Ignorance,Where are We Heading!

Zarrin Shajari

Sometimes when we look at the world around us, it becomes a difficult task trying to find in it the rays of hope to ensure us that the teachings of God have correctly been put to practice.

Violence, Extremism, Greed, Lust and different forms of personal and social deviations are gaining over the peaceful messages that prophets and messengers of God have taught us. Meanwhile cameras constantly capture this violence and harshness that is overflowing across our monitors entering our homes through all the channels of the media worldwide. Diminished traditional family values in Europe, extensive violence against whole populations in the Middle East and Africa, a growing indifference towards social foundations in Asia and an unprecedented social injustice gap in the United States of America have brought the world to a point of awe and despair.

Above all most human beings are experiencing the times of “jaheliat” (ignorance) towards individual rights. Despite the increase of faith and active participation of many more people towards the teachings of major monotheist religions yet we observe rage and greed darkening the horizon.

“On that Day the earth will be lighted with the Light of its Creator. Then the Book of Deeds will be placed; and the Messengers and the witnesses will be brought to Allah’s Presence and the Judgment will be fair for the people and they will not be dealt with unjustly;

And they will be paid for what they did, and Allah is the Supreme Knower of what people do;

The disbelievers will be driven to Hell in groups; and when they reach Hell, its doors will be opened on them; and its guards [the Angels] will say: ‘Did not the Messengers from among yourselves come to you reciting to you the Revelations of your Creator and warning you of the meeting of this Day?’ They will reply: ‘Yes they did, but now the Word of Chastisement has been proved against the disbelievers [and our remorse and repentance will not change anything].’ 

Then it will be said to them: ‘Enter you through the gates of Hell to abide therein forever; and evil is this abode for the arrogant!’

And those who feared the disobedience against the Commands of their Creator will be led to Paradise in groups. When they reach the Garden its gates will be opened on them and the Angels will say: ‘Health and peace be upon you! Enjoy your stay Here! Enter you here to dwell therein forever.’ ”

The Holy Qur’an: Surah 39 - Az Zumar ,  69-73

(Translation Tahereh Saffarzadeh)

So, where are we heading?

Is this a deviation of our morality as compassionate human beings?

All through history the human race has shown an awkward tendency of walking in the same paths of ignorance, rejecting all teachings that the Unique Creator has imposed on us as intelligent, resourceful and emotional beings.When we see a mother and child, we see the ultimate links that gave each one of us life. So why is it that in some cultures and in some ideologies that put extremist behavior as the swords of their belief, a mother, a woman who has the ability to bring to life another human being is tortured, raped, savagely killed and broken hearted with the unbearable murder of her child?

Kidnapped young Nigerian girls by Boko Haram (the Dirty Foreigner), the rape of young girls in India, the massacre of Palestinian mothers, children and innocent civilians who are simply defending their home and right of existence, the conjugal violence against wives and companions in the Western societies, the sufferings of modern sex slaves in Eastern European societies…. And so many other atrocities that are too much to bear. Meanwhile we can find in top viewed TV programs reality-shows using women as tools of provocation and lust who are enslaved to wearing high heels, and buying and using expensive beauty products fabricated by large multinationals, and risking beauty operations in order to please the “free world” and/or their self-esteem.

Today we observe that the status of motherhood and woman in general are no longer valued for their compassionate and loving substance but rather for their warrior skills shown in films such as Divergent, Hunger Games, and many other recent and older Hollywood movies which show young girls ready to fight and turning into violent action heroes just to bring back justice. So does that mean that the Western society has been incapable of implementing its own philosophical rules of equal rights for men and women?

While we see in countries such as Iran, the high rate of educated and competitive women who are able to protect their spiritual and intellectual freedom and still be an integral part of their family and society one can wonder if the path that the “free world” has paved is not in reality a wonderland for the “Alice’s” in Western societies.

One thing for sure is that in the name of advancement and modernity, various forms of technology and media, which are vastly advertised and sold to the rest of the world, have taken over much of the control of our interactions with other people.  Whether it be with our family members, or connections with other people around the world these tools of communication have actually added distance, isolation and individualism to our existences ultimately provoking the feelings of distrust and anger in societies. Distorted News and the various forms of fiction and nonfiction films and movies have been predominantly and gradually preparing this gruesome situation.

When the atheists and non-believers, which in large majority hold the reins of Hollywood and major news broadcast outlets, began programming projects to distance individuals from all moral and social attachments and darken the values that lie in respecting traditional social and family patterns, they became the stock holders of a world in decline.

But the danger that hangs over our futures is the use of religion to produce violence and injustice. God’s wrath is beyond all earthly power. Islam is the most updated version of monotheism and the Shia teachings brought to us by the successor of the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH), Imam Ali (AS), is the sum of all teachings of past Messengers and Holy Prophets. Islam and the Holy Qur’an are the most modern “Apps” that we all need to upload on our daily processors of thought and action.  Islam has nothing to do with sinful and inhuman behavior that some act upon, in the name of God.

Trampled lives, broken futures, hopelessness and anger are products of all evil actions and put the rights of existence of all of God’s creatures in danger. Nature and Environment, Animals and other living creatures, as well as all other humans, who might not be like us, or not live the same way we do, are all part of the real wealth that has been offered to us by God. The Ummah,  the gathering and unity that will bring all humans from all parts of the world and from all other cultures under the same flag can only come to pass through the waving of the flag of Human achievement.

We are all from the same source so how could we kill our brothers and sisters? Unless we deny the values that were taught by all those that truly praise the Unique God we cannot sit back and watch the masquerade that is taking place to bring true Muslims and Christians and Jews to fight and kill each other. Those who do not look like us, or do not think like us, cannot be intentionally killed, ruined or condemned unless they act in such way that can put our life, our homes and our beliefs in danger. But the right to defend humanity is above all and the result of all the past teachings that were brought to their own people by Moses (AS), Jesus (AS), Prophet  Muhammad (PBUH) and even Asian spiritual leaders such as Confucius who gave the art of war a moral substance and a spine for growing spiritual contempt.

And as the most precious and most compassionate person in each and every one of our lives is the one who bore us in her womb for nearly 9 months, we need to show the highest respect to her and to all of those who bear the burdens of creating and protecting lives. Only in this way can we show our total devotion to what Allah has given us, “The gift of life and intelligence”.