Withering human society
Col (r) Ikram Ullah Khan
It was extremely distressing to read a post by The Wall Street Journal showing an alarming percentage of young unmarried women in the West giving birth to illegitimate babies that went viral on social media taking it by storm. The post is so invasive that it spurred me on to deliberate on the subject in somewhat solemn fashion. It alone is enough to rock human society to its foundations, and needs a lot of soul-searching. I would be dwelling on it in a bit detail to bring home to the readers the gravity of the issue confronting human society both Western and Eastern alike.
The post reflects the moral depravity human society is suffering from and its degeneration into sheer animality devoid of laws and moral scruples where everyone finds unbridled freedom to do as he/she pleases. More deplorable is the fact that it’s considered as a norm of life and routine affair in some societies, and not something to take cognizance of.
According to the post, nearly one in four or 25% well-educated unmarried young women in the West aged 32-38 with at least a bachelor’s degree give birth to first baby. This is an alarmingly large number. This is a result of an indiscriminate intermixing of men and women that paves the way for indulgence into illicit sexual relations thus opening the floodgates of sinful activities in human society.
This widely abhorred human act bereft of morality is rampant in societies which discourage marriage and consider it as a curb on human freedom. This is a direct consequence of ignoring the commandments of Allah (SWT) regarding a decent and regimented way of life lived through the institution of marriage which is expected from a society inhabited by creatures whom Allah (SWT) has declared as the best creation of all (Ashraf-ul- makhluqaat). Both the Western and the Westernized Eastern societies are facing the consequences of gross violation of Divine laws prescribed for human beings and meant for regulating human life.
Those societies who believe in indiscriminate social interaction between men and women in the name of gender equality and so-called liberty – the buzzwords used very frequently these days by the protagonists of feminism, and consider marriage as a bad deal, bear the brunt of societal degeneration and degradation. Such elements find solace in discarding the institution of marriage terming it as an encroachment on human freedom. They fail to realize that the sacred institution of marriage is invariably found in every religion and that without which there will be no difference between a human and an ordinary animal.
The feminist movement in Western world pleading the women’s rights and liberty with an implicit intention to escape from matrimonial life has been going on since long. Closely linked with this much controversial movement is the opposition of marriage by those who are upholding the concept of women’s rights and liberty with full vehemence that has been an ongoing movement in parts of the Western world since the turn of the century and has expanded its far-reaching tentacles into even the typically orthodox Muslim societies. For instance, we have witnessed feminist movement in Pakistan that surfaced for the first time in 2018 in the form of “Awrat March” with a much disputed slogan of “Mera Jism, Meri Marzi” (My body, My choice), a Western concept that has crept into our society advocated by some Westernized women. The slogan came under stern criticism by rightists, who perceived it as being against the sociocultural and religious values of Pakistani society which is patriarchal and predominantly Muslim.
In order to put humanity back on the right path, preserve it from degeneration and save it from moral bankruptcy and spiritual sterility, there is a dire need to find a solution. The solution lies in acting upon the commandments of Allah (SWT) as prescribed in the Holy Qur’an and practically demonstrated by the Holy Prophet (SAW) available for the guidance of humanity in the shape of his Practice, i.e. Sunnah. This is where the salvation of humanity lies.