a second view, which is probably right. You may have the right statement. But could you leave a room—if there is any—for a second view for your statement whenever you draw a conclusion from your observation? In this way, you open your heart and broaden your mind.
Prejudice is generally the result of lack of knowledge or experience, misconception, misjudgment and wrong conclusion. A teacher does not have to be talkative, although his or her job needs him or her to talk. A policeman (woman) does not have to be haughty, although he or she has to be authoritative in dealing with a culprit. A person who does not believe in the divinity of Jesus (peace be upon him) does not have to consider him an impostor. Hābīl (Abel) did not have to be a coward if he refused the challenge of his brother Qābīl (Cain). A person who does not share your view does not have to be your enemy and does no have to be unintelligent. We have to avoid suspicion. Allah said in the Qur’ān:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِنَ الظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ
(الحجرات : ‍1‍‌‍‌‍‌2)
“O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as
possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin…” 11


Footnotes:
10. It was invented by Philipp Reis in Dec. 1861, and called it in German, Telephon. It was applied to the electrical speaking telephone of Alexander Graham Bell who introduced it in 1876, and to its various modification by Elisha Gray, Edison, Hunnings, etc. See Oxford English Dictionary, at the Clarendon Press, 1933, vol. 11, p. 150, s.v. telephone.
11. Qur’ān, al-H.ujurāt, [49]:12