Dispute is the mark of decline

Dispute is the mark of decline

1988 10 October 3 Dispute is the mark of decline (25) When a people fall to disputing the teachings of religion instead of putting them to practice, it is a sign of God’s displeasure. (Imam Awdhai)

Muslim Viability

1988 10 October 3 Muslim Viability (324) Today Muslims have fallen in public esteem all over the world as being people of no personal value. Muslim writers, of course, are unanimous in expounding the view that this is all attributable to the plots, oppression and prejudice of non-Muslim nations. How absurd this proposition seems when we consider that the arrangement of the entire world is in the hands of God Himself; He has never abdicated His control in favour of Hindus, Jews and Christians. Therefore, holding non-Muslims responsible for the woes of Muslims is a baseless calumny.

The present sate of Muslims has come about, not because of national or international conspiracies, but because they are subject to the laws of their Divine Maker. The following verse of the Quran describes how God deals with nations, depending upon whether they are useful or useless.

He sends down water from the sky which fills the riverbeds to overflowing, so that their torrents bear a swelling foam, akin to that which rises from smelted ore when men make ornaments and tools. Thus God depicts truth and falsehood. The scum is cast away, but that which is of use to man remains behind (13:17).

Another analogy is that of the purification of ores by heating them, so that whatever is impure first flows away, leaving behind a useful metallic residue.

A useless, or unprofitable group is like the scum from ore or the foam from water which has to be discarded, while the useful, giver group may be likened to the pure water, or pure metal which is left after the impurities have been washed away. It is the latter group which will attain stability in this world and give value, whether in a national or international setting.

The Muslims of today who have lost their usefulness have become like so much foam under the same law of God which governs all nations of the world. Nowhere will they find either stability or acclaim.