The entire cosmos is running a phenomenon that is based on justice and is controlled by a homogeneous order. Its every inanimate object is strictly following the trajectory assigned to it, fulfilling the objective for which it was created, heading towards its ultimate destiny in an extremely immaculate manner. There is no overlapping of one by another. Every object is strictly abiding by the rules and regulations that are meant for it. As such, there is complete discipline, peace and harmony in the cosmos. One can give any name to its sustenance, regularity, punctuality, and sophisticated accuracy in terms of conviction that one holds – God’s creation and His sustenance or the “cruel” Mother Nature. The only thing that it establishes beyond any shadow of doubt is that the system on which this cosmos was created or “came into existence” or the authority that is controlling and regulating it has maintained complete peace and harmony in the universe. We do not see anywhere any incident of “usurpation”, forceful eviction or “occupation”, denial of freedom in its free flow, interference by one in another’s domain. This culminates into total peace and security everywhere and is an eye-opening lesson for the human beings to follow.
The condition of human life, however, is quite different as it has two components that are complimentary and supplementary to each other but free in their respective domains: The Physical Life and The Moral Life:
PHYSICAL LIFE
The physical frame of man exists with three natural urges for food/thirst, sleep/rest and sex, and a strong freewill to fulfil the demands of the physical urges the way he/she wills or prefers. Each component part of human physical frame is fulfilling its designated act and performs its allotted function in harmony without interference from other parts of the body while giving clear directives to its moral part to fulfil its physical needs and urges in order to maintain its function and growth smoothly.
MORAL LIFE
This is the conscious life of man. In this sector, man has freedom or choice to fulfil the demands of his natural urges the way he likes. Man is free to satisfy his physical urges through rightful and honest means, thereby maintaining justice and peace in society or through oppressive wrongful means by committing zulm (oppression) against other human beings, usurping others’ legitimate rights and possessions and thus filling the earth with chaos, exploitation, bloodshed, anarchy and fraudulent practices as we see around us through ages. It has filled the human society with innumerable problems and it is crying in pain everywhere and there is none to heal its bleeding wounds.
The condition of human society is very precarious and the situation is going out of man’s control at an accelerated pace as man is chasing his unlimited needs, desires and caprices to satisfy his urges with the limited means available to him on earth. The gulf between means and ends is ever on the increase. This dilemma has plunged the human race into an unending chain of pitfalls, wars and skirmishes, occupation of others’ lands on false pretexts, monopolisation of trade and commerce through cartels, and corporate interest’s hegemonies – a corner stone of foreign policy of governments both of developed and developing countries. In this process the underdeveloped countries where the bulk of humanity lives, mostly producing raw materials, gas and petrol, are not getting just return of their products and toil. On one hand they are poorly paid for the raw material they produce and export. On the other, they are to pay high prices for the finished goods and services that they import from developed countries. They are doubly exploited and are hardly able to maintain their both ends together.
The inhabitants of these poverty-stricken lands have no “feeling” of satisfaction whatsoever worth its name. They have no or very little food to eat, no fresh water to drink, no healthy environment to breathe fresh air and only shanty towns and huts for “shelter”. Thus, the greater part of humanity is living under total inhuman conditions of “have-nots” whereas the developed nations are reaping the harvest of progress in industrial, agricultural and technical fields. The world is, thus, full of injustices and the human society is crying all around in distress. Practically, half of human beings are living a life of half-fed, half-clad and half-nourished and no proper roof on their heads. They have been looted and usurped for centuries together by the colonial powers of the West. Now they are left with no capital and technical know-how to build their own lot. As a result, these countries, their inhabitant’s life and their hearths and homes all are full of injustices and where there is no justice there is no peace, no security. Let us examine this precarious condition of humanity more comprehensively both at individual and collective levels.
ON INDIVIDUAL LEVEL
Man’s lust for power and luxurious life, greed for leading a handsome life, craze to go on increasing the standard of living at higher and higher level and unending desire to maximise his gains and pleasure, all incline him to earn more, grab resources as much as he can even by exploiting, usurping or denying others’ rights, cheating and defrauding his own fellows, hoarding and multiplying his profit by playing foul games and twisting the economic system to his favour, fulfilling the human abode with unspeakable zulm and oppression to the saturated point all around. Under these conditions man becomes a callous, reckless and irresponsible creature on earth. His only interest remains to maximise his profit, multiply his resources manifold, augment his financial empire on inter-continental level by hook or by crook, if possible “over-night”. If he pays taxes he avoids to pay very often through “legal” and self-created loop-holes in the system and pays some charity out of his tax deductions, he thinks he is “generous” and a magnanimous philanthropist. He exploits his labour force, creates unhealthy market condition to multiply his profit. Thus, he fills the earth with extraordinary injustices, oppression and exploitation all over the human societies. Such societies can never experience peace and security where exploitation is rampant day in and day out and the life of ordinary men and women have become a hell except the fortunate few who have access to power or accumulated wealth or are born with a silver spoonin the mouth.
