Many of you know incidents of the 20th Century by reading history books, but people of my age have been a witness to the events that took place in the last 50 years.
There was not much difference in the condition of the World on 1st January 1900 and the earlier Centuries. The world was moving on at a slow and steady pace. Everyone was probably well contented. There may have been wars, fights and brutalization but by and large people were happy, wants were simple, life was simple, people were not very ambitious. There was lot of respect for ethical values, family values, social values and human values. People were concerned and particular about reputation - family reputation, community reputation and religious reputation. Nobody would have dared to do in 19th Century and in earlier centuries anything that would bring bad names to the families. There was great bond between teachers and students and there was a genuine attachment of the students to the educational Institutions where he/she studies. Some of us who are alive today know these values. Parental authority was never questioned. Defiance of any authority was unknown and unheard of. Family ties were sacred. The love, affection and respect shown to the elders in the family was something each member of the family was proud of. Moral and ethical values commanded respect and nobody would have dared to do anything which will not be accepted according to the moral and religious rules and standards.
Probably the above things did not change much even in the first 14 years of 20th Century - until that fateful day - a day which was going to change the history of the World - when a Serb assassin on 28th June 1914 shot dead Archduke Franz Fredinand, Heir to the throne of Austria, in the town of Sarjevo - a town that is in news today. What a fateful day and what a fateful act. This unleashed one of the greatest conflicts the world had never seen before that day. I am referring to World War - I
World War — I started the ball rolling. Head took over from the heart and science became the religion of man. Materialistic forces suddenly became loose, situations developed which forced creation of destructive weapons of War - Tanks, Machine, Guns, Artillery, Rifles, etc, etc. Each nation harnessed the services of the Scientists to create something better than what the adversary had. The race of destruction started. By the time World War ended in 1918 the world was in turmoil. Everything lay shattered - economics, currencies, values, International boun-daries etc. Might became right, Treaty of Versailles signed between the victors and vanquished i.e., the Allies and the Axis powers laid the foundation for another great catastrophe that was unleashed on the world 21 years later. In this gap of 21 years all values ceased to exist. The Allied powers inflicted their will on the nations of Asia, Africa and West Asia and started exploiting them for their own benefit. Science also started making rapid strides especially, the development of the Aero-plane industry. Time and space started shrinking. Wireless and telecommunication also started developing. Morals and ethics lost their values and the strong felt that he is always right and the weak is always wrong. The world was merely going on, with the stronger and the arrogant continuing to enjoy themselves and the weaker continuing to suffer - not daring to open their mouth to protest and if they did they were eliminated with no questions asked. Gunboat diplomacy was born.
20th Century also saw the decadence of moral values. Never before in the history of mankind have these values fallen so low as today -a man buries his wife alive or kills her and puts her in a Tandoor, father rapes his eight year old daughter and strangles her to death. This is in India. West, who boast of modernity and being civilized, is still worse - Son and his friend join together to murder the mother and the friend rapes the dead body of the mother and then both the boys throw the body in the well. A young divorcee woman in order to marry her lover straps her lovely 3 year and 1 l/z year old boys to the seat of the car and pushes the car in to a lake and drowns them. This is in United States of America - Can you think of worse mental decadence. 20th Century has produced this also. 20th Century was also a century of petty mindedness and small heartedness.
If we turn our attention towards Faith, we will see that never before in the annals of human history was so much hatred generated by so few for so little. I am here referring to the fact that dissimilarity between faiths which happens to be a very small percentage was magnified so much that it almost became a monster and similarities that are far more completely forgotten. In 21st Century we will have to reverse this and people of all faiths have to concentrate on the similarities between faiths and keep the dissimilarities under control.
20th Century saw growth of contempt for religion. The decadence of religion went to such extent in 20th Century that abusing great religious personalities became the order of the day and even leaders of nations fell in this trap.
It is indeed a sad state of affairs that in 20th Century law breakers became law enforcers, atheist started preaching religion, adulterers, rapists and goons preached morality, cheats and embezzlers organizing religious functions, immorality and shamelessness was accepted as normal and what is worse, using this as means to gain name, fame and power, women dehumanized as never before. We in the East are told we do not treat our women well but in the West if a car manufacturer wants to sell his car he publishes a photograph of his car with a nude woman sitting on the bonnet, liquor calendars with photographs of semi nude woman etc. Yet the same people are talking of helping women to gain respect. What hypocrisy ?
In 20th Century wrong became right. Chastity replaced by debauchery, illegitimacy given recognition. 20th Century saw that rapid growth of the idea that politics and religion should be kept apart. But the very same people who want to keep politics and religion apart, by the back door started bringing politics into religion. The result politics got destroyed because of no religion and religion became irreligious because of politics.
The present century will see great demands made on responsible persons with regard to their social responsibilities to the public and also accountability for their actions. One can never say then “it is my own business and it is none of your business”. So long as anyone deals with anything which affects the community, accountability will be there and it has to be answered. When I say accountability, I am referring to accountability to Allah. Those who have been entrusted with wealth should not forget that it is a Trust from the Creator and therefore how it is spent will be questioned.
The duties and responsibilities of the Trustees and their accountability have been very clearly mentioned in Quran. All religions place enormous emphasis on social responsibility of those endowed with wealth and power. This awareness has to be created among the affluent of our community. Remember one of the ways Allah tests a person is by giving wealth and children. This is a very severe test.
What will be the challenges we will have to face in 21st century. What will be the hopes, aspirations, objectives, perspectives, social responsibilities and vision in the 21st century for which you will have to train yourself. My emphasis is on the words “train yourself”. (The writer is an Organisational Psychologist)