The End of the Age of Violence

There are two kinds of social movements — the positive and the negative. A positive movement is one which is based on duty. Such a movement has definite virtues. A negative movement is based on the demand for rights and the voicing of protests. Such a movement has no virtue whatsoever. The former is invariably positive in outcome, while the latter can end only in calamity. The Starting Point of Reformative Action When political decline set in in ancient times, the Jews conceived of the idea that they should revive their political power in Palestine by force. At that time, according to the biblical record, the Jewish Prophet Jeremiah said to them: “Say to the king and to the queen mother, ‘Humble yourselves; sit down, for your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.’” (Jeremiah, 13:18) This example of the Jews shows that nations rise and then fall, suffering from decline. After political dominance, they undergo political subjugation. This is the law of nature. At such times, the people ought to accept this change in their circumstances. For failure to accept it amounts to leading the community further down the path of destruction. The truth is that political power is not the monopoly of any nation or community. The acquisition of political power depends upon the capability of any given group to wield that power. Where a community has this capability, it may be granted the blessing of political power. Once a community loses this capability, its political power is taken away from it. In such a case, the group concerned should concentrate on developing the necessary capability rather than on waging a futile war against opponents. The Quran tells us that any change in the community is the result of a change in the individual. (13:11) Therefore, whenever any community suffers from decline at the social level, it should search for its cause at the individual level. For a community’s social condition can change only when change takes place at the individual level. Thus the starting point of an action is at the individual level and not at the congregational level. To start an action by addressing the crowd can only bring cheap popularity and nothing else.