Though eclipsed by Don’t be Sad by ‘Aaidh al-Qarni, the author of Stop Worrying, Relax and Be Happy is the one that deserves recognition for the credit he gives to the original author, Dale Carnegie. Published originally in Arabic under the title “Jaddid Hayatak” (Renew Your Life), the book is surprising though, because for a traditionally trained Azhar scholar, Muhammad Ghazali’s permeability to Western ideas and writers is remarkable. Indeed he starts of the book with a glowing praise of Dale Carnegie:
‘I have seen people with little knowledge of the heritage
of the Prophets and no records of any Divine
Knowledge, yet the purity of their Fitrah was enough to
guide them towards Allah…’
Perhaps it is on this premise that Shaikh Ghazali proceeds to elegantly craft a commentary of Carnegie’s “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”, weaving it with quotes from the Qur’an and Sunnah, together with his own long experience in the field of dakwah. This makes the book a treasure trove of new meanings of many verses and traditions and connects with modern readers in a way that classical exegesis and commentaries have been unable to do.
Take this gem as an example in describing the value and purpose of supplications and it being a preamble to positive action where he cites a reservation among some quarters:
Some
people see supplication as a negative attitude to
life! Is it not
the way to present one’s needs and wait
for an answer?
Supplication is above all, defining a
course, described
by one of the highest examples,
Ibrahim who said
: My Lord make me and my
descendants,
people who establish prayers, and with
this prayer did he not
then proceed to establish prayer
as a way of
life?
Under the heading, Fate and Divine Decree meanwhile, after
launching into a diatribe against insurance companies and
their exploitation of people’s anxieties, he suggests
displaying flexibility in facing hardships by reproducing
Carnegie’s observation of the trees he planted on his
farm and how when encrusted by a sheet of ice, instead of
bowing to the extra burden of weight, the twigs broke under
the strain. In contrast, the pines of Canada stood tall and
proud because they had learnt to bow down and cooperate
with the inevitable. Ghazali comments:
These words, as far as I am concerned are the best
interpretation of
the tradition of the Prophet who said:
The example of
the believer is that of a fresh tender
plant; from
whatever direction the wind comes, it bends
but when the wind
subsides, he becomes upright again.
Similarly, when a
believer is afflicted with calamities.
But the example
of the believer, is that of a pine tree
which stands
rigid and upright till Allah snaps it when
He
wishes
While these and many other examples exhibit Ghazali’s
magnanimity by corroborating many of the
“truths” of Carnegie with supporting verses and
hadith, he does not shy away from disparaging the ideas he
finds anathema to the Islamic position.
Intended originally as a stress management guide, Stop
Worrying is really an all encompassing self help book
focussing on personal responsibility, growth and
spirituality which is more engaging that al-Qarni’s
work. It is replete with thought provoking and incisive
observations, however one does wish that this work of
Ghazali’s would be revisited by a more adept
translator to replace the clumsy and at times positively
embarrassing translation of the original stylish Arabic.