1. Preface

Those really desirous of seeing Islamic social order established in the country should be alive to the fact that there is immense inclination among the people in our society for the establishment of the same. The real drawback is the lack of determination and still more that of the lack of capacity to bring about its fruition. Quite a significant number of people do not possess the essential attributes that should bring about the success of the mission. Another factor that should be noted is that an influential section of the people is working towards the defeat of the cherished ideals, and those not actually involved in the above are unmindful of the reforms. The number of people who actually engage themselves in the task of reconstruction and reform is negligible. The third point that should engage our attention is that the government is the most important agency that can help the building of a healthy social order or bringing about its decay. Wherever democracy is functioning, it is the people who are responsible for establishing a wrong government or a right one by either throwing the reigns of the government into the hands of wrong persons or entrusting it to the care of the right type of people. Those indulging in negative activities exert more for misguiding the people than they work for anything else. Their object is to denude the people in general of their intrinsic capability to make a right choice.

These three realities combine to present a dismal situation and one is prone to lose heart and in sheer disappointment pondering whether such a situation can possibly be retrieved. But we should not lose sight of other realities as well. If taken into account, the dark clouds of disappointment begin to burst and rays of hope start to shine. The first reality is that our society is not altogether stuffed with vicious elements only. It contains certain healthy features also. There are people who have a burning desire for reforms and reconstruction and possess capacity for initiative and sound planning. There are deficiencies also but they can be corrected through earnest effort and proper care.

Another good feature is that our people by nature are not trouble-mongers. They are prone to be hoodwinked on account of their lack of proper knowledge, ignorance or credulity. It is a fact that they are being deceived as such. But they would never agree to the forces of destruction that are generally manifest through the activities of the deceits and cheats. If efforts are put in through a systematic machinery, success will ultimately be achieved in making public opinion in favour of the forces of reform. Had the entire vision of the society been smothered by vices nurtured by these vicious elements, there would have been cause for alarm. The third reality is that the forces of evil, in spite of having access to all the material instruments of influence for the success of their designs, woefully lack two things - strength of an unblemished character and unity of thought and action.

The last and the most important reason is that the mission of Islamic revival is in reality Allah's own mission and whosoever works for its success has Allah's blessings, provided he is earnest and patient and not unmindful of practical wisdom. Such people, in spite of being handicapped by scanty resources and numbers, find the approval of Allah to make up for their deficiency in the above fields.

This is the fund of hopefulness behind the outward phases of disappointment and this fact enlivens the hope that an ideal social order of Islam is not only a possibility but its success is also expected. What is required is that those who really want it to take shape should come out of their castles of fond hopes and aspirations and take practical steps for shaping it in accordance with the laws made by Allah, which operate in this universe. That will guarantee success. To indulge only in criticism of the vices and evils is not the way to success according to Allah's laws. You cannot wipe off even a tiny thorn of the jungle nor a tiny pebble from your path without putting in effort. How can the evils of the society that have seaped into it for such a long time be removed by the jugglery of your words alone. Even a single grain of corn cannot be produced without intensive labour on the part of the farmer. Hence, it would be futile to expect that the greenery of piety and righteousness will wave majestically through prayers and fond-longings. Criticism is fruitful provided we do our duty in this world functioning under the law of cause and effect and subsequently pray to Almighty Allah to crown our efforts with success. The angels without doubt descend, but not to fight by themselves but to help the upholders of truth who have dedicated themselves in the way of Allah. Hence, all those who are inclined to act should refrain from all unreasonable hopes and aspirations and, in a patient mood, ponder over the claims of the mission. They should judge for themselves whether they would work for the mission or just lament at the harm done and subsequently be satisfied with nourishing fond hopes of reform and reconstruction in their hearts only. Whosoever decides to act should not do so in frenzy. He should on the contrary temper his judgement with cool thought and imagination. Momentary zeal invests a man with the capacity to stand upright and receive bullets and die. But it is not a powerful weapon to make one abstain from vice even for a few days or sustain him on the path of righteousness, nothing to speak of his capability of tenaciously sticking to his objective with painstaking labour for the whole of his life. Only those can do constructive work who have decided with cool thought that they have to spend the whole of their lives in that very task.

After getting ready for action, people generally take up the problem of programme of work. They say, "Well, we have decided to work. Let us know the programme of action." But they forget that the main point between the decision to act and the programme of action is the personality of the doer, and it is wrong to talk of the programme, by ignoring the main point. It is a faulty notion that the desire for action only is the passport to action, and what is required is only the programme. Owing to this wrong notion, great schemes of action took their start but failed to attain their objective. The fact is that the programmes and schemes are not the real issues. They are the people who carry them onwards - their qualifications and the attributes of every individual among them. They are the real force who decide whether the scheme is going to achieve success or perish in failure. Every deficiency of theirs affects results and every good feature of their personality illuminates itself. If they are possessed of good qualities, they carry forward even a wrong scheme and a defective programme in such a manner as to astonish the world. On the contrary, if their capability is deficient, even the best scheme meets with failure and the people at large began to doubt the health of the scheme itself that is being handled by incapable people. Hence, it is our duty to see, before giving our thought to the practical proposals for reform and reconstruction, what attributes of character should adorn them and what weaknesses should not defile them, and what are the means for preparing such types of right people.

In the succeeding pages, I shall deal with this subject in the following order:
1. the attributes that are essential for every individual embarking upon the scheme of work;
2. their collective attributes;
3. the qualifications that are necessary for success in propagation and establishment of Islamic way of life;
4. the major vices that should not defile them individually or collectively;
5. the methods that should help the consummation of the required qualifications and the eradication of undesirable blemishes from individuals and the society.

In order to establish the social order of Islam in the world, second important factor, subsequent to Allah's help, upon which success is based, is cumulative qualities of the people dedicated to the work.

There are certain qualifications that are necessary for the individuals. Again certain attributes are necessary in the social context. There are yet other qualifications that are necessary for the task of reformation and reconstruction. And there are certain evils that will defeat their mission. The above factors are to be fully understood so that all those who are inspired by a true zeal to serve should inculcate in them the required characteristics as enunciated above and should purge themselves of the undesirable attributes, if any. Personal purification is the first requisite for the reconstruction of society. The reason is apparent. One who cannot reform his own self can never do anything tangible for the reformation of others.