Have you seen the movie Syriana.
It stars George Clooney and Matt Damon. I watched it on TV and it is now available on Prime Video but you have to rent it for Rs 119/-. It is a thought provoking movie and gives a certain amount of sympathy to the Arab jihadis who are conducting terror strikes against the West.
The concept that got my attention was in a scene when the trainer of the youngsters being recruited for suicide missions made the statement that the path of Islam and western civilization with the concept of social activism and criticism of people in power are at cross purposes. There will always be a clash between the two.
There is this concept of the clash of civilizations. There is a Wikipedia page on the topic. I think George W. Bush used this concept to gather support for the war efforts against Afghanistan and Iraq. Link to the Wikipedia page is below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash_of_Civilizations
I was reminded of this movie when I met a friend who is a concerned social activist and has an opinion on many issues. She is mostly concerned about the ravages of the human race against nature. I am not sure how effective her efforts are but there is no doubting her sincerity.
But the rest of this article is about Islam’s (or rather spirituality’s) view about social activists. What is wrong about being a concerned citizen and offering intelligent and constructive criticism on social issues you might ask? I do so myself in this blog.
I think that there are the following factors weighing against it:
- The first point is that God has created this Universe and He is running it. All is happening as per His will and if you take spirituality seriously you will accept all events as the will of God.
- Next, it is God’s job to decide between right and wrong, good and bad. We ordinary mortals do not have the required information about who has done exactly what. We also lack the wisdom to make a good decision and also the power to reward or punish effectively. Especially when it comes to rewards. There is no court of law to mete out rewards when a person acts virtuously. It is assumed that virtue is its own reward.
- Also all actions are a mixture of good and bad and God will separate the wheat from the chaff. That is his job since he is running the Universe. We humans are completely incapable of doing so.
- Lastly the Sufi sage Rumi said that as humans our one and only task for which we have taken birth is to seek and attain the Divine. I have written a blog on this topic. Link is below:
The concept that all is God’s will and all is a manifestation of the Divine is common I think to all religions. Buddhism and Jainism may question God’s existence but I think they also accept that all is Divine. And that includes all that is happening that we dislike or hate or disapprove of.
So what are we to do given all of the above.
I think we need to decide for ourselves whether we want to make seeking the Divine the one and only goal of our lives. Rumi may have said what he did but in the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna offers Arjun complete freedom as to whether or not to accept his (Krishna’s) teachings.
So in Hinduism at least there is no compulsion and a person is free to be a social activist or an entrepreneur or a police officer or whatever. Society cannot function without people filling these very essential roles. The fact that Hinduism accepts rebirth also allows for a more relaxed approach. It is not all or nothing (unlike Rumi).
I hope you liked this article. Please share it on WA, FB and X (formerly Twitter) and let me have your comments. Feedback from my readers keeps me going.
Find this handy. Buy me a coffee