Aug 01 2008
A Quote I had to share
When a certain emperor commented that he would not act in a certain way because it was against his interest Confucius replied ‘It is well your majesty thinks of his self interest. Soon the ministers will think of their interests and following their own interests none shall think of the interest of the nation’.
A political system based upon the tyranny of a patriarchal father figure cannot help but produce a system where force becomes the only virtue. In such an atmosphere where men have epicene characteristics there is no sense of personal morality.
To quote Ibn Khaldun
“Severe punishment does harm to the student, especially little children, because it belongs among those matters that engender bad habit. Students, slaves, and servants who are brought up with injustice and tyrannical force are overwhelmed by it.
It enervates them and causes them to feel oppressed. It makes them lazy and induces them to lie and be insincere. That is, their outward behavior differs from what they are thinking because they are afraid that they will have to suffer tyrannical treatment if they are honest. Thus, they are taught trickery and fraud. This becomes their custom and character. They lose the quality that accompanies social and political structures and engenders humaneness in people – in other words, the urge to protect and defend themselves and their homes – and they become passively dependent upon others.
They succumb to indolence and fail to acquire the virtues and qualities of good character. Thus, they fail to achieve their potential and never reach the birthright of their humanity. This results in their reversion to the “lowest of the low.”
This is the fate of every nation that fell under the yoke of tyranny and from it learned the meaning of injustice. This can be affirmed by merely examining any person who is not in control of his own affairs and has no power to assure his own safety. “
Prolegomena - Ibn Khaldun
All of society becomes BEGHAYRAT.
Subhanullah!
What an amazing quotation. This is really vital right now for our youth, because they are not only our future presence but they ARE also the huge majority of the muslim presence today.
Sh. AbdulBary Yahya said at the Journey Of Faith conference in Toronto, Canada, that the huge majority of the muslim population is the youth, and so our activities should reflect that number - however in the Masajid we have only older people and a few youth in there for the everyday prayers. This is b/c they feel as if they have no reason to come, and also majorly because of the sever punishment that Ibn Khawlid Rahimullah was talking about. Now They aren’t beat with sticks (in most places) anymore, but they are verbally punished, and insulted with every little honest mistake they make. Inshallah if we take Ibn Khawlid’s advice, and have some activities more youth-oriented in the masjid (martial arts, high school tutoring, basketball, workout,etc.) then we will open the flood gates for the youth to come to the Masajid.
Alhamdulillah, a very good post!