The Clash of Civilizations

The world has, indeed, entered the age of peaceful dialogues. The nuclear deterrent has, in reality, become a war deterrent. The end of the 20th century saw the end of violent confrontations. The 21st century is a new era of human history when man, for the first time is able, in the real sense of the expression, to lead his life in peaceful circumstances. Finders, not Losers O ne can sum up the state of the Muslim community today by saying that they are afflicted by a persecution complex. Wherever one looks, one finds Muslims haunted by a feeling of having lost something. Everywhere they are complaining of persecution by other nations, of having had something taken away from them. Closer scrutiny will tell one the nature of those things that Muslims complain of having lost. One will find that it is political power, government posts, economic resources, social influence and material gain that Muslims feel they have been deprived of. To their mind, they have been done out of these things by other nations of the world. But, in fact, the Muslims have only themselves to blame for the losses they have incurred. It is their own neglectfulness that has taken them where they are. It is not a question of their having been deprived; it is a question of they themselves having failed to come up to the required mark. Still, what is even more important is that, even along with all these losses, there is still one thing that no one can take away from them. They may have lost worldly wealth, but they are still possessors of great spiritual wealth. The religion of Islam is still with them, fully