Let there be a community of you who
invite to what is good, advocate righteousness, and forbid evil. These
are the winners. (Quran, 3:104)
I am an
American with Iranian heritage who has been living in the United States since the age of
four. One of the most significant aspects of
becoming a submitter for me was the struggle to come to terms with the huge difference
between the Western philosophies and culture I had been raised with and that which I had
learned through the Quran. Like it or not,
the education system, the media, and of course, the people you encounter have a tremendous
influence on a person's thinking, at least on a sub-conscious level.
When I began
attending university three years ago, I took advantage of the resources around me to help
me understand and resolve the internal conflicts which had been occupying my mind. I read the classics, the works of great social
scientists, books on women's studies, anything I could get my hands on. I started to develop a sense of isolation and
frustration as I noticed that most of the intellectuals whose books were major influences
on our present culture and ways of thinking seemed to completely ignore the soul in their
research, analyses, and philosophies. Twentieth century science and the reason and
rationality behind it found the soule a meddlesome and annoying thorn in its side.
And so, they just ignored its existence.
In the
1880's, a philosopher by the name of Nietzsche changed the course of modern thought when
he proclaimed to the world that "God is dead." With the burden of dealing with
God and His mysterious ways off their shoulders, the wheels of intellectual thought began
turning towards a more pragmatic and rational approach to explaining human nature and
man's social structure. Sigmund Freud, whose
theories are the basis of modern pop-psychology, was a great fan of Nietzsche. Psychology became a science where
all aspects of human behavior would
be understood and explained by man himself. The physical and
mental regions of our mind would supposedly provide all the answers to the mysteries of
human behavior. The soul and God did not fit
into the equation very well, and so, they were simply disregarded. Nietzsche's "discovery" that God no
longer existed brought about a revolution in how we dealt with morality, ethics, and
values. Without a God, there was no longer
any absolute truth. Without truth, there was no good
or evil. Without evil, there was no Satan. Everything became relative. We
entered a period where nothing was black or white, but rather, various shades of gray.
The way we were
educated, the way social issues were dealt with, and the way standards were set in society
were all becoming very vague and unstable. Without
a social base of truth to rest upon, our society began to collapse.
The primary
building block of any social structure is the family.
The family begins with two: a man and a woman. Therefore, how the initial pair create their bond
will manifest the growth and development of the family structure as well as the social
structure. Unfortunately, when Nietzsche
destroyed God and absolute truth, he also destroyed the concept of unconditional love and
commitment. Without the shackles of religion
to get in the way, so to speak, contemporary society proclaimed a new breed of sexual
freedom never before present so visibly in man's history. Although there have been
periods ot great sexual promiscuity in the past, our modern media magnifies the impact it
has on the society in a way that was not possible before.
The sixties and the women's movement just made this sexual freedom more
equal among the genders. Ironically, however,
the outcome of women's sexual liberation only made it easier for men to get what they
wanted from women while devaluing the woman's worth at the same time.
Today in
society, a lot of issues deal with the idea of sex, yet none of the issues deal with the
question of the morality of sexual activity out of marriage. All we talk about is
abortions, contraceptives, AIDS, venereal disease (VD), and teenage pregnancy, all
physical by-products of our society's obsession. Where
would Oprah or Donahue be without all the problems, misery, and wasted energies that they
present on their talk shows? What amazes me
is the amount of money and time dedicated to informing the public about the wide variety
of social problems facing our nation, yet so little is done to prevent these problems from
occurring in the first place. But, let us
remind ourselves that school teachers, politicians, and opinion leaders are afraid to take
a stand for things such as abstinence from sex, saying no to alcohol, and obeying God's
laws in a society where there is no tolerance for people with firm and absolute beliefs. In other words, free speech is encouraged as long
as what you say has no spiritual, religious, or absolute morality connected to it. It is
okay if you sit in class and expose in minute detail your physical urges as a homosexual,
but God forbid you speak up about God or morality! After
all, nobody likes a party pooper.
It is sad
for me to observe my peers struggle through unnecessary hardships because they insist upon
having casual sex, drinking and focusing all their attention on how to gain the most
pleasure in this life with the least amount of pain.
When bad things happen to them, like getting in a wreck due to drunk
driving, or getting pregnant, they do not look at their actions to see what they did
wrong. Instead, they only reconfirm in their
own niinds how unjust God is and how they are just victims of society.
I have
presented just one example of how disregarding the existence of God and our soul is
destroying a potentially wonderful civilization. When
economic analysts wonder why the U.S. workers are so unproductive, why our students are
falling behind, and why top research positions are held by foreigners, we should remind
them that it is hard to have an efficient and productive community when everyone is so
wrapped up in their personal problems. Which
brings me back to a single pair: a man and a woman. An
act as seemingly insignificant as casual sex can add up to the decline of an entire
civilazation. I am not being dramatic. I just have eyes to observe the
consequences around me every day. God knows
us better than we know ourselves. Thus, we
should take heed of even the most seemingly trite or irrelevant commandments in the Quran,
because they are actually very profound words of guidance from God.
- Parisa Parnian
