Miracles And Governance

Miracles can happen – and that too in various forms. Sometimes they occur without warning while on other occasions we have to wait and pray for them for a long time. The Almighty decides. Sometimes we make our own miracles happen through hard work and perseverance. An example of this is our effort to turn Pakistan into a nuclear state when nobody believed it could happen.

Let’s consider a story where a miracle happened. An eight-year old girl heard her parents talking about her younger brother. All she could determine from their conversation was that he was very sick and that they had no money left for his treatment. They were even forced to move into a smaller house because they couldn’t afford to stay in their current one after paying the doctor’s bills. Only a costly surgery could save her brother now and there was no one who could lend them the money.

After hearing her desperate father whisper to her tearful mother that only a miracle can save their son now, the girl went to her bedroom, pulled out her piggy bank from its hiding place in the closet, poured out all the money on the floor and counted it carefully. Tightly clutching her precious piggy bank, she slipped out the back door and made her way to the local drugstore six blocks away. There she took a quarter from her piggy bank and placed it on the glass counter.

“And what would you like?” the pharmacist asked. “It’s for my little brother” she replied. “He’s very sick and I want to buy a miracle”. “I beg your pardon,” the pharmacist said. The girl replied: “His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my daddy says only a miracle can save him. So, how much does a miracle cost?” “I’m sorry, child,” the pharmacist replied, smiling sadly, “We don’t sell miracles here.” “I have money to pay for it” the girl said. “If it isn’t enough I can try and get some more. Just tell me how much it costs.”

Meanwhile, a well-dressed customer had entered the shop. He stooped down and asked the little girl what kind of a miracle her brother needed. “He is very sick,” she said. “Mommy says that he needs an operation but daddy can’t pay for it, so I have brought my savings.” “How much do you have?” the man asked. “One dollar and eleven cents,” came the reply, “But I can get some more.”

“Well, what a coincidence,” the man said, smiling. “That is the exact price of a miracle for little brothers. He took her money in one hand and held her hand with the other. “Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let’s see if I have the kind of miracle you need.” That man was Dr Carlton Armstrong, a neurosurgeon. Soon after, the operation was conducted without the family having to bear any expenses and it wasn’t long before Andrew returned home from the hospital.

“That surgery,” her mother whispered, “was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost”. The little girl smiled. She knew exactly how much it had cost – one dollar and eleven cents. The moral of the story is that we should never lose hope. The Almighty works in mysterious ways.

After that uplifting story, let’s shift our attention towards good governance. The government has announced a mini-budget that has drawn mixed reactions. The business community has welcomed the many incentives that they have been given. Good governance is a tricky game of checks and balances. A doctorate from a good university alone is no guarantee that a person will become an economist who can work miracles.

Hazrat Umar (RA), Hazrat Umar bin Abdul Aziz (RA), Caliph Haroon al-Rasheed (RA) and Sultan Muhammad Fateh (RA) had no such degrees, but they were born with the God-given ability to govern judiciously. Nizam al-Mulk Tusi, an historian and administrator par excellence, wrote an excellent treatise on good governance titled ‘Siyasat Nama’.

The best advice that he gave was: “Consultation is a sign of wisdom and maturity [on the part of a ruler]. Some people know more about specific matters than you do and you can benefit from their knowledge”.

In one of previous columns, I wrote about an excellent book titled ‘Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty’ written by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, eminent scholars from MIT and the University of Chicago, respectively. The book draws attention to many important factors that facilitate power, prosperity and poverty. The main goal to achieve power and prosperity depends on selecting the right people in the right places. If this principle is followed, success will be guaranteed.

I followed this golden rule at the Khan Research Laboratories and the result is available for all to see. The ruler holds the key to success in his hand. If he chooses incompetent or unqualified sycophants, he is doomed. If he selects competent, experienced people, he will be successful.

There are many who wonder about the decision to appoint Usman Buzdar as the chief minister of Punjab. How else would Chaudhry Sarwar and Aleem Khan be able rule the province? There is another golden rule known as the Peter Principle, which has been laid down by Canadian educator and hierarchiologist Professor Laurence J Peter of Canada. It states that, more often than not, a good worker is a misfit as a supervisor.

(Published in Monthly Tribute International on 01-02-2019)