Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. How predictively W.B. Yeats, a Nobel prize-winning Irish poet of immense stature, about a century ago foretold what is happening today. If you cast a glance at how a tiny virus has brought the world, and India in particular, to its knees, you will see how the ‘things’ or what we call governance have fallen apart: no basic infrastructure, no healthcare facility, no sense of humanity and no attempt to mend the ways in sight. What we witnessed in countries like the US and Italy last year is happening in India today – images and videos showing bodies thrown by the roadside and JCBs tending bodies are indeed callous and heart-rending. It seems humanity has gone to the winds.
What has brought the society to this sorry state of affairs? Is this the natural corollary, the consequence of our own doings? The Qur’ān replies in the affirmative. In Surah Al-Rum, the Qur’ān says: “Corruption has become rife on land and sea in consequence of what people’s hands have wrought.” Then adds: “And so He will let them taste the consequences of some of their doings, so that they might mend their ways.” (30:41)
Believe it or not, this is Divine punishment. But, for that matter, the sense of belief comes later; first comes the process of thinking. So, let us think why God would punish the large segments of masses. Have we not witnessed vandals killing and maiming fellow humans? Have we not tolerated lynchings as cow-factor? Have we not turned the other way while injustice and oppression was meted out to the minorities, including Dalits? Have we not cultivated an air of exclusivity? Have we not told lies as if they were gospel truths? Have we not violated the commandments of God, quite willingly and rebelliously? Have we not practised polytheism?
These are the hard questions that perhaps we do not like to hear. But God sees whatever we do or even plan to do. God has created us and given us sustenance to live. His only demand is that we worship Him alone without associating anyone or anything as partner with Him. If we do not fulfil this demand, we are bound to taste the consequences. It is for us to learn lessons and mend our ways accordingly that the Qur’ān presents the unfortunate end of earlier communities who dared to violate His commandments and practised polytheism. The Qur’ān says: “Say: ‘Travel around the world and see what was the fate of those who lived before you. Most of them did associate partners with God’.” (30:42)
But, as God is the Most Merciful and Beneficent, He still gives us chance and invites us to the true faith. He says: “So set your face steadfastly towards the one true faith before there comes from God a day which cannot be averted.” (30:43)
If we think over these three verses of the Qur’ān, we would be able to please Him by treading the path of ultimate success, and avert such calamities.