Sheikh Saadi is known to be a man of great wisdom and knowledge and his both the qualities are considered to be ever-lasting. Hundreds of years ago, he wrote books and he expressed his wisdom which is still appreciated. This great scholar of his time and let's say of all the times, chose a unique way to gain his wisdom and polish his gifted natural abilities.
When he reached to a certain age and completedformal education of his time from the scholars of the city, he decided to learn the knowledge around him by a practical way so he left his city and travelled. He travelled to so many countries and cities and met a lot of people and passed through different kinds of observations and in the end he wrote down all his experiences and the wisdom that he had gained from meeting and interacting with people and the books thus produced are still renowned in almost half of the world.
This is not the case with only Sheikh Saadi, Jalauddin Rumi or Balkhi, the poet whose poetry is still mesmerizing the world and which is still showing the way to the followers, was also one of the persons who reached to this great status of knowledge and wisdom by travelling.Infact, travelling is unique in a sense that the knowledge we gain by this method cannot be learnt from any educational institute.
No doubt there are some institutions in every society in form of mosques or other moral education places but there a person is only taught, he is not given a chance to experience them practically. It is the reason why still some educated people are present in our society who believe that their children should learn new things and experience the life with all its realities and for this they provide their children with chances to travel and meet the people.
While our routine education affects our minds and we become a professional or skilled person in our field, it hardly affects our soul and heart and until and unless our hearts and souls are polished and refined, one may never reach to the position of a perfect human being. Meeting the people of different kinds and going through the experiences of different kinds and making observations that not only affect our senses of vision and hearing but also make an effect on the curtain of heart and soothe the soul are only possible by travelling. Then we feel the change that is permanent and internal. On the other hand, in the institutes, the change that we feel is only external and temporary.
By travelling, we come along with the views that can be both good and bad. The greenery, flowing water, high up mountains and many more make good effect on our souls.On the other hand, the pictures that depict the miseries of people make us feel bad, as well. But the most important factor in this regard is meeting the people.
I think a human being is the only thing in the world that has and will remain absolutely unpredictable. There are people with varying qualities and abilities; good, bad, kind, rude, simple and clever and many more. We meet them, observe them, learn good points from them and detect or discover bad points in them. In return, in our practical lives, we implement good points and try to avoid the bad ones. All this is possible when we go and remain among them. Until and unless wego near to them, be with them and interact with them, we will never be able to get the true picture from a distance.
Islam was mostly spread by Saints who were simple and very kind, and not by the warriors who came out and conquered vast territories. Warriors no doubt captured the land but they were not able to control and conquer the hearts and souls of people with the help of sword. Islam's teachings were unique and in the best welfare and benefit of the humankind but the true picture of the teachings of Islam could have not been shown to the people only by sermons and advices from a distance. It could have been best shown by the practical implementation and exhibition of these laws in life.
For this purpose, Saints came out and spread in all corners of the world. They didn't advise the people what to do. They just showed the best of their behaviors. They respected everyone, upheld the justice and equality and always spread the message of love and peace and it was the reason that wherever they went, they changed the minds and souls of people. All this great achievement could never have been possible had they stayed in their hometowns and sent the glorious and bombastic messages. This miracle came to happen only by their journey.
Our Saints and great scholars left eternal messages for people to follow and these messages are still softening the heart. This softening of heart is a very essential factor. Until and unless our hearts are softened, we will never be able to realize something like a human being should do.
The softening of heart can only be done by feeling the emotions of people; being happy with their joy and realizing their pain and miseries. If the heart is not softened, then we will be producing such hearts which we call to be stone-hearted, people who are totally unable to feel and realize the feelings of others. He will always be cruel and creating difficulties for others. Then it comes out that when a person is cruel or is indifferent to the miseries of people has got a heart like a stone and he has never softened his heart and his heart has lost the quality to receive the signals which we receivebeing human beings and this quality has not been given to the animals.
In our professional institutes like schools, colleges and universities, where we get knowledge to be a skilled person and from where we come out as doctors, engineers and so on and where we pay for the education and do a kind of investment. Definitely, both students and their parents clearly know that tomorrow they will have to reap the crop of this investment and very unfortunately, if one penny has been spent today, it is aimed that return of this investment should be more than the double and this again gives birth to another cruel process.
It is the reason why we witness so many incidents in which organizations try to boost up their income by unethical acts, risking the lives of hundreds and thousands of people. Weapon companies supply weapons and even start a military conflict between groups and nations so that they should be selling more and more weapons to both the factions of the war.
Pharmaceutical companies have been reported to formulate such a disease the medicine of which is only present with them and thus people have no other option except to buy their medicine to cure the disease. Similarly, laws are passed and legislation is done which favor certain business organizations and these organizations have been reported to be bribing the legislators to get the laws oftheir benefits. But the knowledge learned from travelling will only soften your heart and make you more sensitiveabout the people and in return one will be thinking or doing something that would be in the benefit of people.
Another important lesson learnt is realizing the worth or value of things or blessings which we have and which we lose when we move away from them. Love of parents, company of friends, support ofrelatives and security of home are best realized when we get away from them. Such ungrateful people can only be made grateful if they go outside and experience how the world is difficult in fact.
Travelling and journeys were the source of knowledge in old days and still they offer us a lot to learn!