I Fear
Posted on 18. Mar, 2012 by Humayun Gauhar in Opinion
The challenge before humankind is: can it make the paradigm shift with the minimal trauma and destruction by understanding that it has only one world to share?
By Humayun Gauhar
‘I fear’ can also mean ‘I’m afraid’, as in ‘I suspect’. I do hope that I’m wrong but I fear that we are in for even more turbulent times than we are going through. I hope too that humankind can rediscover some of the common sense that the Almighty endowed it with and avoid calamity foretold by events. But I fear that humankind is going from stupid to stupider. I wonder what degree of calamity it will take for people to collectively rediscover common sense.
As a student of societal evolution I am not unhappy at all. What could be more exciting than witnessing so much history in the making at such a frenetic pace? No doom and gloom here. All I want is to live long enough to see a brave new world emerge, though there is no gainsaying it would necessarily be a better one. But it will certainly be different, to which humankind will have to find ways to adjust. It always does.
Don’t get me wrong: before humankind makes a paradigm shift towards a new, either better or worse, world there has to be destruction of the current paradigm. ‘Better or worse’ depends on where one is coming from. What is good for one may not necessarily be good for the other. What is perceived as good by one may not necessarily be perceived as good by the other. As I said, depends on one’s point of view. When people tell me that Pakistan is in a bad condition getting worse, I surprise them by saying, “Nothing could be better. Let this iniquitous system consume itself; let the people learn and hopefully transit to a better system.” One thing I have learned though: you cannot bring change by force or fiat. It has to be done either by evolution or revolution. Nothing else.
The challenge before humankind is: can it make the paradigm shift with the minimal trauma and destruction by understanding that it has only one world to share? It can, but only if it decides to share sensibly and equitably, if nothing else then for species survival. Gandhi said that there is enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed. Again, depends on one’s point of view. For an American worker a car is a need, for a Pakistani only a good pair of shoes is. If the Pakistani wants a car it will be called greed. Herein lie the seeds of the World Bank’s unlamented ‘Basic Needs Theory’. First decide what basic needs are and then apply them universally, not one set for one lot and a lesser set for another. To a capitalist wealth accumulation isn’t greed but a necessity for growth, something to be celebrated. To a socialist wealth means corruption, something of an embarrassment. Depends on the ideological milieu one is subsumed in. Islam has more of a socialist impulse than capitalist. I remember a Pakistani anchor insistently asking someone, “How much of your wealth have you shared with people?” Why should he, and if he does, why should he announce to the world? The condition of the people is, first and foremost, the responsibility of the state. What people do for people is between them and God.
Mankind has spent less time on earth than most species have, even less than the dinosaurs. The cockroach has been around longer. Man’s propensity to use his great discoveries and inventions for doing bad instead of good has let to a lot of destruction. Atomic fusion springs to mind. Man often debases his ingenuity to establish hegemony over others. Thus Man has damaged and destroyed the environment and many species, including his own. The destruction continues unabated. Man has become much more dangerous than the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs didn’t kill themselves. Nature did. The human dinosaur is killing itself, without help from nature. Let Homo sapiens not become the shortest-lived species ever. Don’t worry so much about a meteor or super volcano or Tsunami or some such cataclysm destroying us, nor an alien attack from space. Humankind is its own greatest enemy. Don’t believe me? Then tell me: who caused climate change? Man or nature? I know about climate cycles, but Man accelerated climate change at the very least. Who punched a hole in the ozone layer as large as North America?
Now from ‘I fear’ to ‘I’m afraid’ but not ‘I suspect’. I don’t fear or suspect it because it is before us. I’m talking of the Muslim condition. I’m afraid it’s pathetic. “We the Muslims” are in denial. If we wish to improve, we should take a good hard look at ourselves and first realize that we have contributed to it ourselves before we start blaming others. That will be the beginning of our ascendant. Muslims are disunited and confused, divided into myriad sects, Sharias, schools of thought, interpretations and movements. We cannot agree either on how to govern ourselves or which economic, political or legal system to follow. So we transplant alien systems on our societies. Needless to say, they don’t work, except for the few at the top. We cannot even agree on the definition of a Muslim. We have scarred the spirit of our faith by adopting many pre-Islamic customs, rituals and traditions and superimposed them on Islam thinking that they are part of the faith, particularly the majority held hostage to what they are told by parents, peers and clerics. At the root of this malaise lies power struggle, so please don’t make sublime excuses for it.
