A simple thought from The Community on Friday: When we were growing up (aah, how it seems like just yesterday), we were exposed to a great treasure – at home, at school and at madrasah – discipline, good manners or what we called akhlaaq. Indeed, as the commemoration of the passing away of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) portends to the legacy he left behind of good manners, cultured social behaviour and a general pleasant disposition of personality.
With time, society stopped giving it adequate importance as the pursuit for socio economic progress intensified, and it was either contended that there just wasn’t enough time to be nice to each other, or that true progress was synonymous with the big ugly American as impersonated by hollywood, who was essentially rugged, selfish, and loud. Conceivably, it may have been a combination of both these factors that eventually drove society towards a state of utter alienation.
Adam Blattner in a paper he wrote in January 2006, aggregated thus: “Ethics involves the sphere of interpersonal, group, and community politics at the level of values–not just what can be achieved or how to achieve it, but more what should be sought, in the realm of social harmony and fairness. It is the complexity of the other side of individualism– other than taking care of oneself, what do we want our collective to do or refrain from doing? Ethics looks at our proper relations, our duties to each other, individually and collectively.”
Tragically, Muslims societies, confused about the complexities of their religion, its ordinances and jurisprudence, remain vastly gullible to the atrocious but easy proliferation of foreign values that conflict with their own value systems. The respect that the young have nowadays (exceptions acknowledged), is for everyone to see in public as shown in speech, treatment, greeting and other social interactions. Those parents who unfortunately got swayed by a value tide, ultimately find themselves insubordinated by the own children, who also then become a problem to society. Not spending enough time with our children guiding them when they need guidance, more often than not, leads to a situation of social anarchy, to say the least.
Sanjoy Roy, in his recent essay says “It is true that human life today has become speedy and hectic. Life has become too much diversified and fast. There are national and international societies that can meet within the shortest possible time, because time and space have been conquered. Naturally it is commonly thought that good manners that bound the social relations have now fallen out of use. I, however, disagree with the view.” What do Muslims feel about this?
This initiative is made possible by the kind courtesy of Abu Baseer Eye Clinic, Bande Khuda Sponsors, G1 Security, Highways Car Hire Ltd, Max Fries, Meadows Academy, SD Dental Clinic & Ceramic Lab, SokoniAdvertiser and Xpress Rent a Car, and for the ISAALE THAWAAB of Marhumeen of Bhimji and Nayani Family and Marhuma Sarubai Abdullah
