Islam and Human Rights — Page 184
Isl am and Hum an R ights 184 elapsed. Besides, when Islamic values were weakened and undermined at the centre, they were often revived and strengthened and furnished evidence of vigour in outlying parts of the vast Muslim domains. The Prophet had furnished the assurance: “Allah will raise up among my people, at the commencement of each cen tury, one who will revive the Faith for them”. Down the corridor of the centuries this succession of divinely inspired teachers and guides has served to keep the torch aloft and shining. The values seriously affected during the period of decline were those which were most sensitive to exposure to case and comfort and to a high standard of living. A prolonged period of prosperity blunted the edge of the finer and more delicate moral and spiritual perceptions, though it also brought into relief those qualities the exercise of which was aided and facilitated by the ready availability of means and resources. Various causes have been cited for the decline, but the root cause was the neglect of the Quran and the ignoring of the primacy of values that the Quran had sought to estab lish. “The Messenger will say: My Lord, my people indeed treated this Quran as a thing discarded” (25:31).