Imagine someone who breathed his last a century ago rising from his grave momentarily to cast a glance at the present state of the globe and its custodians, the choicest creation of the Creator,  Adam’s  stylish sons and Eve’s dandy daughters. He will be shocked for he will recall that a hundred years before he had left a world where fathers were held divine and paradise would be seen underneath mothers’ feet. Now it's different. Parents are made the ladders for achievements and once the service is taken from them, they are thrown away as unwanted guests. A world where modesty of a girl or a woman was the most beautiful ornament for her to wear instead of it being a commodity to be bought and sold and made a museum of; a world which seldom knew jiggery-pokery, sycophancy, greed, egotism, foul play, embezzlements, forgeries, corruption, malice, prejudice and the rat race for hegemony and supremacy; a world where blood was thicker than water in the real sense and relations were not held hostage to material prosperity; a world where contentment, even though with little means and income, reigned supreme, a world where everybody was thankful to the Creator for is bounties. On the contrary now ungratefulness is the order of the day.
We are living in a world of fake smiles and lip sympathy. Gone are the days when a teacher would be revered as a spiritual guide and the fountain of inspiration and transformation as against now where a teacher is made fun of. We recall a world where a parent would ask his children with great concern whether they offered prayers and recited the Holy Quran or the religious scripture as against now when the parent is busy earning millions for his children by hook or by crook to ensure that his child gets a berth in the medical or engineering college considering prayers and morals for their dotage; a world  where Nikaah was given paramount importance once the young boy or girl would attain maturity as against now when this significant sunnah of the holy prophet(S.A.W) is regarded obsolete and archaic as haram modes of gratifying the lust are amply available in the modern market. After all, what has happened to the Crown of the creation who was sent with the mission to justify Allah’s ways to mankind. Leo Tolstoy burst out,” How much land does a man need?” The values and ethics which guarantee a richly beautiful and graceful life have disappeared as immodesty and immorality are taking a heavy toll on our society and causing irreparable damage to its fabric.
We are living in the worst of times. Can we get back those good old days when we were less prosperous and more happy.

(The author is a lecturer in English at St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School, Baramulla and can be mailed at hajitufail@gmail.com)

Lastupdate on : Sun, 15 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
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