This verse makes it clear that man's destiny lies in his own hands.
What he needs is a change of heart. He has been following false
ideals and pursuing ignoble ends. He has cut himself off from
Reality and is drifting aimlessly. He has lost sight of the noble end he
had once glimpsed with the help of Divine Revelation. For a time he
pursued it, but soon allowed himself to be allured by the glittering
tawdry objects that lay around. He has seized them but they have
brought him only disillusionment. He was not meant to become a
glorified beast but to rise to a higher plane of existence. He can save
himself only by recovering his Eiman in God and in his own noble
self endowed with great potentialities which he has neglected. The
cure for his malady lies in his turning back to God, i.e., resuming the
pursuit of the absolute values. Let us see what Bertrand Russell says
about it:
In the world in which we find ourselves, the possibilities of good are
almost limitless and the possibilities of evil no less so. Our present
predicament is due, more than anything else, to the fact that we have
learnt to understand and control to a terrifying extent, the forces of
nature outside us, but not those that are embodied in ourselves.(11)
Several verses of the Qur'an throw light on the gradual decline of
a nation. We are told that, as already stated, it is the upper stratum of
society that is the first to be infected with wickedness. Statesmen
and leaders of thought succumb to the allurement of false ideals
and values. They think that scientific knowledge and technology will
make them the masters of the world. They consider absolute values
as figments of imagination, the creation of the minds of visionaries.
They shut their eyes to the hidden riches of the human mind and
glorify that which man has in common with the animals. Their
distorted vision of life is adopted by their followers. The infection
spreads downwards until the whole society is contaminated:
Have you not seen those who gave the bounty of Allah in exchange for
thanklessness and led their people to the abode of perdition – Hell?
They are exposed thereto. A hopeless end (14:28-29).
The masses too, as they allowed themselves to be misled by their
leaders, are not quite blameless. It is, no doubt, true that the
common people do not have the intelligence and knowledge that
their leaders possess. As free responsible beings, however, it is their
duty to think for themselves and pull up their leaders when they go
wrong. This they did not do and, therefore, they too cannot escape
Rise and Fall of Nations 276