Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 59
Social Peace 59 Gradually, the point is reached in time when religious communities can somehow live with paradoxes without noticing their presence. Among other things, what the socialist revolution did to their people was to wash them clean of ideological dogmas and cure them of the strabismus and myopia. This, in turn, has gifted them with a sort of innocence, which can only be achieved when there is total lack of hypocrisy. It is too early to say whether this state of innocence can be turned to their moral advantage in the difficult time of struggle ahead. But one thing is certain. They are far more amenable to receiving the Message of truth and accepting it without prejudices than any other people in the world today. Alas! The same cannot be said about the rising trends of individualism in the so-called ‘free’ people living in the world today. One can do practically anything by justifying freedom in the name of individual liberty. Being the leaders in this trend, America is largely and profoundly influencing not only the First World European countries but also the people of the Second and Third World. The echo of this distorted concept of individual liberty rendering one free from the discipline of moral life is being heard far across the ideological curtains of scientific socialism. The gays, lesbians, drug addicts, skin-heads, punks and criminals of all sorts, all continue to grow in numbers and strength. Their audacity to defend their behaviour by simply asking their admonisher, ‘Why not?’ , has become the ominous challenge to contemporary society.