A GOOD SOCIETY

The individual is the primary unit of society. If individuals are reformed, society follows suit. And if individuals degenerate, society too goes into decline. That is why our best efforts should centre on the individual, who is, after all, the basic building block of the society. The day we reform individuals in their thousands, we shall have set ourselves well and truly on the path of successful social reform. The solution to our problems lies in inter-community meeting, instead of protests and demand meetings with the government. The most urgent need of today is to hold inter-community dialogues at a national level. Serious-minded and influential people from all communities should participate in these interactions. Their goal should be the securing of peace on the basis of purely non-political grounds. Representatives of all communities should hold discussions with open hearts. They must strive to put an end to controversial situations on all sides and should discover a common basis by adopting which, all communities can live together as good neighbours. The soul of all reformation is the reformation of the individual soul. A dialogue of this kind is exactly in accordance with the Islamic Shariah. The Hudaibiya peace treaty in Islamic history is an instance of a successful dialogue of this nature. After the Prophet’s emigration, relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in Arabia considerably deteriorated. A number of battles and skirmishes ensued, and walls of prejudice and hatred barred them from coming closer to each other. Finally, peace could only be established at Hudaibiya near Makkah in 628 A.D. through peaceful negotiations between the Prophet Muhammad and the non-Muslim Makkan leaders. If such a dialogue is held with full justice and sincerity, a new chapter will be opened in the history of India. It is this point of inter-community relationship where the history of India is standing still. Once this problem is solved and relations between communities improve, nothing else will come in the way of India’s progress. The dialogue, if it has to succeed, should not take the form of polemics. Representatives should not become spokesmen of their respective