INDIVIDUAL REFORM, NOT ‘PROTEST ACTIVISM’ Beginning of True Reform

S OME people argue that social problems can be solved only through ‘social activism’, particularly through demonstrating against the state, against what they call the ‘ruling class’, against what they term as caste oppression, class oppression, imperialism, patriarchy, the oppression of this or that community or ideological system, and so on. This kind of activism is nothing but ‘protest activism’. Experience has shown that ‘protest activism’ is completely futile in terms of its results. Islam believes in result-oriented action. If we consider protest activism in terms of the results it produces, we will find that it always ends in the wastage of money, time, energy and loss of life. Protest oriented activism is completely futile in terms of its results. Social movements based on this sort of protest-oriented ‘activism’ may be good for their leaders, but not for the society at large. Experience indicates that these so-called social movements produce only negative thinking. As a matter of fact, negative thinking is destructive thinking, and no destructive thinking can lead to any positive end. Reform requires a very sincere kind of positive effort. No amount of negative criticism can bring about reform. Protest-oriented ‘activists’ focus only on what they see as problems around them. They spend their lives demonstrating against this or that. This problem-oriented thinking is ‘unnatural’. This means that people who think and act in this way are thinking and acting against the law of nature. The fact is that problems are an inevitable part of life in this world. In every system and every society, there have been, and there will always be, problems of different sorts. But, at the same time, it is also a fact that in every situation there are also opportunities. According to the law of nature, no problem can entirely eliminate the opportunities that also exist simultaneously, not even in what seems to be the most difficult situations. So, the best practical formula is to ignore the problems and avail the opportunities that are available. INDIVIDUAL REFORM, NOT ‘PROTEST ACTIVISM’ Beginning of True Reform