The treasure of guidance

ALLAH has, in His Wisdom, devised several ways to provide guidance to the human beings in respect of various aspects of life with full liberty to observe or not to observe it (76:3). One of these ways comprises injunctions, exhortations and admonitions. This is the primal and the most direct way of making a person to do something or to refrain from doing something.

Some of the injunctions and admonitions are addressed to the mankind, in general, some are addressed to the believers and some are addressed to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) but meant for the people as well, starting with the word “Qul” (say to the people). Some of the injunctions and admonitions are in the form of Dos, directly or indirectly, and some are in the form of Don’ts, directly or indirectly, all having the same binding force.

The Quran enjoins us: do justice (5:8), keep up pledges (17:34) do good (2:195), repeal evil with goodness (41:34), command what is right (7:199), weigh with even scales while weighing (17:35), hold to forgiveness (7:199) be moderate (31:19) and cooperate in all that is good (5:2). It exhorts us to exercise patience (16:126), to spend in the Way of Allah (2:177), to faithfully observe trusts (23:8), to speak the truth (33:35) and to guard modesty (33:35).

Likewise, the Quran enjoins us: do not follow lust (38:26), do not wrong others (2:279), do not commit excesses (5:87), do not conceal evidence (2:283), do not disturb the balance (55:8), do not indulge in usuary (3:130), do not disturb the balance (55:8), do not indulge in usuary (3:130), do not cooperate in what is bad (5:2), do not indulge in drinking wine and gambling (5:90) and do not covet what belongs to others (4:32). It also exhorts us not to be treacherous (8:58), not to say something which we cannot do (61:2), not to tell lies (39:3), not to indulge in indecency (42:3), not to indulge in adultery (24:2), not to slander a chaste woman (24:23) and not to be extravagant (17:29).

The other way in which the Quran guides the human beings comprises lessons conveyed in the form of messages. For example, the Quran says “if you remember Allah, He will remember you” (2:152). The verse highlights the importance of remembering Allah. What it tells us is that Allah bestows His favours on those who remember Him. Through another verse (39:53), the Quran reminds those who have wronged themselves, not to despair of the Mercy of Allah Who is All-forgiving. It means that even if one commits something wrong, yet he should not despair of the Mercy of Allah and think that he is doomed for ever. Allah will surely pardon him if he sincerely repents and seeks His forgiveness. Another Quranic verse says “Is there any reward for good other than good” (55:60). The verse tells us that those who do good will be surely compensated with a matching reward i.e. something equally good.

Another way in which the Quran guides the human beings comprises lessons conveyed in the form of principles. for example the Quran says that “the plotting of evil recoils on the plotters” (35:43). The verse says that “the plotting of evil recoils on the plotters” (35:43). The verse tells us that whoever contrives an evil plot i.e. a plot to harm or beguile others in some way, ultimately becomes the victim of that plot. The story of Yusuf (A.S) narrated in the Quran (12:4-104) could be the best example. History is replete with instances of those who contrived evil plots but became themselves the victims of those plots.

The Quran further says “frustration was the lot of every powerful transgressor” (14:15). Although the verse refers to some people of the past,it needs no evidence to prove that any one committing excesses on others meets his logical end i.e. frustration or failure in his designs. The Quran further says “with every difficulty there is relief (solution)” (49:6).

The principle spelled out by this verse could be a message of great reassurance to those who are, or may be, entangled in problems or difficulties or may be facing failures, hardships or hurdles in carrying out their missions, tasks or assignments or in achieving their objectives. Edison carried out 3,000 experiments before he succeeded in inventing the light bulb. He virtually failed 3,000 times but he claimed every failure to be a success, because it brought him nearer to success.

The fourth way in which the Quran guides the human beings comprises practical exercises, namely, salat, fasting, Haj and zakat. Salat on regular basis can be of great help in developing the tendency of remembering Allah everywhere at all times. It can also be of great help in avoiding doing wrong and sinful acts. As the Quran says “surely salat restrains from evil and shameful acts” (29:45). At the same time, salat enables one to combat tension and worries as the Quran says “verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest” (13:28).

Fasting is another exercise having more or less the same effect. The person in a state of fasting may be very hungry or thirsty, yet he avoids taking meals or drinking water even if he is all alone and there is no one to see or know what he is doing. It is only the remembrance of Allah that impels him to avoid taking meals or drinking water. In this way fasting on regular basis during the month of Ramazan can be of great help in developing a settled tendency of remembering Allah everywhere at all times.