If this trend continues in the human society unabated, justice will never prevail in any house or in any sector of human life. The income gap will go on increasing in geographical proportion till it engulfs the entire human society with distress and turmoil everywhere. In consequence, there will be no peace and no security worth its name on earth as we see today. If man’s basic needs are not fulfilled justly, he remains dissatisfied and breathes in a continuous state of “tight economy” which in the sight of Allah is due to neglect of His Divine guidance [The Qur’an calls it Maeeshat-e-Zanqa, 20:124]. The dream of man to live in peace and enjoy security will ever remain empty and only God knows how long.
ON COLLECTIVE LEVEL
In collective sphere, the scarcity of means against ever increasing human wants becomes more acute, especially when it is measured in terms of nation states where the world and its resources are divided and are now “sealed” into 197 water-tight compartments of nation states. Resources that God created for entire mankind as a whole and are spread over in various regions and sectors of human society on global level are being controlled by big or small nation states so much so that almost each nation is dependent on other in one way or the other. Nationalism thus created many small “powerless” states that could not defend their survival and succumb to the greed of giant powerful states. The Western colonial powers have played this game of exploitation, ruthless occupation and forced slavery during the last five hundred years and filled the earth only with zulm, slavery, extreme economic exploitation and merciless political subjugation. They denied the basic human rights to their colonies and occupied lands, thereby closing the doors of peace and security to millions and millions of human race for good in all the five Continents. Unfortunately, that game is still continuing in these countries even after independence by the ruling coterie in power which is loyal to their old Masters who are maintaining them to perpetuate their old colonial game of exploitation even to this day.
On international level, the national urge of the advanced countries for more resources, for more land, for cheap labour, getting access to greater market and “secured” monopoly of the supply of raw material for their industrial needs to maintain constant flow of fuel energy, is enticing the Western powers to “capture” new lands in Asia, Africa, North and South Americas. This game of foreign occupation is continuing even to this day in different names and styles. The greed for capturing new markets is perpetuating in the name of the new format of World Trade Organisation, hysterical campaign for Globalisation, Free Trade, open borders and no tariff. They are the “prestigious” names of old game of occupation, subjugation, exploitation and sucking the last drop of “free” underdeveloped world in the name of free trade and commerce, filling the earth with unspeakable injustices and depriving the humanity with much needed peace and security.
The continuous “occupation” of Chechnya, Palestine, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Iraq, Balkan and Gulf States is the culmination of the same game plan. This historical game of injustices around the world will never come to an end till human society resolves to mend its position forthwith in the following fields of life through its international forums and world agencies:
1. Man learns to live within his own “national” borders and God-given resources within its natural bounds, resorting only to rules of international trade to have access to other’s resources on the basis of fair competition and the Law of Comparative Trade;
2. All nations solemnly commit not to break the borders of other nations through inland, sea and air “pirating”;
3. Since the world cannot get rid of the curses of nationalism forthwith, it must commit to respect the sovereignty of each country whether big or small;
4. All colonial powers of the past must solemnly pledge to share their capital wealth and gains with their respective occupied colonies to get their economy rehabilitated at an accelerated pace;
5. Developed countries and the world at large must learn fast to sustain if not curtail down the standard of living, the mania of hal min mazeed [get more and more land and resources under control] by plundering the poor and the have-nots to the last drop through false “pre-emptive” attacks and fraudulent trade practices both under visible and invisible trade items;
Obviously, since the greedy world powers and “races” are not going to give up their cherished game-plan as listed above, the plundering of the poor countries will continue unabated, creating and filling the earth only with many accounted and a lot of unaccounted atrocities, injustices and exploitations, keeping the ideal of justice, peace and security far and far away from the reach of human beings and their society, leaving the suffering humanity crying for it for a period beyond the ken of mortal eyes to envision today. As such, humanity cannot get peace and security even if it may cry for it for another millennium till it learns how to live a just life and deliver justice to his fellow beings. That would be possible only when man resolves to live on earth in accordance to the Divine Guidance that is delivered to man to establish Justice [Al-Adl wa Qist] on earth as ordained by Allah in verse 25 of Surah Al-Hadeed. When man will learn how to live, act and behave on earth as a responsible human being under a constant sense of accountability to his or her Creator and Sustainer, he/she only then will do justice to self, family and humanity at large. Peace and security will then prevail everywhere on this abode of man.