Spirit of Islam · THE CONCEPT OF ACCOUNTABILITY — Perfect Society / Perfect Justice

THE CONCEPT OF ACCOUNTABILITY — Perfect Society / Perfect Justice

Spirit of Islam, June 2014, p. 35

By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.

THE CONCEPT OF ACCOUNTABILITY Perfect society / Perfect Justice G OD is indispensable to man. His life is incomplete without God. A philosopher has aptly remarked that had there been no God, we would have had to invent one. Fortunately, God exists in reality. We can believe in God with conviction, not as a supposition, but as a fact. And we can accord Him the place He deserves in our lives. It is essential that man should have within his reach, a super formula for life’s management. God provides just such a formula — a complete principle for life’s management. Human beings are not like machines controlled by a mechanical system, nor are they like animals who are governed by their instincts. Human beings enjoy freedom. They take decisions about their actions of their own free will. Now the question arises as to how to keep man on the right course, how to make him consistently disciplined in his behaviour. History shows the ineffectiveness of all worldly measures in this connection, whether — social pressures, enforcement of the law of the land or the appeals of reformers. History shows the ineffectiveness of all worldly measures to keep man on the right course and to make him consistently disciplined in his behaviour. Experience shows that the pressure of society is limited, if not totally ineffective. There are so many loopholes in the law that it is not difficult for wrongdoers to find a way out. The reformers’ bid to reform people are nothing but appeals; and appeals alone cannot bring about a revolution in human life. The truth is that for the attainment of disciplined behaviour, it is essential for one to be convinced of the existence of a power far superior to himself, a Being who is aware of man’s activities at every moment; who can reward and punish man, and from whom it is impossible to escape. There can be only one being of this nature — and that is God. Belief in God functions at two levels at the same time. On the one hand, man

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