The Prelude
�America is the last best hope of man on Earth.� (Words of Abraham Lincoln�s (Americas 17the President) statement, reiterated at Texas A & M in 1992 by George Bush).
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
AIDS. The most dangerous endemic rampantly afflicting the societies today. From Sierra Leone, the poorest nation on earth to the United States of America, the richest country in the world, AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, have become the most predominant issue. The deadliest disease, that has left many people devastated. AIDS have become the hottest issue, the topic of conversation of people from varying modes of societies. Its being talked in the bedrooms, in the homes, middle schools, high schools, colleges cum universities, work places, hospitals, radio talk shows, NEWS, TV shows, songs, movies, dramas; Journalists writing articles after articles, Books on AIDS are written in volumes after volumes with latest updated editions. While teachers, families, parents, social groups, various organizations, spend huge amount of time discussing AIDS, at same time Politicians use this issue capitalizing it to draw power. Societies, countries, and various systems Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Secularism, and (not surprisingly) even the Muslim world have come under its curse. With an estimated 8,000 people dying from it every day, Aids represents an international crisis of staggering proportions. Today HIV/Aids is the fourth biggest killer in the world and it is the greatest cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa
One of the major causes of rise in AIDS is an unexpected source, The Church. It has become an symbol of shame and embarrassment. People think twice before they attend the �Services� or send their kids to church. Confidential Vatican reports obtained by the National Catholic Reporter, a weekly magazine in the US, have revealed that members of the Catholic clergy have been exploiting their financial and spiritual authority to gain sexual favours from nuns Most of the abuse has occurred in Africa, where priests vowed to celibacy, who previously sought out prostitutes, have preyed on nuns to avoid contracting the Aids virus. In extreme instances, the priests had made nuns pregnant and then encouraged them to have abortions. In Africa, nuns along with early adolescent girls, are perceived by some as safe sexual targets The Vatican reports cited countless cases of nuns forced to have sex with priests. Some were obliged to take the pill, others became pregnant and were encouraged to have abortions. In one case in which an African sister was forced to have an abortion, she died during the operation and her aggressor led the funeral mass. Another case involved 29 sisters from the same congregation who all became pregnant to priests in the diocese. One of the most comprehensive documents was compiled by Sister Maura O'Donohue, an Aids co-ordinator for Cafod, the London-based Catholic Fund for Overseas Development. She noted that religious sisters had been identified as "safe" targets for sexual activity. She quotes a case in 1991 of a community superior being approached by priests requesting that the nuns be made available to them for sexual favours. O'Donohue wrote in her report how a vicar in one African city had talked "quite openly" about sex, saying that "celibacy in the African context means a priest does not get married, but does not mean he does not have children." A local bishop dismissed the leaders of a diocesan women's congregation in Malawi after they complained that 29 of their sisters had been impregnated by priests. Some African-born nuns who became pregnant had to become second or third wives because of their lost status in the local community. The only alternative would be prostitution. One diocesan congregation had to dismiss more than 20 sisters because they became pregnant.
However in United States, a Roman Catholic archdiocese in the US declared bankruptcy because it could not meet the cost of claims by people allegedly abused by its priests. The Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, was the first in the US to do so and has already settled claims by some 130 people who say they were abused by priests, paying out more than $53m. In February2004 , a report commissioned by the Church said more than 4,000 Roman Catholic priests in the US had faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years. It said more than 10,000 children - a large majority boys - were allegedly abused, but victims' representatives said this was an underestimate. Throughout the US, sex abuse cases have cost more than $650m.
