..And in his farm he had a swine and a camel (or a horse).

" While man is in this world, two things are necessary for him: first, the protection and nurture of his soul; secondly, the care and nurture of his body. The proper nourishment of the soul...is the knowledge and love of God, and to be absorbed in the love of anything but God is the ruin of the soul.

The body, so to speak, is simply the riding-animal of the soul, and perishes while the soul endures. The soul should take care of the body, just as a pilgrim on his way to Mecca takes care of his camel; but if the pilgrim spends his whole lifetime in feeding and adorning his camel, the caravan will leave him behind, and he will perish in the desert." Imam Al-Ghazzali, the Alchemy of Happiness.

Swine flu made me ponder. Had there been a news release saying H1N1 virus of swine flu may live in chocolate bars, we will chuck away all our chocolate bars. For we are terrified that we might get the flu virus and we might die. The Malays would even chuck their rice, had rice possess the potential to help spread the virus.

We would do anything in our might to avoid the perish of our "camel" aka riding-animal aka body and the bodies of our loved ones.

But, we aren't as scared to do things that ruin the soul.
But why..we began as a soul, that then acquires the body, and this body will perish, and we are again left with just the soul. It is our soul that carries on.

"It is, so to speak, the rider of the animal soul, when that perishes it still remains, but is like a horseman who has been dismounted, or like a hunter who has lost his weapons." Imam Al Ghazzali, the Alchemy of Happiness

It is scary when Allah teaches us, that the things that we do to ruin our soul, may well be a permanent damage. Because our soul is what we continues on in, not our body.

"He who is blind in this life, will be blind in the next life, and astray from the path." 17:72

It's unthinkable, why then, are we more afraid to do things that perishes the body, than to do things that perishes the heart..and the soul.

Guide us. Ya Allah.