Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Principles of Life
The foundations of western civilization were laid in the unrestricted freedom of permissiveness. This so-called civilization spread its tentacles throughout the world until there was no one, neither rich nor poor, literate or illiterate, who was not affected by it. Today, this situation has reached its moral nadir, leaving human beings all over the world bereft of any vestige of humanity. Today, man is bent upon just two things – the satisfaction of his own desires and the settlement of all affairs to his own advantage. What he wants and what will benefit him are of paramount importance, and there is nothing that he will stop short of to gain them.
The taint of modern civilization has been more in evidence in those countries collectively known as the sub-continent of India than anywhere else – to the point, in fact, where the nations of this geographical grouping have been transformed into a jungle of insensitive beasts. For a serious-minded human being, living in these countries is like living in Hell.
Today, we perforce live among people who thrive on evil and take pleasure in injustice. They do not hesitate to act unscrupulously, and then rejoice in their successes. People are no longer satisfied with living off their legitimate earnings. It is only when they have plundered others, seizing their wealth and property that they feel satisfied.
People today have reached a stage where they take no pleasure in speaking the truth; rather it is the making of false accusations which leaves a sweet taste upon their tongues. Far from obtaining gratification by acknowledging the status of others, they delight in refusing others the respect due to them. Dishonouring the honourable and disgracing those who have been graced by God – that is what affords them satisfaction. The world of today is inhabited by people whose lives are based on a fabric of lies, but it is only those whose lives are based on truth who will find a niche in the everlasting world of the hereafter. Those who have gained their successes on the basis of false statements will find, at the crucial hour, that there will be nothing whatsoever, and no one whosoever to come to their rescue.