“By the declining day, indeed man is in loss, except those who believe, and do righteous deeds, and counsel one another to truth, and counsel one another to patience.”
– Surah Al-Asr (103:1-3)
Humanity stands today at the height of intellect yet entrenched the depth of moral impoverishment. Since we have decoded the atom, mapped the genome, and sent our instruments beyond the solar system, but the enigma of our own soul remains unresolved. We have witnessed to fly in the air and dive into the sea, but not yet to walk in peace upon the earth.
Remember when the holy Qur’an declares that “man is in loss”, it does not merely point to economic, social, or political decline but it unveils the existential truth that human beings, in their pursuit of material superiority, have forgotten their moral and spiritual essence.
Every division-of creed, color, caste, community, tribe or nation-becomes a self-imposed prison, a fictitious wall erected around divine unity of humanity. Nature calls in the womb, we are all the same; in the grave, indistinguishable dust. But in cruel ignorance between those two moments we wear the masks of pride, prejudice, and possession.
We have forgotten what the holy Prophet Muhammad (SAAW) said:”All mankind is from Adam, and Adam was from dust. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab; a white has no superiority over a black, nor a black over a white-except by piety and good action.”
(Farewell Sermon, 632 CE)
Likewise, in the Bible, it is written: There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
(Galatians 3:28)
From East to West, from the banks of the Ganges to the deserts of Arabia, from Jerusalem to Mecca, from Tibbat to Indus saga sages have echoed the same message that humanity is one, though our ignorance has made us many.
The Buddhist Dhammapada reminds us:”Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is an eternal law.”
History, too, testifies. Empires rose and fell not by the power of their swords but by the decay of their compassion. The grandeur of Athens faded when philosophy divorced itself from virtue. The Abbasids declined when knowledge lost its moral compass. The modern world, wrapped in technology, risks repeating the same fall if it forgets that progress without empathy is regression in disguise.
Education, profession, gender, and wealth have failed to humanize us because they have become instruments of ego rather than enlightenment. We are engineers but we build walls, not bridges. We are doctors but we fail to heal hearts. We are teachers but we seldom teach peace. We are scholars but we have forgotten wisdom. We are poor, yet not humble; rich, yet not generous.
Let us awaken. Let us acknowledge that our stay is brief and our journey shared. The same earth that nourishes us will one day claim us. Let us, therefore, become true brethren again-no one hating, no one killing, no one depriving.
Let us rebuild humanity not on blood or lineage, but on conscience and compassion. The world will change not by revolutions of force, but by revolutions of love.