Likewise, performance of Haj, though obligatory once in life on those who can undertake the journey, can yet have lasting spiritual impact on one’s mind. Each round of Tawaf around the sacred house reminds one of the presence of Allah but the real impact is felt during Waqoof-i-Arafah which, according to a saying of the Prophet, is the day on which Allah is nearer to the human beings than ever. This is actually felt by those standing bareheaded in the plans of Arafah in an environment marked by submission and submission and sublimity, humbleness and humility, fear and tears and repentance and self-reproachment.

The more one repents, the more one reproaches himself for whatever wrong has he done and the more one humbles himself before His Lord, the longer could be the restraining and reformative effect.

The payment of zakat which is obligatory on those who can pay it is apt to foster piety. As the Quran says “you can never attain piety unless you spend (in the Way of Allah) of that you love” (3:92) which could obviously be wealth also. Secondly, as the main object of zakat is to meet the basic physiological,social and economic needs of those members of society who are unable to meet such needs for some very genuine reasons. Its payment is, therefore, apt to create, in those who are paying it, a sense of obligation to meet some of the basic needs of those in society who are unable to meet such needs.

Another way in which the Quran guides the human beings comprises the citation of examples, parables and incidents spelling out some excellent lessons. It is common knowledge that the process of guidance in order to be effective and meaningful should not be confined to mere instructions and a few sets of dos and don’ts. One can learn a lot from practical examples and experiences and ups and downs in the lives of others. That’s why the Quran cites a number of examples and parables. For example, the incident of the overnight destruction of the beautiful garden tells us as to what the outcome of arrogance and ingratitude could be (18:42).

The story of the people of Madyan tells us as to what the outcome of fraud, deception, hypocrisy, corruption and commission of excesses could be (11:85-94). The story of Hazrat Yusuf, among other things, tells us that the plotting of evils recoils on the plotters (12:4-104).

New ‘sick men’ of Europe

THE Indian restaurant owner in Berlin said this kind of post-election confusion was quite normal where he came from. The politicians would sort it out eventually and form some kind of coalition government, he reassured the German television reporter. His smile implied: relax, and have another drink. “Well, that’s interesting ... Indian conditions!” commented the fiercely competent German studio anchor, with unconscious ethnic condescension. And her tone implied: have we really sunk so low? Indian conditions, here, in Germany?

To which I would say: “If only...” If only Germany had anything like the economic dynamism of the world’s largest democracy — a democracy, incidentally, slightly older than that of the Federal Republic of Germany. Just to remind you, India’s growth rate over the past 12 months was seven per cent, while Germany’s was 0.6 per cent.

The result of the German election — if one can call it a result — will not help to close that gap, or address the chronic problems of stagnation and mass unemployment in what is still Europe’s largest economy. We are in uncharted territory, with the leaders of both main parliamentary parties, Angela Merkel and Gerhard Schroeder, staking their claims to lead a coalition government as federal chancellor. (Schroeder has broken with established political precedent, which calls for the leader of the largest parliamentary group to have the first crack at putting together the parliamentary coalition needed to be chancellor.)

However, article 63 of the federal republic’s meticulously crafted constitution lays out a series of stages by which, over the next couple of months, the parties can, under the general tutelage of the federal president, attempt to form either a coalition government with an absolute majority in parliament or a tolerated minority government. If none of that works, the president can dissolve this hung parliament and call a new election.

In my view, that would be much the best outcome. The process will waste six months, but any likely coalition government will waste much longer. Any of the now possible coalitions will be alliances of chalk and cheese, if not of fire and water. They will involve extraordinarily painful compromises on policy. They will be plagued by personality clashes and parties jockeying for position in an election everyone will expect to come sooner rather than later. The results in economic and social policy — and probably in foreign policy — will be more of that soft fudge in which German attempts at reform have been suffocating for more than a decade. This will be bad for Germany, bad for Europe and bad for the world economy.

The most likely fudge-factory would be a so-called grand coalition between Social and Christian Democrats. Schroeder has said he won’t serve under Merkel, nor will Merkel under Schroeder, so that (unless they change their tune) a double decapitation would be needed before the grand coalition could even begin. With the parties having diametrically opposed policies in areas such as health-service reform, fudge mountains would be called for.

