Socialism: an Impractical method of government

Socialism an Impractical method of government

1985 3 March 20 Socialism: an Impractical method of government (70) Mario Soares, leader of Portugal’s socialist party, first came to power in 1976, and was elected in June 1983 for a second term as Portugal’s Prime Minister. The first problem that he encountered as ruler of his country was how to introduce Socialism when an ailing economy can only be restored by methods inimical to socialist doctrine. He came to the conclusion that, “We must leave Socialism in the drawer.”

The Message of the Qur’an

1985 3 March 20-22 The Message of the Qur’an (1039)

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate the Merciful

Chapter II (contd.)

When Moses said to his people: ‘God commands you to sacrifice a cow,’ they replied: ‘Are you making game of us? ‘God forbid that I should be so foolish,’ he rejoined. ‘Call on your Lord,’ they said, ‘to make known to us what kind of cow she shall be.’ Moses replied. ‘Your Lord says: “Let her neither be an old cow nor a young heifer, but in between.” Do, therefore, as you are bidden. ‘Call on your Lord,’ they said, to make known to us what her colour shall be.’ Moses replied: ‘Your Lord says: “Let her be yellow, a rich yellow pleasing to the eye.” ‘Call on your Lord,’ they said, ‘to make known to us the exact type of cow she shall be; for to us cows look all alike. If God wills we shall be rightly guided.’ Moses replied: ‘your Lord says: “Let her be a healthy cow, not worn out with ploughing the earth or watering the field; a cow free from any blemish.” ‘Now you have told us the truth,’ they answered. And they slaughtered a cow, after they had nearly failed to do so. And when you slew a man and then fell out with one another concerning him, God made known what you concealed. We said: ‘Strike the corpse with a piece of the slaughtered cow.’ Thus God restores the dead to life and shows you His signs, that you may grow in understanding (2:67-72).

A murder was committed among the Israelites in Moses’ time. The method that God revealed to His prophet for identifying the killer was that a cow should be sacrificed, and the dead man’s corpse struck with a piece of it. The dead man would name the murderer. This novel method was chosen for several reasons.

1. The Children of Israel had spent a long time in Egypt, and had been influenced by Egyptian customs and culture. The practice of cow-worship, for instance, had also been adopted by the Israelites, who had also come to regard the cow as ‘sacred’. The purpose of Almighty God was to remove this misplaced veneration from their minds, and this murder was chosen as the means: only be sacrificing a cow would the culprit come to light.

2. Another mistake that the Israelites had made was to destroy the simplicity of divine religion by involving themselves in complicated theological wrangling. They had to learn to interpret God’s commandments simply and implement them immediately in a straightforward manner. This was another lesson that was taught under the pretext of this murder case: if one engages in hair-splitting efforts to define the exact scope of divine commandments then one will only make things difficult for oneself; added conditions will serve to complicate the implementation of what had originally been a simple commandment.

3. The third lesson of this case was that life after death is no less a reality than life before death. Just as the dead corpse was revived, so every soul will be raised up in the Hereafter and given new life.

Yet after that your hearts became as hard as rocks or even harder; for, from some rocks rivers spring forth: some break asunder and water gushes forth from them: and others tumble down through fear of God. God is not unaware of what you do. (2:74)

Those who seek to make loopholes in God’s commandments become more and more insensitive. Their theological arguments lead to hardness of heart. To believe in God is to believe in the most supreme of beings. The moving force of this faith should be enough to rock the soul of a lowly mortal. A man of faith displays his belief in God by stunned silence rather than by pretentious words. Only one who is insensitive to the impact of the word of God will seek to distort it with his own words; only one who lacks awareness of His exalted nature will seek to manipulate His commandments, as if they had emanated from some human source. Such acts lead only to increasing insensitivity, till one’s heart becomes as hard as stone. A heart of stone will not melt before the might of the Lord. The thought of God will not excite one who has become insensitive to the Lord’s words. Such a soul will not bow before the will of God; it will remain as rigid as a rock.

Stones have been mentioned symbolically in this verse. God has created the world as a source of admonition and remembrance for man. There is a message in everything in nature, a demonstration of how to make one’s life conform to the will of God. The message of the universe, however, is conveyed in the form of silent actions; in the Quran, this message has been put into words.

Three aspects of the symbolic meaning of rocks have been mentioned in this verse:

1. One sees on mountains how streams flow from rocks, finally to join together in the form of a river. This is symbolic of a certain type of human being: one in whose heart fear of God is lodged, like water in the bosom of a mountain; this fear of the Lord flows from his eyes in the form of tears, as streams flow down the crags of the hillside.

2. Some rocks seem to be nothing more than dry boulders; but when cracked huge pools of water appear beneath them – wells from which people quench their thirst. This is on a parallel with one who, at first sight, appears to be far from the Lord. Then he is struck by some calamity, which tears his soul apart and reveals the devotion to God that was latent within him.

3. Sometimes one sees landslides on mountains, with great slabs of rock crashing down the hillside. This is comparable to a human being who had adopted an unjust attitude towards another. But, the moment he was reminded of the command of God, he immediately bowed down in humility before His word. Where he had found it difficult to bow before a man like himself, he was more than willing to bow before God.