Rationalizing the sorry state of Ummah by the Quran
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Dear All, Salam
Strange indeed is the response of some of us when we point out some success stories in the West on good governance, science, technology, medicine, ethics, accountability, justice system, cleanliness, equality, social welfare systems, etc.
They response by quoting verses from the Quran that say
2212 Beautified seems the life of this world to the rejecters, and they ridicule the believers who uphold Permanent Values and look beyond instant gains. Those who live an upright life will be higher in degrees on the Day of Resurrection. Allah provides without stint to His creation according to His Law that does not discriminate between people. He is the Sustainer of all humanity (1141)
314 Beautiful for mankind is love of the joys that come from women and children, and heaps of gold and silver, and branded horses, and cattle and well-tilled land. That is comfort of the life of the world. Allah! With Him is a more excellent abode. (Believers in the Divine Laws see this comfort as the means to a higher Goal --- Service --- Self-actualization --- Paradise)
(O Messenger) Say, "Shall I inform you of something better than these, with which those who walk aright will be rewarded by their Lord? Gardens with flowing streams beneath, where they will live forever with spouses of spotless character and the Blissful Approval of Allah. Allah is Seer of His servants."
In other worlds, Muslims must not seek excellence in this world and live like beggars, not contributing towards science, medicine, technology, good governance, proper justice system, social welfare, etc. etc.
Nice way of rationalizing azaab-like conditions and giving them a religious twist to make people feel better!!
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Salaam,
I have seen quite some people living like this in the middle-east, they stop caring about everything because they know this world is just a temporary illusion. But they forget you can use your works in this life to help others, like with accumulated money or working with almost any profession.
Construction worker, farmer, tailor, teacher, the list is long over things you can do to help others. And God did not forbid improving things which also help others, so science is okay.
When quoting these verses, and justify a passive living, is a misunderstanding of the Message, it means being completely soaked up in this world and hoarding money with no regard of the Hereafter or God, or other lesser fortunate brothers and sisters. It does not mean not to contribute to the society.
So you are right, these people just want to hide their failure behind some Quranic passages taken out of context.
By the way, paying your taxes is a sort of semi-charity, some of it goes to the lesser fortunate, at least in the most developed countries. A sort of positive aspect of a modern social security system.
If it was not for science and development, we would still be living in the stone ages and riding on camels and use our hands to do things.
Well, at least we would not have problems with the pollution...
God bless you
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Salaam,
The success of the West can be for many reasons. What I don't like is when people say this is a blessing from God specifically for the West because they, for example, don't follow Hadith. That's like saying Pharoah was blessed by God because he declared himself a god rather than saying he believes in God but secretly he didn't believe. To me that just doesn't fit.
In terms of your point, some people do use this idea but I'm not sure how many. From what I've heard, people in places like Iran or such places are pushed towards jobs in engineering, science and academia. Maybe not all but a certain social class.
This kind of rationalization does remind me of a point in the Quran where it states people won't give food or help people because they say Allah would have done it. I can't recall the verses right now but its shows an attitude with implementing the Quran.
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Salaam peace,
Many aspiring people have risen as of recently in Iran, but there are many people who do not lift their finger because they save everything for the next world. They just wander around getting their bread from others. That was the point.
And some argue as described, that we should not at all work or develop the world.
Their counterparts exist in the West too though, but they are slackers believing in nothing.
Anyway, I do not think that was the point of the thread author.
God bless you
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Thanks for your comments Friends. Allow me to share a response to this question from another forum
Dear brother,
You know that random quotations with disregard of the divinely ordained use of tasreef-il-ayaat can fail to convey the Message.
315 Say (O Messenger), ?Shall I inform you of something better than these, with which the upright will be rewarded by their Sustainer? - Gardens with flowing streams beneath, where they will live forever with spouses of spotless character and the blissful approval of God. God is Seer of His servants.?
316 Those who say, ?Our Sustainer! We have chosen to be graced with belief. So, protect us from trailing behind in doing good and save us from the agony of the fire of regret.?
732 Say, "Who is there to forbid the beauty and aesthetic niceties that God has brought forth for His servants, and the good things of sustenance?? Say, ?On the Day of Resurrection, these things will be only for those who chose to believe in Divine laws during the life of this world.? Thus do We detail Our messages for people who make use of what they learn.
7156 Appoint for us the good in this world and in the Hereafter. We turn to You for guidance.? (He answered), ?My punishment is but through My law. But My mercy embraces all things. Yet, I (especially) appoint it for those who live upright and keep their wealth open for others and those who truly believe in Our messages.?
2877 ?Seek, by means of what God has granted you, the Home of the Hereafter, but do not forget your portion in this world. Do good to others as God has done good to you. Do not spread corruption in the land, for God does not love the corrupters.?
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Islamic countries aren't doing bad. GCC and Turkey is doing VERY well. The richest countries of Africa are North African Islamic countries. Indonesia and Malaysia are doing very well. Problem is with south asia and afghanistan mainly.
The only problem I see with Islamic countries is the literacy rate, which is lower than the average of the globe
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Salaam peace,
Many aspiring people have risen as of recently in Iran, but there are many people who do not lift their finger because they save everything for the next world. They just wander around getting their bread from others. That was the point.
And some argue as described, that we should not at all work or develop the world.
Their counterparts exist in the West too though, but they are slackers believing in nothing.
Anyway, I do not think that was the point of the thread author.
God bless you
Salaam,
So you are saying that the point is that some people in countries like Iran use religion as an excuse for not developing? I'm not sure where I disagreed with that.I'm not sure what you mean when you say that it wasn't the point of the thread author? My point was off topic you mean? Or the point you just made?
May God bless you too.
I don't think it's just down to the way a religion is practcised either. I agree with Solomon in that there are parts of the world whether there are more barriers. This is not just the case in the Muslim world, it's a global issue and relates to corruption - by educated people in the political elites - geopolitical factors etc.
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Hi Everyone,
Isn't the success of the west primarily due to the fact that we divided and bombed the rest of the world back into the stone age?
Colonization ... First strategy in divide and conquer.
World War I ... Destroyed large parts of Europe and dissolved the Ottoman empire.
World War II ... Destroyed large parts of Europe and North Africa.
Afganistan wars ... Destroyed an entire country.
Iraq wars ... Destroyed an entire country.Letting Syria destroy itself without trying to intervene for peace. Keep others angry and destroying each other then the west takes it all right from under them. Sell the other countries bad loans and default on them driving their economies down...
Just my crazy conspiracy thoughts... (take them with a grain of salt).
JewishDude
peace Salam, Shalom, Peace peace -
Hi Everyone,
Isn't the success of the west primarily due to the fact that we divided and bombed the rest of the world back into the stone age?
Colonization ... First strategy in divide and conquer.
World War I ... Destroyed large parts of Europe and dissolved the Ottoman empire.
World War II ... Destroyed large parts of Europe and North Africa.
Afganistan wars ... Destroyed an entire country.
Iraq wars ... Destroyed an entire country.Letting Syria destroy itself without trying to intervene for peace. Keep others angry and destroying each other then the west takes it all right from under them. Sell the other countries bad loans and default on them driving their economies down...
Just my crazy conspiracy thoughts... (take them with a grain of salt).
JewishDude
peace Salam, Shalom, Peace peaceSalaam Jewishdude,
I agree quite a lot with this. Warfare, divide and conquer, proxy wars - which some say is kind of happening in Syria with the rebels being armed even though at least some of them say they don't want any negotations with Assad (at least that's what I've read), taking resources, huge debts on loans, sanctions, even the way borders were set out all affect the success of a nation.