This is the English translation of the speech made by the President of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Syed Sadatullah Husaini, live-telecast from Jamaat headquarters in New Delhi on April 11.
This situation is probably the most unique in the history of mankind ever. The world has not seen this kind of fear and horror on such a global scale. It has never happened before that the shadow of death engulfed all the cities in the world at the same time and the glamour and glitter of human civilization receded altogether. The world has a lot of knowledge about this destructive virus and the fast-paced world of media has brought information right to our fingertips. The number of people dying in this pandemic may be less than that in previous pandemics but the torment that the entire world has been facing in terms of ‘the fear and possibility of death’ is unprecedented in the history of mankind.
This is such a huge thing that after this the entire world will change, every aspect of human life will be impacted. We will pass through this phase but will enter a completely new world. How will this new world be? How will it look like? We must reflect on it, but more than that we must think of how should the new world be? What are the lessons that we learn from this colossal global calamity? How should we make people aware about its reasons?
real position of the Muslim Ummah
The real position of the Muslim Ummah is that they are the upholders and flagbearers of the obedience of Allah, of high morals, of peace and justice. They are not only responsible for themselves but have the responsibility of the entire humanity on their shoulders. They have to worry about all for their good in this world and in the hereafter. If they only worry about themselves, limit themselves to their own problems and only think about themselves, it will be a great loss for humanity. This will also cause damage to the Muslim Ummah. It will not be able to escape the accountability before Allah. It is our responsibility to consider ourselves to be an integral part of mankind and ponder over the common problems that we all face. We should analyse their reasons. We should search for their solutions in the light of the Divine revelation and draw the attention of the world to those solutions. We should work hard and put in our utmost for that purpose.
Such great calamities demonstrate the tremendous power of Allah and are an expression of our helplessness and our vulnerability. Just think about it. This is the second decade of the 21st Century. Human progress is at its climax. We are at the zenith of human civilization with the fascinating miracles of invention and technology. The facilities and services available to the common man today were not available to even the kings and emperors before. Scientific discoveries and civilizational progress reached a stage that could not be dreamt of in the past. Modern man felt pride on these developments. People called it the victory of man over nature. This knowledge and skill produced a mindset that separated man from religion and God. Material progress became the “BIBLE” for the 21st century man and for nations. (Under this spell,) how to gain more and more wealth became the focus and source of motivation for all.
You will notice how this pandemic has destroyed this pride of man. It has shown man that his progress and development is nothing before the Might and Power of God.
“O people, an example is presented, so listen to it. Indeed, those you invoke besides Allah will never create [as much as] a fly, even if they gathered together for that purpose. And if the fly should steal away from them a [tiny] thing, they could not recover it from him. So weak are (both) the seeker and the sought!” (The Qur’an – 22:73)
helplessness of false gods
This verse from the Qur’an points towards the helplessness of false gods. The men of our era had invented and created these new false gods. They had made the mistake of making their knowledge, science and technology and materialistic power as their gods. A microscopic virus showed them the true status of their knowledge of science and technology. If Allah commands then even an invisible virus can humble the most powerful nation and make it helpless. All the airplanes in the world can be grounded. All the factories can shut down. Big corporations, education and research organisations, shopping malls and recreation centres, dazzling airports, luxurious hotels can turn into lifeless ruins at the lone signal of the Almighty Creator. Our army of servants can suddenly go out of our control with a single command of the Lord. The facilities of ordering our favourite food online, booking our transportation and many other services that were considered the miracle of human technology and enterprise can suddenly become non-operational or dysfunctional. Some of our well-known personalities have to face the torment and torture of adversity, solitude and helplessness.
When man forsakes the commands and teachings of God, he falls prey to imbalance and extremism. On the one hand we have people who disregard the “Sunnat of Allah”, ignore firm scientific facts, become oblivious to material resources and want to save themselves from the ill effects of every pandemic. Islam does not favour this. The Prophet ﷺ also took medicine to cure him. He adopted the resources and means available at that time. He taught his Ummah to adopt precautionary measures. He adopted the system of intelligence gathering for wars, providing the best resources, disciplining the armed forces and all such methods that can be considered the ways and means of achieving success in this world. After making all these material preparations, he ﷺ turned to Allah, supplicated, and asked for His help! This is the teaching of Islam and its philosophy. Islam does not teach you to ignore science and logic. You must use your intelligence and utilise the available material resources.
The other extreme is that people start considering the material resources, science and technology to be the alpha and omega of life. They consider their civilizational progress to be their god. They become captive to its power in such a way that they become unmindful of God. They start feeling that if they control the resources then they do not need anybody. Allah hates this pride and conceit. Humankind has fallen prey to these two extremes.
One the one hand we have superstition and stubbornness. On the other hand, we have vanity and hypocrisy. We have disregard and an attitude of arrogance towards the greatest reality of the universe that is God Almighty. Islam treads the middle path – the path of moderation. We should use the resources in an optimum manner, we must put the knowledge and intelligence that God has bestowed upon us to the maximum possible use. I call it scientific temperament. We must also turn to our Creator and be attached to God. For every incident and event, we must keep an eye on its scientific aspect and on its spiritual and divine facet. We should focus on solving it by modern research and utilisation of resources as well as by asking for the help of Allah.
