Mirza Shahnawaz Agha
The Quranic version of our Creation is a pertinent point to start with. Allah made the human form from putrid sand first and then exhaled His spirit into it! The outcome was the bi-dimensional manifestation of our being. Conceptual to the human mind this is an amalgamation of two extremes conceivable. The lowest as in matter and the purest as in the spirit of Allah Himself! The narrative goes on to say that the creation is in His image and when we examine the disclosed attributes of His image we find him bi-dimensional too! He introduces His supreme and beloved creation in the personage of the Last Prophet (PBUH) as a blessing and witness for all creation and we find him, as the epitome of mercy, slaying people in holy wars – bi-dimensional again! This is true for His Book the Holy Quran that is the bearer of all knowledge and yet is used by some for sorcery. A bi-dimensional status yet again! More. He introduces His preferred religion (Deen) as a road with two destinations, hell and heaven, which is bi-dimensional just as much! The significant aspect to the narrative is His exclusive gift / attribute to the human species. He gave us ‘liberty’, as in the form of a legal right, to exercise ‘free-will’! One is at liberty to move on this road called ‘Deen’ any which way. Go to hell or go to heaven at will!
Human societies after the deliverance of the final Message of Allah had never been so free to conduct themselves when viewed from the periscope of human history. His Prophet (PBUH) seems chosen and therefore protected as one dimensional for he never tread on Deen towards hell. This is evidenced from his life, ratified by the Quran and therefore asserted by us as infallible. The infallibility of the Prophet (PBUH) however did not end with him. The institution lived with his progeny as is evidenced by recorded history as bearers of the truth in time. This is rightly so because human society required guidance in the form of a benchmark discerning right from wrong, truth from falsehood. Right and wrong are relative terms but the social revolution brought by the last and final Message from Allah addresses the ethos of social justice. The right and wrong prescribed therein is based on equity that negates all social evils in time. This equity referred to as ‘Masavat’, is economic parity for subsistence, based on the natural resources of the planet. Allah has asserted that He has provided the sustenance for all souls born before they appear on the planet and that is evident from the extent of the natural resources available on the planet, for the population at any given point in time. All wars therefore are clearly between ‘need’ and ‘greed’. Why else is seventy percent of the global population living in deprivation whilst the others, in graduated slabs, enjoying excess of everything to a point of waste?
The theories of de-populating the earth from seven and a half billion inhabitants to half a billion and the retention of economic disparity to drive the engine of innovation and thought, are alibis of the greedy, to satisfy their lust for more. This lust has given birth to wars and consequent famine, illiteracy, violent deaths and deprivation all around the world. It has also given birth to racism by the ‘haves’ and has maligned religion. It has given double legal standards globally to the laws in both macro and micro context. It is not Socialism or Communism that is preached for the establishment of equity, it is the middle-path providing uniformity in the subsistence levels of the global population. It is therefore merit and labour which is sought as prime movers for individual and collective prosperity. The colour of the skin nor a stockpile of weapons in the arsenal should determine the degree of prosperity and or global leadership.
A notion that all nations need heroes to prosper is a misnomer when the heroes by comparison to all created can best be found in the annuls of history amongst Monotheist. They are sidelined and referred to as the super natural ‘chosen few’ and therefore not ideal examples for ordinary mortals! Let us celebrate them for what they gave society instead of the defenders of the club of greed. In human history all who have given to society are indeed heroes and those who have taken from it are zeros. From history again what is evident are the tools of deception in use by the greedy. Communication, diplomacy and fake wealth as in printed paper are the real weapons of mass destruction. There is no politics of the ‘left’ and ‘right’ as are terms used conveniently to contain and brush away the middle path. The path of ‘Masavat’ or material justice.
It is time the human civilisation evolved to the next notch and free the globe of wars and misery. It is time that the earth-worm phenomena in economics ceases in its course of the head moving forward and the body catching on. It is time the somersault takes place and greed is replaced by equity. In defending the status quo the risk of annihilation by the ‘have nots’ of the ‘haves’ is increasing by the second. This must not happen because then the players will change and the status quo will remain intact. The ‘have nots’ once in the shoes of the ‘haves’ will love the luxury so much that they too will get secularly insulated and become deaf to the woes outside their doors.
For coexistence literacy is fundamental to right sizing the global population instead of planning to de-populate the planet. Literacy will give birth to merit and that is the engine that has driven invention and love as the sentiment of thought in place of the neurotic deformity of racism and hate. We are children of one God and any bias is really a crime against humanity. The only thing that holds back the human species from loving its own kind is in the exercise of economic supremacy by a satanic cult we choose to call the civilised world. They are a handful when compared to the tidal-wave of the subjugated. Having started this essay with a Quranic reference let me end with a prediction in it. The meek will annihilate the earth! Beware of political economy whereby the arithmetic is a writing on the wall. Share and give for there is no Noah’s ark this time around.
— The writer is an entrepreneur and author based in Karachi.
