The Rope of Faith

By MW Kay

If a sheep is tied with a rope that is five metres in length, its movement is restricted to the length of the rope. It can move in about in all four directions, but it will not be able to go beyond a distance of five metres. Similar is the case of a person of deep trust in, and devotion to, God, the Creator of the universe. The faith of such a person becomes for him synonymous with a boundary-marker. He goes only as far as the ‘boundary-marker’ of his devotion to God permits him to. As soon as he comes to the boundary-marker set by his faith commitment to God, he stops. He simply cannot transgress the boundary that appears before him. For instance, his faith in God permits him only lawful earnings, or what according to his faith is permissible. This for him is a boundary-marker, as it were, in terms of his economic pursuits. Hence, his livelihood comes to be limited only to what may lawfully be earned, and that, too, in a lawful manner. As soon as the boundary of what is unlawful or impermissible begins, he stops.

The same principle applies to all other aspects of the life of such a person. When he speaks, it is only what is true. He cannot go beyond that boundary, to speak what is not true. He deals with others in a just manner, keeping himself from transgressing the boundary of justice. If he needs to express an opinion about somebody, he does so on the basis of evidence, not going beyond the boundary to engage in slander or fault-finding.

Such a person’s faith in God keeps him within the permissible boundaries in every matter. For his words and deeds, his faith enables him to establish and follow a criterion for what is proper and what is not. His speech and action are limited only to what is proper and just. Where the limits of what is improper and unjust begin, his tongue falls silent and his feet do not permit him to move further.

While a person without such faith may think himself to be free from any restraining principles and regulations of this sort, a person of true faith in God is bound, as it were, by the ‘rope of faith’—by ethical principles and regulations that serve to keep him within the appropriate boundaries. While a person without faith in God may not consider himself to be subordinate or answerable to anyone, a person of faith in God has consciously and willingly made himself a subordinate and subject of God. While the former may choose to follow his own opinions and desires, the latter lives according to God’s guidance.