We must introspect on our deeds; we must repent for our sins and seek the mercy of God. We believe that all powers however great – are powerless before Allah. All the powers and laws of nature are subservient to the Will of Allah; so your real relationship should be towards the Creator and Master of the universe. However, Allah has made certain laws for this world. Allah has permitted the use of resources by giving due regard to the Sunnat of Allah or the laws of nature. This is the temperament of Islam.
an excellent opportunity for us
The current situation of the world provides an excellent opportunity for us to present the best possible practical manifestation of Islam. Our doctors should serve the sick selflessly. They should also concentrate and connect with their Lord. They should turn to Him. Our policymakers, our social workers, our scientists and research scholars should pay attention to the scientific aspect of an issue. They must also be connected with their Lord and draw the attention of others towards this practice. Similarly, our Ulema, our religious guides, religious organisations should guide people towards worship, connecting with God and praying to Him – and also direct them to optimum utilisation of resources, taking precautionary measures. If they do not do this then they will not be representing Islam correctly.
We need to explain to the world that we should all return and turn towards the One Who created us. We should try to understand His Will, His Signs and His Warnings. We should become serious. We must echo the words – This is the best opportunity to invite people to – God has said in the Qur’an (4:79): “What comes to you of good is from Allah, but what comes to you of evil, [O man], is from yourself.”
It is the responsibility of the entire humanity to reflect on which attitude and behaviour is responsible for the greatest calamity to befall us. I have pointed out towards a fundamental fact. Which is the indifference shown to God, forgetting Him and ignoring His Presence and His Being. Allah hates injustice. The Qur’an declares injustice to be one of the main reasons for calamities and catastrophes. “And thus is the seizure of your Lord when He seizes the cities while they are committing wrong. Indeed, His seizure is painful and severe.” (The Qur’an – 11:102)
The Prophet ﷺ, while describing this ayah, said: “Allah gives a chance to the oppressor in this world but when He seizes the oppressor then Allah does not leave him.” If you ponder and reflect, you will realise that our era is different from others in which the oppression on man increased tremendously and new ways of oppressing were invented. In the last 100 years – the slogans of freedom, equality and human rights were definitely raised but there were very few attempts to implement those noble values seriously. Most of the time, these ideas remained in the hands of vested interests of big powers. However, in the last few years these ideals and values were completely decimated. Some say we have entered a “post-human rights” era!
History has never recorded so many refugees as we have today. According to the United Nations, more than 70 million people are rendered homeless because of the policies of oppressive regimes. In some cases entire nations have become refugees. Around 10 to 15 million people are banished from their homeland, deprived of all their rights and have become victims of statelessness. Unfortunately, there are attempts to increase their numbers. Probably refugees have never ever faced so many difficulties as they face in today’s age of progress and development.
The worst kind of racism is gaining acceptance in highly developed societies. Efforts are being made to create hatred towards ethnic and religious minorities and make life difficult for them. The skies have probably never witnessed such savage massacre of human settlements with weapons of mass destruction. Oppression also occurred earlier but the manner in which it has spread today might result in a moral consequence that all of humanity will have to bear. We cannot establish any scientific relationship between these events and the present calamity. However, this is exactly my submission. Besides the law of nature that is in the hands of the Creator and Lord of the universe there is also a moral law that is governing the universe. We must ponder and reflect and check if this pandemic is a “Divine Warning” to caution people and make them desist from this widespread oppression.
The Qur’an says that difficult times are a warning and admonition. Do they not see that they are tried every year once or twice but then they do not repent nor do they remember?
a warning!
There is one more reason to consider it a warning. You must reflect on what method nature has undertaken to warn humanity. Is there any lesson for us? Are we not leading a life in imprisonment or in jail? Is it not a warning on behalf of the thousands of innocent souls that we have imprisoned? Is it not true that many innocent people are bearing the punishment of being incarcerated because of the unjust wars by vested interests? The last decade saw several wars and many innocents thrown into prisons with the world realising only after so many years that those incarcerated were innocent.
There are many places in the world where entire populations are forced to lead a life of detention and confinement. Millions of men, women, and children have been held captive and do not have any freedom. I do not wish to point out any specific country or any specific event. We all need to introspect. The spiritual and religious leaders and intellectuals should come forward and warn the world that the adversity and problems that the entire humankind is suffering are giving very clear signs of nature. The sighs and laments of the oppressed can be clearly heard amidst the silence of the present conditions. The only option before us is to heed and listen to those signs and signals.
