Islam and Modern Life — Page 2
ISLAM AND MODE RN LIFE 2 communication has been particularly striking. One of the problems, but a very important one, that this rapid advancement in science and technology has raised, and which is troubling the minds of large sections of mankind, is will the moral and spiritual va lues that control, that inspire, that direct conduct and action, will they prove adequate to the age upon which we are entering? Let me explain a little more. So far, the advance in these fields was such that man’s ordinary notions of behavior and standards of value were able to keep pace with it, visibly. Now the advance is so rapid, almost every week we find some new step taken fo rward and we realize that as time goes on the advance will be still more rapid in these fields. It will go forward probably by what may be described as geometric progression rather than by arithmetic progression. And people feel that in many respects they are being left behind. Therefore, they are troubled with regards to this vast accession to man’s power, to his mastery over the forces of nature. Will those in whose hands lies the direction of these forces, will they use them for the beneficent service of man? Or will they, or under certain circumstances they might be impelled to use them for the destruction of man? And inasmuch as the destruction which these forces can cause can be cataclysmic, under certain circumstances can be almost universal, the prob lem has become a very acute one in people’s minds.