Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 116
116 islam’s response to contemporary issues time. The root cause of evil is far too deep for the long arm of the law to reach. It is the primary job of families, religious leaders and leaders of public opinion in every society to eradicate evil. Keeping this and many other similar verses in view, the Holy Prophet sa , once declared that the people before you came to a tragic end because they disobeyed authority and were given to transgression. They did not restrain one another from the iniquity that they committed. Then he continued: Indeed, by Allah, you must enjoin good and forbid evil; seize the hand of the wrong-doer and persuade him to act justly; establish him firmly on the right, else Allah will involve the hearts of some of you with the hearts of others and will curse you as He cursed them. 42 According to the Prophet sa , one of the more serious signs of decline of a people is that they lose the courage to show their displeasure at the public display of indecency and misconduct. The Holy Prophet sa , draws the parallel between such a society and travellers on a boat in the following tradition: Nu‘m a n ibn Bash i r relates that the Holy Prophet sa said: The case of those who observe the limits set by Allah and those who are careless about them is like passengers on a ship who cast lots to determine who should occupy the upper deck and who should be on the lower deck and disposed of themselves accordingly. Those who were on the lower deck passed through those of the upper deck whenever they had to fetch water. So they said to the occupants of the upper deck: If we were to bore a hole through our part, we would not then have to trouble you. Now if the occupants of the upper deck were to leave