The meaning of obedience is to carry out orders. As he bringing up to any child or individual is not possible unless he obeys his parents, teachers or guides similarly no society or nation can be well organized and wielded together unless every member offers unstinted support to his leaser. Suppose a General is ordering through his officer to march ahead; attack the left flank, attack right and now retreats slowly etc., etc.
Now suppose all the officers and sub ordinates do not obey him; they retreat while he orders to attack the front and attack when order to retreat and attack right instead of left. What will happen to such a force? Similarly is the case with a nation. The progress of the nation will depend upon its individuals and their performance of religious duties and obeying the laws of the land. It will degenerate in proportion to its negligence or religious and mundane duties. To obey leader and keep up the national spirit will guarantee national unity and progress. The Holy Prophet and hence rulers who obey Allah and the Prophet and who have been appointed to rule over you. Not only this, so much so that at one place it has been said that obedience is Deen(religious) in itself. Hence every Musalman should be examining himself how far he is acting upon these orders of Allah.
Obedience does not consist in carrying out order only which are given off and on. It also includes to carry out permanent written orders and guidance which have been collected and printed in the form of books and pamphlets such the Holy Quran, traditions. Law of your land and municipal rules and by laws, conduct rules of officer and other rules and regulation etc. if you can form the habit of acting upon all these rules and regulation and orders and laws, the thinking and guiding principles of your individuals will automatically stick to unity and universal thinking which will make your society well-knit, powerful, strong and prosperous and it will go on progressing and becoming stronger and stronger. In modern terminology this is call discipline.
This discipline is not an ordinary thing. It so essential to keep the nations bound together and also for unity of thought and action are regular heart-beat is necessary to the life and health of an individual and to maintain its balance.
If your wish to know the significance of discipline please witness any military cantonment of high order of discipline. Among the troops your will find officers as well as soldiers similar in walk and talk; even their manner of eating and drinking is the same and all seem to follow the same pattern of discipline. We come to know about real unity of society and organization. These soldiers are so much accustomed to obey orders that they carry them out exactly without giving any though to it. I have myself seen several times in cantonment areas that a soldier is carrying a glass of milk. Just for sake of joke a friend from behind utters “Attention”. At once his tow hands tome to the thighs and the glass of mild goes to the ground. This discipline is taught to him when he is recruited and it is made perfect with technical training. Hence they are so much disciplined that when in war they are ordered to advance they move even if there is shower of bullets from the front without thinking of the consequences.
Muslims have been taught similar pattern of discipline in the Quran. Do we not have a lesson in it? These soldiers and officers of the army who are paid regular sallies fight so courageously and obey order, and we who have been bestowed with life, learning, children, wife, knowledge and intelligence, health and sustenance for the entire life by our Creator and Lord so not care for his orders even as much as is done by those soldiers in obeying their superiors. There is not doubt that as the early Muslims fought for Allah and the Holy Prophet and for the protection and propagation of Islam, similarly the British troops fought for their kind and nation and motherland. But now they have lost such fervour and vigor. Now the British soldiers fight just due to discipline and are successful. The day it is gone, the British supremacy will go down. Discipline does not consist in obeying only religious and country laws and military or officials rules and regulations but it is not less essential for complete success in all walks of the life such as trade and business, agriculture, production and home affairs.
The discipline is this that in his sphere every body keeps to his specific duties and works with in it and does not go beyond it. He should not interfere in others duties and carries out his own duties. There is the greatest need of discipline in home life. The husband, wife, children and servants and other living in the house should be well aware of their rights and duties and should do their duties as best as possible. The thing meant for particular purpose should be used for that particular purpose only. Everything should be place at its proper place. Nothing belonging to others should be used without their permission and the work which has to be done at a particular time should be performed at that very time. These things may seem very insignificant to some people but they should remember that obedience is ingrained from childhood and children learn whatever they see in their homes. Hence it is imperative to make home life full of pleasure and happiness and in order to teach discipline among children it is very necessary to keep perfect order and discipline at home. This is very important factor and should not be given less attention. Military discipline also starts with a very insignificant set, that, they raise their right and left foot on order and walk together with synchronized steps and in the end it leads to such wonderful results. Now to the fifth principle.
