Worldly Principles

North Korea completed a nuclear missile test today, and by reports this particular missile has the longest range of any of their other missiles. Meanwhile, Russia is significantly progressing their nuclear weapons program with not much resistance from the international community. Evidently, bigger and more destructive equals better, and it doesn’t matter if these particular nuclear weapons can destroy the entire world. Of course, we mustn’t forget our own country electing a President with no political experience, a poor grasp of international and other issues, and with a penchant for stepping on everyone’s toes, including our own Constitution.

There are many wars and skirmishes going on all over our globe, including genocides. The Geneva Convention which is supposed to assure conflicts follow the Rules of War including protecting human rights, is speaking out on these issues, but rarely takes effective action. The UN has determined the Israelis have committed war crimes against the Palestinians for years, and yet to this day, atrocities are still occurring. The very agencies that were established to assure global compliance regarding war crimes has become powerless to effect positive change.

“We live in a world in which four fifths of its population live in frustration while the other fifth lives in fear. The United Nations, our world’s “figleaf” does not hide the shame of humanity but rather scandalizes humanity’s malaise. It is troubling that the League of Nations and the United Nations were born after two world wars. Humanity’s unity should come as a natural birth and not as the result of a cesarean section, i.e. through violent global wars.” ~ Shayka Jawdat Saeed

It is a global chess game of power. Aggression, dominance, and the taking of others resources is a game that has been played since primitive humans began growing their own food and establishing agrarian based communities. The wealthy in those early communities used the peasants to grow the food, in which the powerful would take approximately 2/3 of the production leaving peasants very little subsistence to live. Because the wealthy and powerful didn’t want to farm themselves, began creating a military to raid other towns and villages thereby increasing their own wealth. However, the very places they raided would then take revenge and the cycle of aggression and death continued on and on.

However, in our age of globalization and excessive nuclear weapons this is a very, very dangerous game indeed. Government leaders now have the capability to create destruction on a massive scale and yet there is a significant lack of wisdom that acknowledges that it is time for cooperation instead of aggression. It seems our planet is doomed indeed. It appears humanity is on a downward slide that will only resolve itself with our own annihilation. But first, we will be addressing starvation on a global scale, increased wars, government coups, dangerous economic downfalls, and an overall increase in what any believer would call “evil.”

Karen Armstrong writing in Fields of Blood: Religion and the history of violence (The Muslim Dilemma), “What distinguished Islam from other revelations, however, was that it had a God-given mandate to extend its rule to the rest of humanity. Its mission was to establish the social justice and equity prescribed by God in the Quran, so that all men and women could be liberated from the tyranny of a state run on world principles. The reality, however, was that the Abbasid caliphate was an autocracy that depended on the forcible subjugation of the majority of the population; like any agrarian state, it was constitutionally unable to implement Quranic norms fully. Yet without such idealism, which reminds us of the imperfection of our institutions, their inherent violence and injustice would go without critique. Perhaps the role of religious vision is to fill us with divine discomfort that will not allow us wholly to accept the unacceptable.”

I would take Armstrong’s thinking much further, however; all of the believers of the One True God must return to the core teachings of their prophets. We all must work towards full submission to Allah to transform ourselves, and then united begin actively being the resistance against the multi-horned monster that is threatening our very existence. This may mean replacing government welfare programs, which in our country with our new President is going to see reduced funding. We need to answer the call of our respective religion’s teachings to take care of the widows, orphans, elderly, and the needy. We need to use legal means in any way possible to fight against injustice and human rights violations. Many of us already speak out, have recently demonstrated, and put our writing skills to good use by educating against ignorance. However, this is not enough. We must become strong! The Ummah is being called to lead a movement of spiritual revival in which we will guide the other monotheistic religions by our example. The time is short, very short. We must listen, observe, and be aware.

We are not just in jeopardy of our physical lives and well-being, but our souls as well. Individually we must become spiritually strengthened so the Ummah will become strong. This means full submission to Allah. This means dedicating all of your resources, your direction, and your gifts towards Allah’s guidance and purpose so that he may use us to save as many non-believers as possible. It is by our compassionate actions that people will be drawn to Islam, and not by using our reason as a proof of Islam or Allah. Stop debating with those who are not using their reason to understand — the Qur’an addresses this more than once. Let us use the power of prayer, pious behavior towards one another, and Allah’s direction to fulfill His purpose on earth during these dangerous times we live in.