Faith is between Man and God. Sure one can take guidance from the educated, but no one can act as intermediary between Man and God. Sadly, like many other faiths, Islam has become the prerogative of de facto clerics masquerading as scholars and de facto churches pretending to be schools of thought. Neither church nor cleric has any place in Islam. We don’t even understand what ‘secular’ means. Outsiders may have enabled the Muslim decline, but they could not have done so without Muslims first becoming intellectually and physically decadent and complacent. Most forsook their responsibilities and assisted outsiders to subjugate Muslims in return for titles and riches. This condition persists: look at how large the Muslim Chapter of the Langley Club is, how fast it is growing and how many more are craving membership. This is how nations fall, when they cannot tell the difference between the rose and the thorn, between right and wrong.
The fact remains that ‘We the Muslims’ have brought our decline upon ourselves because of nothing more edifying than internecine power struggles, by whatever glossy name they might dignify them. Today, the Muslim condition is the worst of any people in the world. We have no world-class hospitals, schools or universities though God has told us that looking after His creation and acquiring knowledge are the prime drivers of a life well spent. We obliviously take for granted things we use in our daily lives forgetting that most of them are almost exclusively inventions and manufactures of non-Muslims.
Could such a badly divided people ever come under a single broad command again? If you go by the Quran you would think that most of us are borderline Muslims if measured by the intentions behind our deeds, born into the faith without bothering to under either its spirit or the intent of the Almighty.
When you are so divided, when you throw your gates open, why are you so surprised when outsiders walk in and buy the divided, indoctrinate the unlettered and brainwash the unwashed and then lord it over them by convincing them of their superiority? We Muslims did when we were in the ascendant. It’s human nature. Some of us never lose hope, though. One never should, else life wouldn’t be worth living. Losing hope is a great sin, for it betrays absence of faith in God.
END
a WordPress rating system
10 Responses to “I Fear”
Leave a Reply
Join Us
 |
| Subscribe to Opinion Maker |
| Email: |
Rehmat
18. Mar, 2012
One has nothing to fear if he or she is honetly performing his/her divine duties toward the rest of humanity. The world will keep moving toward its destined future – for better or worse.
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/nothing-wrong-being-a-radical-muslim/
Badruddin Sheikh
19. Mar, 2012
It is the duty of every true Muslim to relentlesly oppose the Jew-Christian-Infidel axis at every turn, at every step. O Musslaman! Forget not the injunctions in the Holy Quran: Surah Al-Maidah #5: Ayat # 82. "The worst enemies of Believers will be Yehud and Pagans (Hanud) . . Quran: [5.51] O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people. ! [4.160] Wherefore for the iniquity of those who are Jews did We disallow to them the good things which had been made lawful for them and for their hindering many (people) from Allah's way.
Michael Cecil
19. Mar, 2012
Not exactly.
It is the first duty of every Muslim to oppose *anyone*–Jew, Christian, Muslim or infidel–who teaches lies for Truth; who teaches, for example, the Doctrine of "resurrection" as the pagan-metaphysical, Egyptian-Pharisaical doctrine of the physical raising of a dead body from the grave; when it was taught by Isaiah, Daniel, Jesus & Mohammed as, instead, a Doctrine of 'Rebirth'.
Pix
19. Mar, 2012
I reckon if people stopped poking their noses into other peoples private business and concentrated on their own flaws, the world would be a much nicer place.
Instead of being odiously arrogant in claiming special knowledge of the unknowable, no matter what lable you assign it, El, Jehovah, Allah, the monkey on the mountain, what ever, instead you admited there isn't a single scrap of evidence for any of it, and kept your beliefs to yourself, as in X rated, the world would be a much nicer place.
Steve (Abbass)
19. Mar, 2012
You lost me when you mentioned climate change as man made or affected. Fail!
@sjsrana
19. Mar, 2012
Dear Brothers and Sisters, don't wander or drift away from ISLAM, its said, its hard to understand/realize what you have, until you loose it!
The beauty of ISLAM in acceptence of one UNIVERSAL GOD is itself a MIRACLE that is beyond comprehension of many RELIGIONS of the WORLD, that are lost in the ocean of GODS!
Can go on writing……however if you are drifting away from religion just beacuse the pressure of the world either their 'fake terrorism propaganda' or WOMEN AGENDA, then you are being fooled by their 'corrupt system' that is out there to destroy and decimate MANKIND!
Read his how ISLAM is saving MUSLIM BROTHERS and SISTERS from the onslaught of corrupt/immoral marriage system,
http://members.beforeitsnews.com/story/1751/787/AGENDA_NWO:_Screw_the_MEN.html
INDIA is keen to enforce their own marriage system onto ISLAM, however they can't since ISLAM has the LIGHT that sparts millions of hearts everyday for their followers!
