Ethics and Technology

Soon after the completion of a multi-storeyed 

building called Akashdeep in Bombay, the whole 

construction collapsed. The engineers said that the 

reason for its collapse was that less cement had 

been used than specified by safety regulations.  

In another statement the director of a technical 

institute said, “RCC construction is a scientific 

process which is excellent in the hands of qualified 

and experienced people, but dangerous if managed 

by incompetent engineers and contractors.”  The 

Times of India, 4 September 1983)  

This appears to be the correct and proper 

explanation of the matter, but if we really think 

about the word ‘incompetent’ as applied to the 

engineers and contractors concerned, we realize 

that it needs to be replaced by the more appropriate 

word ‘corrupt’. The truth is that such problems in 

this country are traceable to excessive greed and 

corruption, and not to a lack of technical expertise.  

The Bhakra Dam being a major government project, 

the services of the top engineers were obtained for

its construction. But, no sooner was it ready than its 

walls began to crack, costing the government crores 

of rupees to rebuild.  

Such events are frequent in this country. Despite all 

such ventures being supervised by technical 

experts, one hears of roads falling into disrepair the 

moment they are constructed, of buildings needing 

to be repaired almost immediately after being built, 

and of plans remaining incomplete even after 

projects are ‘completed.’ All this is the result of 

corruption and has nothing to do with a lack of 

technical expertise.  

Corruption is a psychological evil, while lack of 

skill is a technical shortcoming. A psychological evil 

cannot be removed by technical improvement. If we 

are genuinely interested in making a better society 

in our country, we shall have to work for the 

psychological, or moral reform of the individuals 

who comprise the nation. Merely bringing about an 

increase in the number of technical courses 

available will not make them turn over a new leaf.

                                                                 Ref - The Moral Vision

                                                                                                       - by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan 

Dreams and Success

Mr. Ram Ratan Kapila runs a refrigerator and air-

conditioner business by the name of Kapsons, its 

offices being located in Asaf Ali Road in New Delhi. 

Needing a catchy name for his firm, he advertised 

for one in the newspapers, promising a handsome 

reward for the best slogan. In spite of repeatedly 

advertising, no apt slogan was forthcoming. He 

kept racking his brain day in and day out, but could 

not hit on anything that sounded just right.  

Six whole years came and went, then one night Mr. 

Kapila dreamt he was in a beautiful garden, with 

birds chirruping and perfect weather. Delighted 

with his surroundings, he exclaimed, “What 

wonderful weather!” It had taken him six years, but 

he had found the right catch phrase at last:  

Kapsons: the weather masters.  

The dream is an activity which goes on in the 

sleeping state inside the mind, often crystalling 

unformed thoughts and desires. Often what has 

been going on during the day appears in dreams at 

night. History abounds in tales of discoveries which

have been made through dreams, and problems, 

which had apparently been insoluble, being happily 

solved on wakening from an illuminating dream 

sequence. An inventor’s mind, when totally 

engrossed in his invention, continues to project the 

ins and outs of the problems even when he is 

asleep. It is not unusual for answers to seemingly 

impossible questions to appear in the course of 

dreams. But this only happens as a result of total 

intellectual association with any given subject. 

Success is the result of devotion and assiduity, and 

is never the result of some unasked for miracle. 

                                                                  Ref - The Moral Vision

                                                                                                       - by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan 

Broken Pledges

Once a doctor was visited by a stranger who had a 

box with him. He sat in a corner waiting until all the 

patients had gone, and the doctor was left alone, 

then with an air of secrecy he opened up the box in 

front of the doctor. It contained a gold necklace. The 

stranger told him that this chain was worth  

Rs. 10,000, but hastened to add that he did not want 

to sell it. He only wanted to borrow Rs. 5000 against 

it. He had run into great difficulties and had felt 

forced to pawn something valuable. He said that he 

would be very grateful if the doctor could give him 

enough money to see him through this emergency. 

He promised to come back in one month’s time and 

redeem the necklace. The doctor at first said that he 

was not interested, and refused to give him any 

money. But the man persisted, explaining his plight 

in such a piteous way that the doctor softened and 

agreed to help him out. He handed over the money, 

then locked the chain in his safe.  

Month after month elapsed, but there was no sign 

of the man returning. The doctor began to feel 

apprehensive. Then one day he decided to take the

necklace out of his safe and send it to a jeweller to 

have it valued, so that he could sell it. To his 

consternation he was told that it was made of brass. 

