لطفا منتظر باشید ...
Chapter 1
Man of Our Age
Man of Our Age
From the point of view of the availability of the facilities
of life, the man of our age has reached a grand stage. The innumerable
discoveries and inventions have provided him such opportunities as previously
appeared to him totally fantastic.
The automatic appliances and electronic implements have made
many such things possible for the man of our age, which were hitherto
impossible. By just pressing a button he can obtain whatever he wants. Water,
air, heat, cold, food and clothing are all readily available for him.
Radio waves in the twinkling of an eye carry his voice to
the farthest corner of the world; not only his voice but his picture also.
The aircraft have subdued vastness of the space for him.
With ease and speed he flies from one side of the world to another, even more
easily, more lightly and to a greater distance than the legendary flying
carpet.
The astronauts have opened the way for him to the planets,
and now a journey to the moon and other planets appears to be as simple as
going from one city to another neighboring city.
The new scientific and industrial discoveries have so
expanded in our age that it is difficult to enumerate them. It may be said that
nature is now bent upon disclosing in the shortest possible time to the man of
our century all the innumerable secrets which it held in its bosom for
thousands of years.
As the result of his expanding acquaintance with the secrets
of nature and his marvelous discoveries in regard to the controlling and
exploiting the natural forces, the man of our age has reached the zenith of
material well being and has converted the whole earth into a well furnished
and magnificent place for his own benefit, in order to be able to lead a
contented life and secure that happiness of which he has always dreamt.
Greedy Animals
This was one side of the coin, but there is another side of
it too. The material civilization of today has solved many problems of human
life, and has given man dazzling power to control nature. But at the same time
it has so much eulogized and puffed the philosophy of having more and more,
that it has made the man of our age a greedy animal, who is day and night
worried about only increasing the production and consumption and thinks of
nothing else. Materialism and too excessive concern about economic affairs have
converted man into a machine. He is always busy with earning his livelihood or
finding the means of leading a more and more luxurious life. This situation is so
wide‑spread that the life of most of the men of our times is almost
devoid of any other valuable content.
There was a time when man valued his freedom most and even
sacrificed his life for the sake of it. Now he has become a slave of production
and consumption and has laid down his love of freedom at the altar of this
deity.
With the progress of material civilization, the consuming
needs of man have increased and the way of meeting them has grown complex to
the extent that many people sacrifice their physical and moral well‑being
for achieving that end.
In the material society of today all higher human values
have been set aside, or, it may be said, that even moral values are looked upon
only from material angle. In most parts of the world the real infrastructure of
education and training is only material and aims at economic gain. The actual
purpose of framing any educational or training programme is only to produce men
who can provide better economic return for the pockets of others or sometimes
for their own pockets. The motto of every one, from a man in the street to the
elite, has become "achieve economic gain and material pleasures ensuing
from it". The specialists in higher intellectual and technical fields, the
politicians, the writers and the artists are no exception to this rule. Even
many of those who are devoted to higher spiritual questions have been affected
by material and economic attractions. Missionary work is performed mostly in
exchange for financial and material remuneration. This situation is the natural
and inevitable result of the diverse material philosophies prevailing during
our times.
Day and night man is being told that he is no more than an
economic animal, and that wealth and economic prosperity are the sole
criterion of good fortune and the only sign of the progress of a nation, a
class or a group. It is constantly being drummed into the ears of people that
money has a miraculous power and it can solve every problem. There is always a
talk of the heaps of money obtained by chance or by directly or indirectly
robbing the fellow human beings and spent for satisfying the lowest animal
desires. In these circumstances it is not surprising that men or rather semi‑men
of our age have turned into greedy animals, bent upon acquiring money from
whatever source they can and spending it for obtaining the greatest possible
pleasure. They have become the slaves of production and consumption. Their life
is bereft totally of the higher values befitting a living human being, and has
tended towards vulgarity and degradation.
Quest for the
philosophy of life and its aim
It is a matter of
great satisfaction that here and there some new voices have arisen in this very
world enamoured of production and consumption. They give rise to the
hope that perhaps time has come for the deliverance of the man of our age from
the shackles of this economic myth. It is more gratifying that these voices
pertain to the youth rather than the middle‑aged or the aged people.
For some time the youth throughout the whole world have been
showing practical reaction and saying loudly that they find their life
meaningless and vulgar in the magnificent palace which has been furnished for
them.
They want to know:
If people generally are happy in this magnificent palace.
If the boat of their life filled with all sorts of comforts
and travel equipment shall carry them to the shore of peace and content.
Whether this splendid civilization attaches any importance
to man himself.
