They induce a thoughtful mood in sensitive spectators and caution
them to pause for a while and reflect over this warning of the
Qur’an:
Mind! Be you not like the old woman who laboured hard to spin her
yarn and then pulled it to pieces (16:92)
Contemporary CivilisationOn the other hand, let us ponder over the state of the
contemporary world in which the leading role is played by the
nations of the West. The splendour and brilliance of that
civilisation is indeed dazzling. No doubt, this civilisation,
prosperous and powerful as it claims to be, has enabled man to
harness some of the most formidable forces of nature. The
astounding progress of communication by land, sea and air has
brought distant places into close contact. Never before in his long
and chequered history has man enjoyed such power over the
universe and the mighty forces of nature as he does today.
This fantastic phase of human civilisation is hardly a century old,
but unfortunately, as in the past, the portents of its collapse and ruin
are already in evidence, as Mason says:
We began our era of scientific efficiency confident that materialistic
triumphs would solve life’s problems. We are finding we were wrong.
Life is not as simple as that.(1)
Every thinking man is oppressed by the fear that this civilisation
which has already been shaken to its very foundations by two global
wars will not survive a third shock. Not only will the whole edifice
collapse, but it will also crush the whole of mankind under it,
perhaps, totally out of existence.
Why should this be so? Neither ancient civilisations nor the
present one are the work of thoughtless men. In fact, all great
civilisations, both past and present, are the manifestations of a
highly developed creative mind. This paradox of progress leads all
thoughtful minds inescapably to the conclusion arrived at by
Einstein:
By painful experience we have learnt that rational thinking does not
suffice to solve the problems of our social life. Penetrating research
and keen scientific work have often had tragic implications for
mankind, producing, on the one hand, inventions which liberated man
Islam: A Challenge to Religion 2