Perspective is the ability to hold two pictures simultaneously in your mind – where you are and where you want to be. Without this, it is impossible to give any directions. Physically, mentally or spiritually, we need awareness of where we are and where we need to be, to be able to chart out a roadmap for development. Only with perspective can we say what investment we need to make to reach our chosen destination. That is why we need the three skills I mentioned in my last Khutba: Reflection, Introspection, and Abstract Conceptualization. These are critical life skills which must be learned. All of them need an attention span longer than that of a monkey or goldfish, which is the average duration of TikTok and YouTube Shorts. So, either pick the most successful goldfish or monkey you know as your role model or develop the ability to focus attention on worthwhile goals long enough to achieve them. It is our life. It is our call. Because it is our Aakhira.
Our species, Homo-sapiens have been on earth for about 300,000 years but when did civilization begin? In a 2020 article in Forbes, Remy Blumenfeld writes, “Years ago, the anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about clay pots, tools for hunting, grinding stones, or religious artifacts. But no. Mead said that the first evidence of civilization was a 15,000-year-old healed fractured femur at an archaeological site. The femur is the longest bone in the body and connects the knee to the hip. In the wild a broken femur is a sure death sentence.
A broken femur that healed is evidence that someone had taken time to stay with the one who fell, bound up the wound, carried the person to safety and tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts.” Looking at our current state of what we like to call ‘civilization’, where we have not only legitimized but sanctified fulfilling of personal desires, and where the highest ROI is in endless war and human life and suffering has no value at all, I wonder what Margaret Mead would have said. If caring for someone is the mark of civilization, what would you call the deliberate annihilation of people?
Passing over centuries like you would pass over days we come to about 5000 years ago when we find the first writing, Mesopotamian cuneiform script, invented in Sumer, present-day Iraq, c. 3200 BCE, and can be traced to the present-day alphabet. Writing is crucial because that is what distinguishes us from animals and enables us to build on the work of previous generations. All creatures have languages, they communicate, they have life experiences, they remember some of them for a long time, even teach some of them to their offspring, but none of them have the critical tool to transcend the time and generational barrier so that their experience can be recalled, relived and learned from. That tool is writing. In the 300,000 years that our species have existed on earth we only know what happened to them from about 5000 years ago. That is why reading is so important. When we read, we see that all success has been the result of collaboration and mutual consideration.
Our modern society here in America and all over the world, however, is primarily based on individualism. In the words of one of my dear friends, “Individualism as a philosophy draws from all corners of the lower nafs. It is hedonistic, myopic, egoistic, arrogant, selfish, self-preserving all masquerading as positive elements for “self-realization”. Human society is built on cooperative control of individuals for the greater good. No wonder that the social order has unraveled within a couple of generations since the idea went mainstream.”
In the American context this manifests as arrogance, which is disguised as self-esteem and given the status of a religious ideology. That feeds into the tyranny of feelings which super legitimizes subjective feelings to the level that if a person feels a certain way, that is enough for him not only to act according to that feeling but to expect everyone else to subordinate themselves and their feelings to his feelings, so that his feelings are not hurt.
Ed Batista says it very eloquently, “My feelings are justified, because they are my feelings. My feelings at this moment take precedence over all other considerations. I have the right to express my feelings any way I see fit. And if I believe that you are causing my feelings, you are obligated to modify your behavior in order to align with my desired emotional state.”
This is simply not acceptable in any civilized society, including Islam, which demands the opposite – i.e., that I must subordinate my feelings to the feelings and needs of others so that they are not hurt or disrespected in any way. And if that means some inconvenience to me, then so be it. That is what consideration means. That is what caring and respect mean. But in a society that glorifies individualism, caring for others is at best a secondary matter. So, we are looking at trying to make a 180 degree turn while the external environment, including in some cases, the law of the land is against this turn. What makes it even more urgent is that whether we like it or not, this is OUR problem as much as that of this society’s. Our children are involved. And when we grow old, this will come to visit us in very painful ways. That is why we need to deal with it now. May Allahﷻ help us and make it easy.
Aldous Huxley in his book Brave New World’ (1932) argues that much of the anxiety that drives modern society can be traced to a widespread belief in technology as a futuristic remedy for problems caused by disease and war. Huxley felt that such a reliance was naive, and in his book, he challenges this belief in technology taken to its extreme. George Orwell, the author of ‘1984’ imagines a world which looks very like the present. I recommend both these books as required reading to understand our world. I quote from ‘Amusing ourselves to death’, by Neil Postman (1985) who compared Huxley and Orwell and said, “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared that we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared that we would become a trivial culture. In ‘1984’ people are controlled by inflicting pain. In the ‘Brave New World’, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.”
For us, the challenge is to draw our people back from this abyss. The reason these hedonistic philosophies succeed is because they free one from all restraints and raise self-indulgence to the level of a virtue and a right. They are very seductive and persuasive. Our way seems to be restrictive and painful, which it is in a manner of speaking, but that is essential for greater good in this world, and the Aakhira. However, if you have been raised pandering to your animal instincts, this doesn’t seem attractive. That is why we need schools which can catch them young, before too much damage has been done. This is one piece of perspective – where we are.
For the second piece of the puzzle, we need to keep our goal in mind.
كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَآئِقَةُ ٱلْمَوْتِ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوْنَ أُجُورَكُمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ فَمَن زُحْزِحَ عَنِ ٱلنَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ ٱلْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ فَازَ وَمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا مَتَـٰعُ ٱلْغُرُورِ
A’al Imraan 3:185 Every soul will taste death. And you will only receive your full reward on the Day of Judgment. Whoever is spared from the Fire and is admitted into Jannah will ˹indeed˺ triumph, whereas the life of this world is no more than the delusion of enjoyment.
Nothing can be clearer than this. Allahﷻ mentioned three things:
- Everyone will die and be called to account and rewarded or punished.
- Success is to be protected from punishment and be granted Jannah.
- The life of this world is deception.
Let us begin with the first statement of Allahﷻ – Every soul will taste death. Ask, ‘Does this apply to me? When will it happen for me?’ Sounds like a dumb question, but believe me, it is the most important question you will ever answer. And once you answer it, your life ahead will be crystal clear. If I truly believe in the core of my being, not just intellectually, that I can die at any time and will have to answer to Allahﷻ, then I will remember that, at every decision point and will never do anything that I know, displeases Him.
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