'MUSLIM BROTHERS' yet again offer visionary escapade to currently developing 'CORRUPT MARRIAGE SYSTEM'.
We all know how corruption is rampant despite government/law-makers, perhaps ISLAM knew this centuries ago and created their own marriage system impervious to onslaught of corrupt marriage system!
Both Dowry or Revere-Dowry (demanding from Husband using FORCE) is an offence (morally/ethically) therefore, who is at fault???
Marriage is a sacred commitment between MAN, WOMAN and "GOD/Moral/Virtues NOT corrupt government/laws"!
When Courts/family-courts DEMANDS MONEY from HUSBANDS using FORCE in Marriage, is JUSTICE? When Husbands demands from Wife, is JUSTICE? No, both are morally and ethically WRONG no-matter how Family-Courts enforce it!
Marriage is not a licence to 'MONEY MAKING MACHINE' for either of GENDER 'period'! – @sjsrana
Dear brothers and sisters, go out and preach to the world what ISLAM has offered to millions of its followers that NWO is about to DESTROY!
@sjsrana
19. Mar, 2012
Read this how ISLAM is saving MUSLIM BROTHERS and SISTERS from the onslaught of corrupt/immoral marriage system,
http://members.beforeitsnews.com/story/1751/787/AGENDA_NWO:_Screw_the_MEN.html
INDIA is keen to enforce their own marriage system onto ISLAM, however they can't since ISLAM has the LIGHT that sparts millions of hearts everyday for their followers!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Married-women-bill-hits-hurdle/articleshow/12322054.cms
steven
19. Mar, 2012
I fear also.
I fear intolerant Muslims who, like zionists, wish to conquer the world, have no love or mercy in their hearts, and do not respect the rights of others to self-determination.
Brothers, why not Muslim lands for Muslims, Christian lands for Christians, Hindu lands for Hindus, etc? All living peacefuly with one another? Why not wars in self-defense only?
I respect the rights of Muslims to believe as they wish. As a Christian I am called to love my Muslim brother. I denounce the American invasions of Muslim lands. But don't you see, if you try to force your will on me or seize my home, I must then pick up the gun and fight you to the death?
abubaqar
19. Mar, 2012
mr badruddin sheikh, when the quraan states not to take jews and christians as friends it means those who war upon the believers and stand for all devilish behaviour in the world as evidenced by th zionist jew/christian alliance currently causing mayhem in the world!
after all Allah says we can marry jewish and christian women, how can that be if we cannot have friendship with them?
the predictions of the prophet mohammed pbuh are coming true in its entirety regarding the last age, today we see the rise and promotion of ignorance in all the world( there is no such thing as a islamic country in the world today) they are secular and anti- religion based.
mr gauhar has highlighted a fundamental problem with the current muslim ummah which needs rectification, in the past muslim rulers used to send armys for the sake of a muslim womans honour, today they participate in depravity,corruption and indecency in league with those who would enslave them!
only islam can free you from that social order of slavery being foisted upon mankind in the guise of freedom etc. the devilish western nations including america are all under the control of the zionist jews and russia. communism is a jewish idea, so beware, like capitalism.
the zionist jew is an adherent of dajjal in being and ideas and work. he can never be a friend of any believer of any faith! they murdered over 125 million russians after the bolshevik revolution, how many 10,s of millions muslims have been murdered in the last 100 years by this rabble???
steven
20. Mar, 2012
Friend abubaqar, Thank you for your kind and measured response. As it is written…"A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." Proverbs 15:1 My words , while sincere, were rash. I was too quick to take offense. Forgive me. There are many Americans who condemn the unjust and aggressive wars waged by 'our' government and who value self-determination for all and peaceful dealings with other peoples. And I understand that among Muslims is found kindness, generosity and understanding. Is it not true that the Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon Him) once said "The most righteous of men is the one who is glad that men should have what is pleasing to himself, and who dislikes for them what is for him disagreeable"? It is sad that among both our communities are misguided and selfish people, easily led to do wrong. I pray the Creator of all, the One True God, will turn them to His ways. You say "there is no such thing as an Islamic country in the world today" I must say also, there is no 'Christendom' today. Believe me, no true Christian country would wage aggressive war against an Islamic one. Mr. Gauhar spoke of "sharing" our world. I believe it can be done. If we Christians and Muslims, along with others of good will, will refuse to be fooled and divided, we can never be conquered by those who serve evil.