When he saw me he stopped and smiled.

When he saw me he stopped and smiled. Now, I am afraid that he must have found some similarity between me and himself; otherwise he would not have enjoyed looking at me." The other story relates to another wise man that saw a raven who had formed an affection for a stork. They perched together and flew together! The wise man could not understand how two birds of two different species that had no similarity either in shape or in colour with each other could be friends.

He went close and discovered that both of them had only one leg. That wise man said: "I saw companionship Between a raven and a stock Amazed 1 was, and examined their condition To see what sign of commonality 1 could find.So up I crept, and, to and behold! I saw that both of them were lame.

" In Islam, there has been much emphasis on the necessity of promoting brotherhood and friendship with the people of faith and the people of good will and at the same time combating against the evil, corruption and the oppressors. Of course, in Islam love is universal and the Prophet of Islam was not sent, " save as a mercy unto all beings " (The Qur'an 21: 107). Therefore, even fighting against those who do wrongs and injustice should be out of love.

It is an act of genuine love for mankind as a whole and even, say, for a murderer such as Hitler to fight against him, to punish him and, if needed, to destroy him. Otherwise, he would do more crimes and would degrade himself more and more and would suffer much more sever punishments in this world and hereafter. There is a beautiful story that once an oppressing ruler asked a pious person to pray for him. In response, that pious person asked God not to let him live anymore.

That oppressor was shocked and said: " I asked you to pray for me and not against me!" He replied: " This is exactly what I did. It is much better for you and, of course, for the people as well that your life becomes shorter. You will then have less chance to add to your crimes and people will have more chance to rest." A rational and intelligent love is the one that involves the good and interest of the mankind and not a limited number of people.

One can do many things to bring good to individuals or groups which bring evil to society or mankind as a whole. For example, if a judge releases a guilty criminal he might have done something good to that person, but a great harm has been inflicted upon the society and the ideal of justice. One should not let his affections hide the truth.