One aspect of the problems before us is related to the economy. Despite possessing all material and financial resources – the world economy has frozen. A devastating economic crisis is knocking at our doors. Please understand – economic exploitation and inequality is a kind of oppression. Because of the crony capitalism prevalent in our era, growing inequality has reached its peak. For the first time in history – the wealth of the entire world is concentrated in a few hands. In the last 40 years only 0.1% number of people have accumulated and captured the wealth of half of humanity. It is being said that the defining characteristic of our age is that the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. The economic policies adopted by the world are snatching the bare minimum that the poor earn and it is becoming a means of enlarging the wealth of the rich. Today millions are suffering from hunger and thirst. In our country during the pandemic, we saw with our own eyes how we abandoned our poor brothers and sisters.
DOES IT paint a picture of our age?
“And as for man, when his Lord tries him and [thus] is generous to him and favours him, he says, ‘My Lord has honoured me.’ But when He tries him and restricts his provision, he says, ‘My Lord has humiliated me.’ No! But you do not honour the orphan, and you do not encourage one another to feed the poor, and you consume inheritance, devouring [it] altogether, and you love wealth with immense love.” (The Qur’an – 89:15-20)
Are the above verses from the Qur’an not painting a picture of our age? The Creator of this world says that coveting wealth, neglecting the needy and poor and allowing a few capturing the wealth of many becomes the reason for calamity and adversity. A report was published in the New York Times on March 15. The report said that economic inequality is one of the main reasons for the spread of the pandemic. It has been mentioned based on scientific data that if the world did not have so much economic inequality – the pandemic would not have spread so much.
We have committed maximum oppression and injustice on nature. Allah has bestowed man with all the necessary resources to lead a good life. However, the lust for luxuries and the capitalistic system looted and plundered the resources of the world in such a way that our water, air and environment have been poisoned. Various research findings have brought to our knowledge that one of the main reasons for the manner in which viruses such as Novel Corona are endangering humanity is the ecological imbalance. Often diseases are emanating from biodiversity hotspots and it is said that the real reason for this is the excessive industrial activity and ecological imbalance in these areas. Because of the ecological disturbances – the microorganisms that were confined to animals have started entering the human body and becoming the reason for new diseases.
“Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so He may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return [to righteousness].” (The Qur’an – 30:41)
What is required is that we should raise these debates and draw the attention of the world towards the hidden moral reasons for this calamity. Today the conscience of humanity is more sensitive and alert. Those who believe in the Word of Allah and His religion should knock at the doors of the conscience of humanity. This trial and tribulation has taught us many lessons related to the change of attitude. Allah has deprived us temporarily of many facilities and comforts and taught us that we have very limited needs in this world. This saying is attributed to Gandhiji: “The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.”
Allah commands: “Eat and drink but waste not by excess; Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess.” (The Qur’an – 7:31)
economic inequality
This pandemic has taught the entire world that we had increased the limits of our consumption in an unnatural way. This greed and lust created economic inequality. This resulted in environmental degradation and ecological disaster. It resulted in oppression and injustice that I have described. During this lockdown, if we learn the lesson that nature has taught us – that we need to put a limit to our needs and lead a simple lifestyle then a lot of problems of humanity will be solved. But to learn this lesson it is important to acknowledge the Creator and Master of this universe and direct ourselves towards Him.
This pandemic has taught us another very big lesson that the lives of 7 billion people in this world are linked to each other and dependent on each other. All of us are children of the same father and mother. Our interests are common. Even if a single person who is sick, whether he is rich or poor, whether he is from our religion or not, his sickness is not dangerous for him alone but for all of us.
The Qur’an says: “The one who saved the life of one person saved the life of the entire humanity.” (The Qur’an – 5:32)
This pandemic has reminded us of this universal truth. As the pandemic is spreading day by day and by the hour, we became alert and paid attention to it. We tried to save the life of even a poor person. We did not look at his/her nationality, ethnicity and country of origin. If only we realised that all the aspects of life are interlinked and connected in the same manner. By keeping a large part of our population as poor and marginalised, we cannot remain prosperous for long. We cannot enjoy peace and harmony by pushing some people into the furnace of oppression and captivity. All humanity must benefit from peace and harmony. The needs of all should be fulfilled. The rights of all should be protected. Everyone must get freedom and respect.
We have also seen in this pandemic that we had to change many of our habits in order to deal with this pandemic. The entire world has changed its attitude during the last few weeks, it has sacrificed its luxuries, brought about changes in its routine so that we can protect the world and ourselves. This pandemic is probably an unprecedented event in the history of the world. Isn’t the sign of nature hidden in it that for solving the other problems of the world and for bringing an end to the oppression in this world, to end racism, sectarianism, communalism, violence, discrimination, poverty, hunger; to reduce economic inequality and protecting the environment – we shall have to alter our lifestyle and change our habits and attitude. The Qur’an declares the events that unfold in our lives to be a source of learning and guidance. The Qur’an says: “Indeed in that is a reminder for whoever has a heart or who listens and earnestly witnesses (the truth).” (The Qur’an – 50:37)
The aim of this great calamity that we are confronted with seems to be that we should draw lessons from it – understand the signs of nature and pave the way for a better world and a bright future for humanity. May Allah give us ability for doing that!
Aamin Summa Aamin!