For a Better World
[Abdul Wahid Hamid]
Natural human virtues such as truth, goodness, compassion, justice and beauty have been, are being, today, widely disregarded and even trampled upon. And so we find millions of people in the world today afflicted by grinding poverty and famine, by oppression and exploitation, by violence and the evil effects of unjust wars.
Millions of others are afflicted by ignorance and the pursuit of false ideals, by wastage and ugliness in their own lives and what they have done to God's earth and God's creatues.
As a human being, our relationship to the wider enviroment is not based on our immediate wants and needs, but is shaped by our consciousness of the needs of future generations. This is well iuulstrated in the saying of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam):
"If the Hour is imminent and anyone of you has a palm shoot in his hand and is able to plant it before the Hour strikes, then he should do so and he will be rewarded for that action".
This hadith shows us that in Islam improving the quality of this life for others brings several rewards both to the doer of good and those who benefit from his action. It also shows that it is never too late in your life to do good, and that there is a close connection between this world and the Hereafter.
Each individual, each community and each society for the sake of self-interest and survival needs to be concerned with the global fate of mankind and the enviroment on which man and other creatures of God have their being. But there is above all the satisfaction, pleasure and reward of fulfilling His amanah or trust that must impel man to have a more active concern for the human condition and the integrity of creation.
What is needed?
Islam provides the values for creating a better world. YOU need to be aware of these values and know how to apply them to your own life, to the lives of those around you and to your enviroment.
When the Qur'an says, for example, "Eat and drink but do not waste for God does not love those who waste". You need to work out how much resources (if any) you waste and how to put these resources to better use by sharing with others.
You need to be aware of developments not only in your neighbourhood but the wider society in which you live, and also developments on a global level. The world is more inter-connected than it has ever been. So you need to think globally. No man is an island unto himself and no community can afford to live in a ghetto.
Develop strategies for dealing with specific problems. Tackle problems according to a scale of priorities. Start with situations that are closest to you: while you think globablly, start by acting locally. For example, in regard to cleanliness and hygiene, look after your own person, and try to ensure that your home, and your neighbourhood are also clean. Organise campaigns to reduce pollution and see that waste if properly disposed of. In regard to education, take steps to ensure that people in your household are literate and skilled and then people in your own local community and the wider afield, if you have the talents and can organise the resources to do so.
Organise with others; acquire the administrative skills to spread information, to conduct campaigns, to consult and interact with people, to manage finance and resources, to mobilise and transport resources, food, clothing, medicine and equipment where they are needed.
Be prepared to engage in organises effort and struggle to ensure that not only the symptoms of problems are tackled, but that their root causes are eliminated. It may not be enough to organise continuous food supplies to a starving people when that starvation is deliberately brought on by an oppressive government to bring about a people's submission. The struggle should aim therefore at dealing with the oppressive government (and in some cases with other external supporters), using first of all persuasion to bring about a change to a more humane policy or in the final resort adopting measures, preferable peaceful, to change the government.
The sanction of force is not to be ruled out but if at all used, it must be applied according to fixed principles. All this is in keeping with the Qur'anic injunction to enjoin the good and forbid the evil. It has been well said that all is needed for evil to triumph is that good men should do nothing.
In the attempt to help people and bring about changes in habits and lifestyles, it is best initially to spend time and effort in trying to educate people and create understanding rather than to scold and condemn. These are golden rules in the method of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) which need to be applied in dealing with people as for the instance the command to "Make things easy and not difficult for people," and his reminder that "He who is not merciful will have no mercy shown to him."
Finally, it is important to remember that while Islam may have the solution to the range of problems and crises facing mankind, it is not content merely with tinkering at unjust and oppressive systems. It is concerned to reorient man in a direction that is in keeping with his innate values and needs, and equip him to discharge hid God-given amaanah or trust on this earth. When this happens, it is the exploiters, the squanderers, the arrogant and the unjust who will need to worry.
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