Changes in the Criterion of Power

Changes in the Criterion of Power people had lost the very notion of a cause to live for in the East. Their bubbling energy united the Westerners, while the Easterners, who had now gone into decline, had lost those qualities that keep people together. The Westerners were now fired by a passionate zeal to spread the civilisation they had developed to the rest of the world, while the Easterners remained alive simply on the memories of what they had inherited from their ancestors. The Westerners were full of energy and excitement, while, at the very most, the Easterners were concerned simply to defend or protect whatever little remained with them. These fundamental differences between the people in the West and the East were akin to the distinction between an alert and active army, on the one hand, and one that is tired and listless, on the other. In such a situation, the task before the East was to prepare its people once again, rather than stirring illprepared folks using emotional speeches to fight their opponents—but that is precisely what the Ulama of the present age did.