Prevailing
anarchy in our society
By Sadia Wali
‘Where there is no vision, the people
perish’
(Reference ‘The King James Version translation of Proverbs 29:18’)
In developed
societies, family and community with their collaborative efforts, motivation
and commitment accomplish their higher goals. Dedicated individuals committed
to bring social change in society create an invigorating and inspiring impact on young people to be responsible,
develop a positive vision and sense of direction. These are the profound
leadership qualities which actually pave the way towards a successful and
meaningful existence.
We as a society have
become victim of anarchy and disorder. Civic sense as an
ethic has less significance since our youth do not show any concern regarding fulfilling
their civic responsibility. As I quote an example. We are the first to complain about public facilities
but at the same time, we neglect our responsibility to maintain it.
Roads are not dirty because nobody cleaned it, but because we think that
somebody dirtied it in the first place and it is his responsibility to clean .Thus,
we continue to throw dirt on the road side. The most common violation
which people do are spitting and smoking in public places. In spite of the red
signal on the road mostly young people ignore the traffic rules and break the
signals.
Ethics is a code of values which guide
our choices and actions and determine the purpose and course of our lives.
— Ayn Rand, Russian-American novelist and
philosopher (1905-1982)
It
is an irony that we do not have proactive individuals who realize the
significance of collective and individual potential to bring change in society. How many times we have heard any dedicated
person speaking, ‘I can initiate a change! Even If we talk about change, it is merely the change we want
for ourselves and not for the community or society.
It is a sad reality that today our youth is
completely lost, their blurred vision,
lack of sense of obligation, core values and moral principles is
drifting them towards anarchism. To become sound practicing Muslims, our youth
needs to realize the purpose and vision of life and this has been clearly
defined in the holy Quran and Sunnah. The Islamic paradigm is Tazkiya - Nafs which
means purification of our heart and minds.
As stanch Muslims, it is our belief that we
are accountable to Allah for every acts and deeds. As Quran says, “And as such
on the final Day of Judgment each Nafs
or human will have to reply for his conduct
of this earthly
sojourn. (al-Infitar: 05) and that will be a very
tough day of this meeting (al-Inshiqaq: 6).”
Realizing
our priorities and responsibilities, we need to develop inspirations of a Khalifa
who served the people selflessly, honestly and sincerely. Our young fellows who
are torch bearers of Islamic values and traditions need proper guidelines, role
models and leadership that broaden the vision of young fellows, make
them positive thinkers, realize the importance of moral values and understand
the purpose of shared vision. Motivated young individuals can utilize
their potentials in the best way by positive involvement in fulfilling the
tasks such as taking small initiatives, determining the objectives for the task
and provoking civic sense and sense of responsibility in others.
To foster tolerance, moderation ethics,
morality and self reliance is indeed a big challenge
for us. It is the cultural norms and values which lead us to a well-balanced
and successful society. Social bonding, goodwill and respect towards each other serve a
lot of purpose, helps to manage our social life and develop good relationship with
the people around us. The spirit of empowerment, self-
awareness, individual competence, personal growth, collaboration and team work will
help to transform our thinking and thus
bring revolutionary changes in the society.