Creating A Better World

[mesbah]

In the Name of Allah

“Creating a Better World”

“Making the world a better place” this seems to be the goal of almost everyone nowadays. Whether poor or rich, illiterate or well-educated, it is the shared dream of all men and women. But there are slight differences: One is the scope of “the world.” Some, due to their natural selfishness, end up creating “their own” better world even of it takes to deliberately destroy others’. Another problem is the lack of insight. Some, due to their naïve mentality, only worsen the conditions of the current world while in all honesty they think they are “creating a better world.” They even make sacrifices for their wrong goal. But what really lies in “creating the world a better place”?

The qualities of man and the world are in every aspect interdependent. As the goodness and badness of man are, in a sense, the result of his surrounding world; the quality of the world he lives in, is dependent on his perspective and his conception of the good and bad. Taking in consideration this situation of interdependency, any initiative for changing either of them without changing the other is imperfect and futureless. For great men we need a great world and for a great world we need great men. Here, the ever-challenging puzzle arises: where to start? 

Traditionally, there are two main answers to this question from two different camps. One takes the outside world as the departure point for any religious or spiritual reform while people from the other camp believe everything belongs to the inner-soul and its deficiencies. Interestingly, there are enough evidences in Islamic teachings to support either of them.

One example of the supportive evidence for the latter perspective is the following Qur’anic verse: “O you who have faith! Take care of your own souls. He who strays cannot hurt you if you are guided.” 5:105. While the other camp cite another Qur’anic verse to stress the importance and priority of reforming the outside world. The verse reads “the faithful, men and women, are guardians of each other, They enjoin good and forbid evil.” 9:71. This verse introduces the concern for good and evil in their community, as the first qualification of true believers.

While there are supporting evidences for either side in both human reason and divine revelation, the history of humanity, including the History of Islam, is full of miseries due to the reductionist attitude in favor of either side. While some people were busy with their own spiritual self-building, some hypocrites were creating their own ideal world in the name of social reformation and while doing so, oppressed and killed everyone in their way. On the other hand, some naïve people, before going through honest spiritual self-building, would start a premature social reform that could only lead to farther frustration for the society and self-destruction, that is: personal and social corruption.

Taking too seriously one side and dismissing the other, seems to be source of problem here. This distinction must be bridged. The age of the Reappearance is the age of synthesis, the age of reconciliation, between the divine and the secular, the personal and the social. The spiritual synthesis must start from the believers and their community worldwide; they must be ready to create their global shadow cabinet, their leadership system, which prepares the ground for the final real revolution in the history of mankind. Only through that system of divine leadership can one reconcile between his own ideal world and a real better world for all humanity, by dissolving his dreams in Wilaya, the greater divine plan for a greater world.

[mahdi servant.01]

. On the other hand, some naïve people, before going through honest spiritual self-building, would start a premature social reform that could only lead to farther frustration for the society and self-destruction, that is: personal and social corruption.

Salam

good warning for ever one who thinks he has responsibility to  bring righteousness and justice back to the world while he, himself, is ignorant of his day-to-day errors!

good job bro.

[:Sami II]

(salam)

 

In :Islam, spiritual self building is not separate to physical or mental or social self building, they all go hand in hand and are all intertwined.

And to begin such paths one must escape the prison that separates oneself from the real self, the illusion form the reality, the fiction from the non fiction, the living from the corporate dead.

[Syed.]

Imam hujjat (as) will ring justice there is no doubt about that!