Apart from AIDS, they are other factors that have destroyed the Social Fabrics of Society. From rich echelons to politicians, from sport stars to singers and rappers, from doctors to lawyers, from kids to adults, from crime preventing agencies to Churches; people from various backgrounds are involved in crime. It is noteworthy to see that around the period of the New Year news broke that the third in line to the British throne, Prince Harry, had been drinking in a public house and smoking marijuana. The royal family members are not only supposed to uphold the law, they are expected to be role models to their subjects. It is only through the royal ascension that any parliamentary ruling becomes law. Thus when Prince Harry smokes �dope� and drinks in public he is just breaking his grandmother�s law. A similar crime was seen by the Prime Minister�s own son, Euan Blair. He was found �drunk and disorderly� in central London, after a night of underage drinking. Again his father is one of those who make the laws that he expects other citizens to live by. The son of the current Foreign Secretary and former Home Secretary Jack Straw was actually caught selling marijuana. the two daughters of President Bush, were caught for under age drking. They stole the IDs of some grils and went clubding. The behaviour and attitude of these people can be contrasted with that of Rasool Allah (saw) and his family. Rasool Allah (saw) once told his dear beloved daughter Fatimah that if she stole he would have her hand cut. Islam not only eradicated the problem of drinking and its ills, but Islam also eradicated corruption in ruling.
Crime. Poverty. Social deterioration. Political corruption. Racism. Apathy. Sexual Discrimination. Rape. Alcohol. Divorce. Unemployment. Riba (Interest). Dishonesty. Murder. Drugs. All these words evoke an too familiar vision that characterizes our homes, our communities, our countries and the world at large. The social culture in which children are raised is the primary determinant of whether they will succeed as adults. A culture that seeks instant gratification and considers freedom from every obligation, as primary objective is the antithesis to one that nurtures discipline and responsibility required for positive development of children. The societies we live in today, are devoid of standard social norms for sexual relations or parental responsibilities, an increasing number of children are born into environment inadequate for their upbringing. We see teenage mothers, USA has highest rate of teenage pregnancy, single parents without adequate incomes, parents in the growing underclass, parents on drugs and so forth. The risk of these children involved in crime as adults is much higher than for children in stable two parent families. Even those kids, do not have proper cultural identification have some of the stereotyped qualities of �Generation X� � anomie, aimlessness, hopelessness, depression and in the end, they become �Losers.� United States has the highest number of prisoners in the world. This statistics surpasses the highest number of prisoners in the history of any country in the world. Washington D.C. has the highest rate of crime of any capital city in the world.
The whole collapse of the family, the collapse of the inner cities (societies), the collapse of the school system, the emergence of the drug culture, rise of crime, are functions of a crisis in our civilizations, they are not functions of the break down of bureaucracy. The collapse of our education system has led to collapse of our societies and our civilization. It is sad to see the more and more people are dropping out of schools and colleges, very few could read and understand at a standard level. Out of nine hundred seniors in a High School in New York, only thirty students graduated. A documentary on NBC showed that only three out of five American do not know where America is on the map. Even Mr. President Bush didn�t know that Brazil has Black people and is the second nation in the world with highest black population.
Our societies, Muslim and Non, are undergoing cultural transformation in which old social relations have been scoured to clean out oppression and exploitation. The governments sought to avoid oppression by political leaders with checks and balances on power or through sanctions, like the ones we see in Darfur, Sudan, Libya, Iran, and sanctions by EU on USA. American government try to end the oppression of one race by another through antislavery and civil rights legislations. The capitalist nations try to end the subjugation of women by providing the right to vote, liberalizing divorce laws, and providing equal pay employments. Even with the strong functioning of crime prevention agencies, the prisons are full with people yet; the man on the streets is not safe.
Solution
To solve the problem of AIDS the capitalist nations trying to promote the idea of �safe sex�, making sure that people use contraceptives when they have sex, the European Union cut down the prices on drugs that could help contain AIDS crisis, (this made USA furious, if EU cuts down prices on its drugs, then who will buy US drugs. US will lose money, as its Drugs are way expensive to afford for). To solve the problem of crime, the notion of better prisons was brought forth. But when one reads on the front page of the news paper that government cannot tell the rate of crime in the prisons � a society which cant able to impose its authority in the prisons, shouldn�t be surprised that it cant impose its authority on the street.
In other instance, to solve the problem of poverty, the idea of Social Security and Medicare was developed. But we find today that these programs have lead to the emergence of welfare families, insurance fraud, and enormous debt. Moreover, such system leads to the satisfaction of only some elites or Plutocrats at the expense of exploitation of Masses. Wealthy nations such USA and Britain, would have pets which are well fed and groomed, and sheltered in virtual palaces, while millions of people of their own nation live in cardboard boxes, eat from dumpsters (of restaurants) and have no Medical care.
By shooting the AIDS patient in the head wont solve the AIDS crisis; rather the AIDS virus needs to tackle. Similarly, philosophers, sociologist, politicians, and ordinary citizens have aspired to devise viable solutions to ailments that are tearing our societies apart, however, contradictory to the desired outcome of these efforts, the magnitude of the problems is rapidly increasing. A testimony to this stand the volumes of statistics generated monthly and annually by BBC, Guardian, New York times, and also by some international organizations such as United Nations, WHO and excetra. Every solution implemented by the current world order has only bred more and more problems, which continues to grow with each passing year. The persistent inadequacy of the west in dealing with these issues raises questions as to the source of its failures.
Epilogue
We can only express our wonder that the communists still have a voice on any issue concerning (wo) mankind�s affairs, considering the communist system is a proven failure. Popular rebellion throughout Eastern Europe has led to the electorate of Poland voting in the Warsaw Pact�s first non-Communist government. In East Germany, thousands have escaped to the west causing the government to collapse. In china, the memories of the Tainaman Square massacres are still fresh. The communist experiment is fragmenting as country after country rejecting the tyranny of the oppressive Marxist-Lenin regimes.
For years, communist, activists, and thinkers, even my English Teacher (who is still confused between Islam or Communism), have tried to sell a dream. A dream of revolution of a societies without difference in wealth because no property would exist and where there is no religion, no spiritual aspect to life at all. This dream is false and that is why they have never succeeded and that is why they will never succeed. No society could exist without an ordered, structured system and no society has ever existed without private ownership. Indeed, the desire to �own� is part of human nature which cannot be denied through rational study of (wo)man as (wo)man. Take any one of the communists possessions, and you will see them acting to retain their possession. All these facts relates that communism have failed many civilizations, from china to Koreas to Russia to East Germany.
Now that the failure of communism as been well observed, the failure of capitalism is evident despite the material capability and resources which the west possess. It is true that the western civilization succeeded in having man walk secured on the moon, however, it failed to have very man secured in the streets of its own capitals. The impact of this failure goes beyond the boundaries of these nations, engulfing the entire humanity in its misery. This has been demonstrated by the two world wars which were products of western philosophers of Fascism, Communism and Capitalism costing humanity tens of millions of live. In addition, the �national interest,� of the western nations have given rise to the numerous bloody conflicts in the his century. A careful study and control shows that they are create by those who shape and control the world order. They fuel these conflicts with money, weapons, and antagonism to further their own interest, of course at the expense of mankind. This could be clearly seen in a article from Los Angeles Times: � America seems poised to go back to a 19th century variant of Capitalism, Then, the English philosopher, Herbert Spencer formulated a concept he called �Survival of the Fittest� capitalism. Spencer believed that it was the duty of the economically strong to drive the economically weak into extinction. That drive was in fact the secret of capitalism strength: It eliminated the weak. Spencer created the eugenics movement to stop the unfit from reproducing because he believed that the most humane way was to do what economy would do in a more brutal way of left to itself. In Spencer�s view, all remedial social welfare measures simply prolonged and expanded human agony by increasing the population who would eventually die of starvation. (Los Angeles Times, January 26, 1996).
"With Just 6% of the world's Population the US and Canada consume nearly 30% of the world's energy. The US with just 3% of proven reserves uses a quarter of global oil production. The biggest consumers are in North America, Western Europe and Japan." New Internationalists Magazine Issue 330 December 2000.
"... somehow we find it hard to sell our values, namely that the rich should plunder the poor." - former US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.
