By First, the U.S. primary elections, and now Brexit.
The democratic dilemma will not be resolved until our civilization decides once again to think through the conflicting notions of how democracy is, at its essence, to be moral.
The Holy Quran refers to this in these words: “By the Time. Surely, man is in a state of loss. Except those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to accept the truth, and exhort one another to be steadfast.” (103:2-4)
History testifies to the fact that those people or nations who defy eternal laws of nature inevitably come to grief. Divine laws cannot be defied with impunity, and the Quran repeatedly draws attention to this sad fate of people who have the audacity to do so, with the words: “Have they not travelled in the earth and seen what was the end of those before them?” (40:22)
John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” For political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable. The world is not divided into right and wrong anymore. Instead, there are winners and losers.
History testifies to the fact that those people or nations who defy eternal laws of nature inevitably come to grief.
Society is led by losers, who scorn and disrespect the people who are actually the winners. We live in an ego-driven, cultural pathology of “me” and self.
In the realm of cultural politics, voters do need to be held to account. They are participating in a descent into darkness and supporting a degrading wrong. In a democracy, States are not moral agents; the people are. If the people facilitate and promote deviancy, we will, as a people suffer immeasurable consequences.
When good joins hands with bad, and rationalizes their actions, a moral implosion and ethical defeat occurs, and we fail to understand the extent to which evil has overwhelmed us.
In a democracy, States are not moral agents; the people are. If the people facilitate and promote deviancy, we will, as a people suffer immeasurable consequences.
Evil does not retreat with verbal appeals. In fact, it putrefies. Evil can only be overcome with unrelenting goodness, godliness, and steadfastness. The only badge of honor and nobility is the purity and righteousness of a man’s life and actions; that in all circumstances, we must stand up for truth, righteousness, fair dealing, and justice.
In a speech made in 1863, Abraham Lincoln said, “… We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace… and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”
Profound words that still apply today.
The sum of all wisdom is the love and fear of God. When man drifts away from this, he acts and makes laws contrary to divine intent and design. He thus picks a fight with God. God may not strike us down with a lightning bolt tomorrow, but it’s a slippery slope to a losing battle, and all downhill from there. We’ll see its manifestation as increased deviancy, decadence and societal unrest and disorder.
Peace and contentment is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God in our lives.
Written by Saima Sheikh. Saima Sheikh is a National Spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA. Follow her on Twitter: @SaimaGSheikh.