ISLAM AND THE MODERN MAN — Part I

signs of true happiness. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) begins his book, The Conquest of Happiness, with these words: “Animals are happy so long as they have health and enough to eat. Human beings, one feels, ought to be, but in the modern world they are not, at least in a great majority of cases.” The reason for this is that modern civilization, despite its impressive achievements, has been able to provide man with only half of what he is looking for. It has been able to provide for his body, but it has been unable to provide for the needs of his soul. Man desires a world full of meaning, but modern civilization gives him only a piece of stone with no meaning attached to it. Man desires life, but modern civilization gives him only a replica of life. Man seeks peace of mind, but modern civilization places him in a mobile machine, which cannot convey him to his destination. Man wants to know the Creator of the universe, but Science can acquaint him only with creation. Man wishes to throw himself at the feet of his benefactor, but he cannot find his benefactor anywhere in the world of science and technology. Unable to find the true God, he bows down before false ones, but they cannot satisfy him any more than a plastic doll satisfies a childless mother. According to the Quran, they are only ‘names,’ not realities. (THE QURAN 12: 40) Two incompatible concepts cannot occupy an equal place in one person’s mind. Man’s need for a superior God is an established fact. It has even been accepted by thinkers who do not care to believe in any God or Religion. Bertrand Russell’s statement in his book, Principles of Social Reconstruction, can be cited as an example: “If life is to be fully human it must serve some end which is, in some sense, outside human life, some end which is impersonal and above mankind, such as God or truth or beauty.” This is an admission, by an atheist, of man’s intrinsic need for God. The predicament of modern man lies in his loss of God; His salvation is dependent only on rediscovering his God. In their attempt to understand human nature, anthropologists have studied different societies. They have all agreed that thousands of years