The greatest gift a father can give his child is not wealth, status, education or even protection, but to help that child establish a direct and enduring relationship with God.
Once upon a time, there lived a good man: God-fearing, honest, strong and compassionate. God granted him three sons, and as a loving father he understood that his greatest responsibility was to teach them their dependence upon God, and how to call upon Him for help. In other words, to help them establish their relationship with God.
His eldest son was studious and knowledgeable. He learned the scriptures thoroughly and diligently devoted himself to religious practice and worship. Over time, however, as his knowledge increased, so too did his reliance upon his own intellect. Gradually, he began to regard himself as capable of challenging and disputing with his father almost as an equal. He would even point to the perceived shortcomings of his father in order to elevate his own standing.
The second son was loving and caring, deeply devoted to his compassionate father. Though less inclined towards study of the scriptures and rigorous religious practice, he was acutely aware of his own limitations and failings, and equally conscious of God’s Grace, Mercy and Forgiveness. Yet over time, his great love and gratitude for his father’s guidance became excessive. He began to elevate his father into an intercessor and intermediary between himself and God, until his devotion to the guide threatened to obscure the One to whom the guide had always been directing him.
The youngest son was both studious and loving. He devoted himself to righteous actions while remaining deeply conscious that every favour he possessed was from God alone. He remained steadfast in his love, honour and respect for his wise and virtuous father, while remaining equally steadfast in worshipping and depending upon God alone.
The father represents a Prophet of God: one who, out of love and compassion, teaches his people the Truth and how to become independent of creation, including himself, and dependent upon God alone.
The eldest son was the Jew, representing the danger of knowledge without sufficient humility: religious learning and devotion becoming mixed with self-reliance, presumption and intellectual pride, until a person begins to dispute with the Prophets of God rather than submit to the revelation they bring.
The second son was the Christian, possessing love without sufficient knowledge or restraint. Genuine tenderness and reverence become excessive, until devotion to a Prophet was transformed into elevation of that Prophet beyond his proper station as occurred with the later deification of Jesus, peace be upon him.
The youngest son represents the Muslim. He balanced knowledge with humility, love with restraint, reverence for the Prophets without worshipping them, and complete reliance upon God alone.
There is a profound lesson in this.
Perhaps the greatest gift a father can give his child is not wealth, status, education or even protection, but to help that child establish a direct and enduring relationship with God.
And this was precisely the vocation of the most truthful, wise and virtuous human beings ever to walk the earth: the Prophets of God.
They did not call mankind to themselves. They called mankind through themselves, beyond themselves to God.
