Their Might Making Everything Right

What we have lost and its loss has become the root cause of many of our sufferings in our collective life is the characteristic of contentment and the quality of tolerance. Now, due to the standards set by the politicians and Elite class of our society, recovery of these moral attributes seems to be impossible. We lack role models free from avarice and feeling in comfort with a less in their hands. There are little in number among us really adherent to their elegance in their behavior. State of the dearth of the ideals is so grave that leave alone feudal lords, corrupt politicians, industrialists, business community, bureaucrats and in service or retired armed forces high ranked officials, we find none worthy of imitation even in our intellectual class: religious scholars, lawyers, teachers, journalists, poets and writers. All are the birds of the same feather.

A hue and cry is there about incursions on the rights but the duties are the headaches of almost none. Everyone runs after the gains and no one is ready to sacrifice. Giving and not taking is the most salient feature of Islam. It commends generosity and condemns niggardliness. According to the Islamic teachings contentment is one of the greatest virtues of a believer. But piles of the wealth prove insufficient to satiate the rulers, politicians and other greedy groups of the people.

Unfortunately number of the givers is rapidly diminishing while who claim to get are increasing. Very astonishingly pouch of the corrupt elements of upper class of the society is bigger than the bowls of those who are really in need. Demand of the poor is within the limit of four figures but lust of the rich is limitless. The more they grab the more their cupidity grows. This is one of the two major problems we currently face.

And the other problem! Zallahtul Alim! There is no reason to restrict the meaning of Alim only to the religious scholars, while Islam does not accept the separation of Deen from Dunya. In a society with real Islamic spirit and colour all the men of expertise in worldly affairs are rightly supposed to have a sufficient knowledge of the Quran and the Sunnah and all those having the religious knowledge not to be ignorant of the branches of knowledge relating to the worldly life. So the term ‘Alim’ covers all the spheres. In our Hadith literature there are more than half a dozen traditions regarding the slip of Al-Alim (knowledgeable man) is actually slip of Alam (entire world), of which the most authoritative one is related to Umer, (May Allah be pleased with him). Once addressing to Ziad he is reported to have said: “O Ziad! Do you know what are the things most likely to cause demolish of the pillars of Islam?” “No” He replied. Umer, (May Allah be pleased with him) said: “ Lapses of the Alim, argumentation of the hypocrites with the Quran and the rein of the misleading and deluding rulers.” (Musnad Al-Faruque)

Waywardness of the two sections of the society generally thought to be the role models, lawyers and journalists, is badly affecting psychological nature of the whole body of the society. Protests, slogans, short-temperedness, affray and melee are not now peculiar moral shortcomings of boorish persons. Lawyers and journalists prove this obsessive guilt in their characters much more than the unlettered peoples of the society. Extremely aggressive attitude towards police and even the judges is now a common thing for the lawyers. The journalists think disgracing different groups in public and spreading the scandals of the politicians their professional duty but in spite of many proofs of their being tainted in many vices they seem highly sensitive about their own prestige. Whenever their own evils are hinted at they start wailing it is inroads upon independence of the expression.

No doubt the lawyers earned great professional prestige through their movement for restoration of judiciary and reinstatement of the sacked judges. The role of the media in that movement was also highly admirable. It was must for them to preserve their repute. But unfortunately just after the dictatorship was uprooted both, the lawyers and the journalists, started showing ridiculous state of rapture. They think their might to justify all that they do be considered right.