Whether all the gadgets invented to facilitate life really
serve man, or they themselves have appropriated all his mental and physical
capabilities.
Whether this splendid civilization which has so much reduced
distance between various cities, continents and planets, and converted them
into just a big house, has also brought the hearts of its inmates closer to
each other, or in spite of reduction in distances their hearts have gone
further apart, or even worse than that, they no longer possess any hearts, as
man now has only brain and hands exclusively devoted to serve his stomach, to
satisfy his lust and to help him seek pelf, position and similar other objects:
It is true that such voices strike only in the lands where
people lead an economically prosperous life and are not preoccupied with the
worry of obtaining such primary necessities as bread and butter.
It is also true that in most parts of the world there are
still large masses of people who are stricken with poverty and they themselves,
their families, their dependents and their neighbors are leading a life below
subsistence level. Their only hope now is a bloody revolution that may put an
end to their material and economic privation.
But the correct foresight makes it necessary that the efforts
of these under‑privileged people should be channeled in such a direction
that they may not have to face such a fate.
Anyhow, it is certain that the people have more or less
awakened and have got rid of the charm of material and economic prosperity.
Both the big camps of the modern world now see clearly that:
Though for centuries man has been making efforts to secure
the best possible means of living a better life, at present in both the big
camps of the East and the West men are being sacrificed ruthlessly in the grand
industrial temples at the feet of the deity of industry. Except empty slogans
there is nothing left of human dignity, human freedom and real choice in either
of the two camps. Both the systems have deprived man of his dignity on the pretext
that that is the requirement of the speedy running of the wheels of the complex
modern industry and economy.
Anyway, the man of our age is no longer willing to be taught
by means of industry and technology how to lead his life.
He persistently insists that he should know what the aim of
his life is.
Contrary to what the pessimists think, the voices which are
now being raised in protest or otherwise, may be a forerunner of the happy and
propitious self‑realization. They may give rise to human self‑awakening
and a renaissance of human society. They may induce man not to take mechanical
development for human evolution, and to rediscover the real goal of his life
with deeper insight. They may lead him in the direction of real human bliss.
What does the Qur'an say in this respect?
The Qur'an emphasizes as a principle that all the pomp and
show of life is meaningless, if it is devoid of faith and spirituality and is
not consistent with the aim befitting a human being. A man enamoured of such a
life is a loser and all his efforts are in vain.
"Know that the
life of this world is only a sport and pastime, pageantry and cause of boasting
among you, and a quest for more wealth and more children. It is like the
vegetation springing out after rain, delights the farmers, but it withers and you
see it turning yellow, and then becoming
worthless stubble". (Surah al‑Hadid 57:20).
At another place Allah has been described as the light of
the heavens and the earth, the truth and the directing spirit of the whole
world.
Then there is a mention of the meritorious and worthy men
whom their trade and the efforts to earn their. livelihood do not beguile into
forgetting of Allah and do not divert them from the basic goal of their life.
They consequently secure the best results. Their efforts are always fruitful
and conducive to virtue and excellence.
The Qur'an describes the fate of those who have no aim in
life and are forgetful of Allah:
"As for those who
disbelieve, their deeds are like a mirage in a desert. The thirsty man thinks
that it is water, but when he comes to it, he finds that it is nothing. There
he finds only. Allah, who pays him his account in full, and Allah is swift at
reckoning. Or as darkness in a deep ocean covered with dashing waves and
overcast with clouds. Several kinds of darkness, one upon another. If one
stretches his hand, he can hardly see it. Indeed the man from whom Allah
withholds His light, can find no light at all". (Surahal‑Nur 24: 3 9 ‑ 40).
Consider these
verses well. They contain a truth, which has become far more evident following
the great scientific and industrial progress and the expansion of the
dimensions of human life.
Purely material life is as good as a mirage. The efforts of
a greedy and covetous man bear no fruit, for they are devoid of a direction and
a meaning. There is darkness all around. The people are puzzled and submerged
in vulgarity. The question still remains: What is the meaning of life and what
is its goal?
According to the Qur'an the real cause of all this confusion
and vulgarity is that human life has been bereft of the element of iman and man is concentrating his
efforts on material progress. He has entered an era of production for
consumption and consumption for production. Such people may succeed to the
utmost degree in achieving their material ends but beyond that they fail in
securing what is worthy of a human being:
The Qur'an says:
"Those who want
the life of this world and its pomp, shall be fully recompensed according to
their deeds during their lifetime. They shall not suffer any loss here. But in
the Hereafter they shall have nothing but the fire. All they have done here
shall have no value and all their deeds shall be null and void". (Surah
Hud, 11 : 15 ‑ 16).
