You are here: Home » Society » Environmentalism » The Earth’s Complaint (Part 1)

The Earth’s Complaint (Part 1)

Next: Part 2, Part 3, Final

In H.G. Wells's, “The Sleeper Awakes”, Graham, a troubled insomniac in 1890s England, falls into a sleep-like trance from which he does not awaken for over two-hundred years. When he comes out of his centuries of slumber, he awakens to a world with wondrous technological trappings, yet staggering social injustice and increasing unrest. Horrified by the stark contradictions and by the mass poverty, tyranny and malcontent in this disturbing technopolis, Graham asserts in utter anguish: “We were making the future, and hardly any of us troubled to think what future we were making. And here it is!”

Inconvenient Truths

Our world is not unlike Graham's in that it too is marked by stark contradictions. Ours is a world where, globally, there is an abundance of food, and yet there is mass starvation and grotesque human inequalities; wherein we have increased in technology, yet decreased world stability; and where global markets expand, yet social institutions continue to collapse.

Ours is a world wherein we have mapped the human gene code, where neuroscience has unravelled many of the marvels of the human brain, where we have now unearthed the ruins and relics of countless cultures and civilizations; yet ours is a world where, having amassed all this data about man, never has there been a deeper ignorance as to his true purpose of life: why he is born, why he lives, and why he must die.Ours is a world in which

About Abu Aaliyah

Abu Aaliyah is the founder of The Jawziyyah Institute, a leading institute for Islamic moderation and contemporary thought in the United Kingdom. Sidi Abu Aaliyah has been in involved in Dawah and Islamic teachings for the last 14 years. He has translated a number of books from the Arabic language into English such as "The Exquisite Pearls". Abu Aaliyah's written works and audio lectures can be found online.

8 comments

  1. As salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullaah

    mashaAllah, jazakAllahu khairan for the inspiring article.

    subhanAllah there are so many blatant contradictions in our world. unfortunately, even those ‘highly educated’ ones who claim they are ‘making a difference’ don’t do their part to end this divide, rather they go on and deepen them more through their ignorance.

    may Allah guide everyone and us all, ameen.

    Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

  2. you can send

    Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

  3. mashallah, excellent post!

    You gave it…full force!

    Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0