This is not just failure of communism and capitalism, it is but the failure of ideas and systems, which we were told, is the last best hope of humanity on Earth. Clearly there must be another hope, for the fruits of Capitalism cannot be the destiny of Humanity. The hope which we need will be found in that ideology which confers on its carriers the feelings of responsibility towards himself as well as the others. There can be no hope in an ideology which preaches individualism as the ideal. Such an ideology produced, in our history, phenomenon such as racism still exists, Thurgood Marshal, who is of BLAKC race, managed to be appointed as Supreme Court Justice in America, was discriminated because of him being black, claims in his own testimony that �clubs here in this town (Washington D.C.), they invite everybody else but me.�(New York Times, 1/27/93). Besides racism, domestic strife, family breakdown, greediness, selfishness, and social classes within the society still exists in the societies today.
The ideology which creates in the human being�s personality the sense of accountability for his actions, responsibility towards others, and the willingness to sacrifice for them is where our hope lies. There is only one ideology which provides such thinking while at the same time, brining the solutions to man�s Problems. Only one ideology that leads to a society that will be the beacon for the rest of humanity. The world thrived under its authority for more than 12,00 years. Presently, this ideology is needed to reconstruct the thinking of the people, their convictions, their values, their attitudes, and their outlook on life. It is needed to remove the disease and fallacy of the western concept of freedom, liberate humanity from the slavery of man-made ideas, and establish the justice that can come only through the adoption of the system provided by the creator.
It is needed to address the problem of the world in order to solve them, not to make a business out of the. The nature of capitalistic system revolved around profit by exploiting masses, which led to the decaying of the societies. Alcohol, rape, crime, teenage pregnancies, corruption, and other social ills are tearing the societies apart, but because alcoholic counselling and research, rape counselling, drug counselling and other business that thrive on these social problems constitute a multibillion dollar industries, then the capitalistic notion of benefit and interest maintains that such problems remain in the societies to keep the �crime prevention Industries� alive and running.
An ideology is need to redefine the economic problem so that the well being of the individual becomes the center of attention, rather than the well being of the elite and their interests. It is needed to provide the people with the wider and more fulfilling meaning of life � not as a time to indulge solely in self-gratification, rather as a passage to an eternal and fulfilling life. It is �Man�s last best hope on Earth.�
It is Islam.
Capitalism � A Sick ideology
Any sound reason why our Societies has failed must consist of two things: The Correct Idea as well as the Mechanism and the resources to Implement that Idea. Therefore, the failure of our societies could either stem from lack of resources or be deeply rooted in the ideas upon which its civilization or societies are built upon �Secularism and Capitalism as demonstrated by the numerous social and economical programs already implemented by capitalism, employing an enormous amount of manpower and wealth, one can clearly see the problem is not the in scarcity of resources. Consequently, the problem in our societies must emanate from the secular, capitalistic mentality upon which deployment of the resources is based. This failure of capitalism has become evident. However, the paradigm of capitalist ideology is deeply rooted in the society and has yet to be broken.
Thus, the societies of the world today, are finding themselves at a crossroads. Humanity can either continue to tread down the road of failure, marching to the tune of capitalism or it can search of new path, a new ideology to direct its thinking and its efforts. Surely, the world is in need of a new correct ideology and it is with this vision that it must evaluate Islam.
"Islam is the Best chance the poor of the planet have for any hope of decency in their lives. It is the one revolutionary force that cares about Humanity. " 1998 -Former US. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
Former French PM Michael Orchard said: This world has three options to be ruled by: Islam, China or US�..�
If one looks at history, it speaks for itself. Nations in the past had been destroyed. Are being destroyed and will be destroyed. US and China are Nations. Islam is an ideology. Ideology remains Nations don�t.
Former French PM Charlles De Gualle said: �The Future belongs to Islam.�
Form this prospective, Inshallah we will present how Capitalism in Muslim and non-Muslim countries have failed to protect the societies. The fundamental problem lies not in the mechanism implemented in the societies but looking at the SOCIETY itself. What is a Society? What is it Composed of? What are the components of the Society i.e man, woman, the role of man and woman and excetra.
Inshallah in next coming posting, the Chapter One, we will highlight the concept of society in Islam and will answer those basic questions regarding, Man (in General)! What makes a (Wo) Man, the nature, behaviour, and the instincts of the (Wo) Man?
Executive Committee : Revival of Muslim Mind
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