LIVING NATION, DEAD NATION

By nature, human beings feel compelled to give greatness to someone. This is part of human psychology. If a person regards God as great, he is a monotheist. If he regards anything else as great, he is a polytheist. The Quran says about the earlier People of the Book that, in later times, they made their scholars and monks into their lords (Quran, 9:31). This example shows what happens to nations and communities in their period of decline. They fall from worshipping God alone and become trapped in the disease of worshipping their leaders.

When a nation is alive, it values principles. When it is dead, it turns its leaders into objects of worship. This is the summary of a living nation and a dead nation. A living nation gives importance to goals, while a dead nation gives importance to personalities. A living nation lives in the present; a dead nation lives in the past. A living nation welcomes criticism; a dead nation reacts angrily to it. A living nation stands on real issues; a dead nation stands on imagined ones. A living nation sees everyone as a friend; a dead nation sees everyone as an enemy. A living nation builds its own future; a dead nation spends its energy complaining and protesting against others. The quality of a living nation is patience and tolerance, while the quality of a dead nation is impatience and intolerance.

When the signs of a dead nation begin to appear among individuals, all energy must be directed to education and preparation. The real task is to revive the spirit of life in people. In a period of rise, a nation’s course is one of advance, where action means moving forward; in a period of decline, action means stepping back to prepare. In its period of rise, a nation moves toward its peak, while in its period of decline, it returns to its starting point.