Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 256
256 islam’s response to contemporary issues Without such a balance, it is impossible to achieve social peace. Islam promotes such desires and ambitions as are largely independent of one’s financial state of affairs and are available to individuals at all levels at no or nominal cost. The ambition to rise above the common run of people, and to attain distinction is but natural. However, this natural desire to excel and rise above others, if left undisciplined and uncurtailed can become unwholesome. Jealousy and foul play, for instance, can poison the spirit of free competition to a degree that the entire society begins to suffer rather than benefit from the advantages of a competitive spirit. The tendency to use drugs in sports is but a small example; but competition in industry, trade and commerce in the national and international spheres, provides us with extremely ugly examples of the absence of level playing fields. The type of foul play differs in the Third World countries from that in the more advanced nations. In the Third World, corruption, adulteration, breach of trust, fraud and deceit are but a few instruments freely employed to achieve a quick economic gain. That is why in all spheres of human activity, religious and moral education is required to be employed. The lack of such education can lead to dire consequences. Islam provides us with detailed instructions covering the entire field of competitive conduct. Alas! In the Muslim countries themselves, where one hears so much of Islamisation and Islamic fundamentalism, seldom does one come across a serious attempt to Islamise industry, trade, commerce and economic relations—a tragedy of the first order, indeed. The following verse of the Holy Quran presents the essence of Islamic teaching in this field: