Humanity!
What a blazing fiery history we have! Even the two sons of Adam
(peace be upon him) disagreed and one killed the other. The
tides of good and evil have ebbed and flowed across time.
Sometimes good dominates, and humanity knows peace and has the
chance to develop itself; and at other times evil presides, and
there is death, suffering, pain, anguish, and depression.
You
and I are like small boats cast adrift on the ocean of
humanity’s whims, shortsighted decisions, lustful desires, and
petty concerns.
So
2005, here we are, but what has changed? Has humanity become
more evil or have we just developed our skills and techniques of
oppression and tyranny? Have we mastered the art of deception
enough to camouflage ugliness and evil and call it beauty,
freedom—dare we say—democracy; or have we simply given up
spreading goodness so that evil, in all its forms, has the
chance to multiply and take over humanity like a cancerous cell?
The
Guantanamo of today is not much different from the dungeons of medieval
kings and the torture chambers of the Inquisition. Hunger and
homelessness bear their costs regardless of who or where you
are. Humanity’s pain is felt in all the epochs of history, we
just call it by different names.
And
war is not new to humanity. Skim through some history books to
know that humanity has always aligned itself into groups—each
vying for precedence and favor. Ultimately, one group will
prevail at the cost of the other, and so the cycle turns. But
humanity was somehow nobler in times gone by, despite the
essential ugliness of war. It took more bravery and courage to
fight a foe face to face, sword to sword, than it takes to drop
one massive bomb to destroy a huge chunk of humanity in one hit,
or to scatter cluster bombs from a safe altitude high above the
clouds. Perhaps humanity's greed has surpassed its courage and
nobility.
This
is the human condition. We're all a part of it and all
connected—just like we've been handcuffed together and told to
reach a certain destination. Surely we realize that if we are
left to ourselves we will destroy ourselves.
But
our Creator is Merciful. He allowed us this playing field (the
world) so we could discover ourselves and realize and appreciate
truth above falsehood and virtue above vice. And He, the
Almighty, sent us from the very beginning of time, Prophets,
Messengers, and other pious examples to follow—the
gate-keepers of piety and virtue—to show us the way around the
obstacles we place about ourselves and through the mess our
(collective) hands have made.
All
what's left for us to do is follow the Prophets, and thereby
obey the Creator, Whose light shines in the hearts of humanity;
perhaps very dimly in some, but it shines. You'll see it on
faces that are weary but calm, thwart with danger and pain, but
steadfast, confronting the devil himself, but resilient and
trusting in Allah to the end. You'll see these stars amidst the
darkness of humanity, like white-tipped waves curling and
tipping onto the shore of life only to recoil and rise again to
fall upon another distant shore. Wherever it touches it will
leave a trace of good: a smile on an orphan’s face, an
approving nod from an old person, or a grateful look from a
prisoner set free.
 |
|
Humanity
is like one huge body, and each part affects the others—for
better or for worse—and we who strive to follow Islam and live
by its principles and attain its goals of peace and harmony in
humanity, have a vital role to play. For Islam is not meant to
be hoarded like a miser’s treasure upon a shelf. Islam is
meant to be spread and carried on every breeze and wing to the
four corners of the world to have the effect of turning
everything it touches into gold—into something serene,
innately good and pure, explicitly strong and whole, and with an
unfathomable ability to overcome.
We,
the carriers of this light, must spread the message of Islam, of
peace, through the words we send forth, the gentle deeds, the
wise look, the humble silence, the forthright answer, and the
mighty will.
Humanity's
dilemma will continue until the end of time. It is promised and
we live within its history for such a short time and one day
we'll leave it to the coming generations who will pick up from
where we left off. What we'll carry to our graves are the secret
intentions of the hearts, the words and deeds that continue to
affect humanity long after we have gone: the food given to a
hungry child, a gentle word and some hope to the homeless, the
down and out, prayers and plans for the unjustly imprisoned, and
the voice of right that steadily and unceasingly echoes
throughout time and carries our voices as witnesses to humanity
that our lives were not in vain.
Read
Also