The last time there was a grand coalition, in 1966-69, it prompted a strengthening of the left- and right-wing extremes, since the established mass parties were both in government. Harold James, a distinguished historian of modern Germany, argues that the time before that when Germany had something that might be described as a grand coalition was in 1928-30. This had the disastrous effect, under the impact of the great depression, of sending voters off in herds to the communists and Nazis, hastening the end of the Weimar Republic. If one accepts his interpretation then, it would seem that Germany has an impulse to reach for a grand coalition roughly once every 35 years.

But few people are suggesting this one would have anything like the same disastrous consequences. More likely, it would represent an unstable transition period between one reasonably stable coalition government and another, as it did in the ‘60s. In which case, better to shorten the agony with new elections.

There’s always a danger of over-interpreting such a result. If Merkel had been a more effective television performer, and her campaign had not been compromised by tax proposals that many Germans found threatening, we might now all be explaining why the Germans had voted for change. Moreover, the party that saw the largest increase in its share of the vote, the Free Democrats, was the one that most clearly favoured free-market economic reforms. None the less, the net effect of this election can be summarized as a ‘nein’ to the free-market liberalization for which German business leaders have been pressing.

The French communist newspaper L’Humaniti crowed that the Germans have shown a red card to neo-liberalism. Just as the French did in the referendum that killed Europe’s constitutional treaty earlier this year. ‘Nein’ and ‘non’ to neo-liberalism, to any radical change to the old “social market economy” that they feel has served them so well; ‘nein’ and ‘non’ to innovation, risk, immigration and Turkey’s membership of the European Union; ‘nein’ and ‘non’ to America, or what they take for America. That is the characteristic Franco-German refrain today.

Between them, these two nations central to any version of the European project have achieved one great thing: they have made a war between France and Germany, and hence in western and northern Europe, unthinkable. (I would not be quite so confident about eastern or southern Europe.) And for half a century, France and Germany have together been the motor of European integration. Now, however, the Franco-German motor has become the Franco-German brakes.

This election is just one more proof of what we have seen for some time. Instead of the new start hoped for in London, Warsaw and Jose Manuel Barroso’s Brussels, with a “black-yellow” coalition between a reforming chancellor in Merkel and the free-marketeering Free Democrats, followed in 2007 by a like-minded French president in Nicolas Sarkozy, we face a further period of stagnation and confusion. The so-called Lisbon agenda of economic reform will continue to be stalled. The EU’s always vainglorious claim that it will become the world’s most competitive economy by 2010 will look ever more absurd.

In these circumstances some, particularly in Britain, will call for European countries with more competitive economies to throw off the Franco- German brakes. Let’s go back to a simple single market, they will say, and make our own profitable way in the world. Quite apart from the fact that going back to a single market is far more complicated than it appears, and the unravelling of the European Union would probably not stop there, this is short-sighted advice. In a world of economic giants, with America and Japan already being joined by China and India, dwarves do not have a rosy future.

Though Britain, France and Germany are still among the world’s largest economies, their comparative growth rates make them at best shrinking giants. Only Europe as a whole has the capacity to hold its own in such a world. So this is no time for Schadenfreude. Their fellow Europeans need the sick men of Europe to recover almost as much as the French and Germans themselves do.

—Dawn/Guardian Service

The Anthrax metaphor

SET ASIDE the “what if” speculation about bioterrorism. It already happened, and the response to the first bioterrorism attack on U.S. soil is less than reassuring.

Four years after mail laced with anthrax bacteria took the lives of five people, sickened 17 others, brought the U.S. mail system to its knees, and forced the evacuation and shutdown of Congress and the Supreme Court, whoever was responsible for the attacks remains at large.

What’s more, another major terrorist attack in the Washington region, as Post writers Sari Horwitz and Christian Davenport report, would result in the kind of chaos witnessed in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. This area, with one major exception, is little safer today than it was in 2001.

The vulnerability of area residents stands in sharp contrast to the protection afforded official occupants of the nation’s capital. Capitol Hill and the White House are fortresses with mini-armies and high-tech equipment galore. In addition, congressional brass, occupants of the presidential mansion and a select group of federal officials have evacuation routes mapped out and staff to tell them what to do and where to go in an emergency.

In the event of an attack, the only option available to confused downtown workers, neighbourhood residents and visitors to the city is bedlam of the variety on display in New Orleans or no timely or useful information at all — as postal employees at the Brentwood facility learned when anthrax first appeared.

The official scramble to protect the Washington area since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks bears a striking resemblance to the anthrax investigation. The federal government launched an exhaustive anthrax investigation: 8,000 interviews; dozens of house and laboratory searches; probes on four continents; indications of an FBI hard at work.

—The Washington Post