Building a Better Society

Eminent scientist and thinker Stephen Hawking has called for a massive investment in establishing human colonies on the Moon and the Mars, pleading that the world should earmark about 10 times, or as much as 0.25 per cent of its financial resources to space exploration. Demographers have projected that the present 670 crore human population…

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June 18, 2022
Eminent scientist and thinker Stephen Hawking has called for a massive investment in establishing human colonies on the Moon and the Mars, pleading that the world should earmark about 10 times, or as much as 0.25 per cent of its financial resources to space exploration. Demographers have projected that the present 670 crore human population will steadily increase and by the year 2200, more or less stabilised at 1000 crore or 10 billion.
It is true that natural resources are limited and they should be utilised judiciously without harming environment. Therefore the stress on proper management and utilisation of finite resources is very much needed. It cannot be denied that because of the increasing needs of population and depleting resources, search for more resources, even from the Moon and the Mars is a desirable effort.
But, it is a greater imperative that we take stock of our present world before embarking upon expansion in other planets. Whatever society has achieved during last 10,000 years of recorded history is worth appreciating, yet there is much to be desired. There is poverty, abject poverty, being suffered by about one-third of humanity. Recent surveys reveal that one per cent richest people of the world possess equivalent to what the 57 per cent poorest people of the world have. A large number of people in poor countries have been suffering from degrading poverty, which reduces their human dignity and debases them. They are not able to educate their children properly. They have to suffer from malnutrition, ill-health and diseases. They are forced to dwell in unhealthy surroundings, which lack the basic civic amenities. They are steeped in crimes and moral degeneration. Three-quarters of the world’s poor are living in rural areas, which are the most neglected parts of our globe. Same is the condition of India’s rural population.
As regards the international trade, it is being controlled by some privileged sections of developed countries. International trade is worth $10 million (or Rs 40 crore) a minute. But, poor countries account for less than half per cent of this. We find that gross inequalities and discrimination are rampant all over the world.
Greater is the poverty of thought which tolerates this painful state of affairs. By and large the religions of the world, which are a potent force, and capable of changing the trends, have confined themselves to certain rituals and selected ethical topics. Is degrading and dehumanising poverty not the most pressing ethical question, which is shaking the very foundations of religions?
If we want to sustain the onward march of civilisation and give it a better tomorrow, true religiosity and practical spirituality must be rekindled. A new moral framework has to be created and human endeavours directed towards it. Man is not a social animal, but basically a moral being. His efforts should not remain confined to material development alone. He must recognise that he is the vicegerent of God on this earth. His real greatness does not lie in conquering the Moon and the Mars. It lies in knowing his Creator, understanding his own worth and fulfilling God’s plan on this earth. He must learn the art of leading a peaceful, well-mannered, disciplined life on earth in the light of divine guidance, which has been made available to him in abundance in the form of the teachings of messengers.
The institutions which make the civil society have a limited agenda for changing the society. In these circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Muslim intellectuals to present the comprehensive roadmap of rebuilding human society on sound moral principles, which are the common heritage of the entire humanity and which only can save our strife-torn fragmented world from disintegration.