Although the doctor was shocked momentarily, it 

did not take him long to recover. He said that he 

had lost his money but that he would not lose his 

composure. He chose to forget all about this sad 

incident, and simply took the chain out of his safe 

and put it in a common almirah, along with other 

articles made of brass.  

This attitude adopted by the doctor is the best 

solution to many problems that arise from our 

contacts with other people. Whenever our hopes 

and trusts have been betrayed, we feel that we have 

genuine grounds for feeling aggrieved. When a 

supposed man of principle proves a scoundrel, a 

well-wisher turns out an enemy and a reasonable 

person shows himself to be quite the reverse, we 

feel really let down.  

On such occasions, the best policy is to bring those 

who have disappointed us down from the high 

pedestals that we had them on, and put them back 

among the commonplace. What had formerly been

considered ‘gold’ should then be accepted as being 

only ‘brass’ and given a place accordingly. This is 

the only way to retain one’s equanimity in the face 

of life’s many disappointments. 

                                                               Ref - The Moral Vision

                                                                                                       - by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan 

Doing One’s Bit

There was once a man who stubbornly refused to 

believe that it is God who provides for and 

nourishes his creatures. His friends did their best to 

make him understand this, but with no success. 

Finally, he decided to silence them by putting this 

notion to the test. Leaving his home early one 

morning, he went off to a jungle where he perched 

himself up in a tree. “If it is God who nourishes His 

servants, He will send me my food here too,” he 

thought.  

He sat in the tree the whole day, but there was no 

sign of any food. After going without breakfast, 

lunch and dinner, he was all the more convinced 

that such ideas were all nonsense. He was about to 

go home when he saw some wayfarers searching 

for a tree they could pass the night under. They 

finally chose the very tree in which he was perched. 

He decided not to reveal his presence and just 

watched what was going on at the base of the tree. 

After setting up their camp, they took themselves 

off to collect firewood, and having done this, they 

opened their bags and took out rice and pulses to 

cook a meal. When it was nearly ready, they threw 

a handful of chillies into the hot oil to season it. 

Such a spicy aroma rose up into the air that the man 

in the tree sneezed. Only then did the travellers 

learn of his presence, whereupon they invited him 

to share what they had cooked.  

The man happily went back home and said to his 

friends the next morning, “What you said was quite 

true. But you hadn’t told me the whole story. Of  

course, God does provide you with food. It’s just 

that you have to sneeze and come down a tree to 

get it!”  

Although humorous in tone, this little anecdote is 

serious in intent. It is, in fact, a parable which 

underscores the notion that God helps those who 

help themselves. And although man’s role is a very 

minor one, it is nevertheless a very necessary one. A 

man must prove his worth to have his due share of 

God’s gifts. We must never, therefore, neglect to 

make ourselves deserving of God’s nourishment.

                                                                 Ref - The Moral Vision

                                                                                                       - by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan 

The Will to Unite

If an engine driver is to set his locomotive in 

motion, he has to stand before the fire and endure 

it’s fierce heat. This huge and complex machine, 

built up of so many parts, will remain immobile 

unless he is prepared to do so. The same goes for 

society. It will not function unless the individuals 

who have to make all its parts work are prepared to 

sacrifice something of their own and are ready to 

endure difficulties, if not actual hardship. And just 

as all the moving parts of a locomotive have to be 

kept regularly oiled, if they are not to be worn out 

with friction, thus bringing the machinery to a 

standstill, so tolerance must be a feature of society, 

if it is to function as a harmonious whole. Tolerance 

is the oil which will let the wheels go round. There 

can be no teamwork without it.  

When people work together in groups, it is 

inevitable that there should be disagreements and 

that complaints should be voiced. However well

intentioned the individuals concerned may be, such 

negative feelings are bound to surface sooner or 

later. How is it possible then to work together in

harmony? There is only one way, and that is to 

make a considered decision to remain united in the 

face of disagreement. It is a question of individuals 

being conscious of the necessity for harmony, and 

willing themselves to take complaints in their 

stride, if they are unjustified, and to start the 

process of self-examination, if the grounds for 

complaint have any validity in even the smallest 

measure. This is not asking for the impossible. Who 

does not do exactly this in his family life as a matter 

of good sense and practicality? When family 

members are living in close proximity, grievances 

do arise and tempers often flare up. But family 

cohesion is not destroyed because of this, for blood 

relationships prevent such feelings from getting out 

of hand. Grievances are swept away by mutual 

love, and tempers are cooled by words of regard 

and affection. And so the unity of the family 

remains intact. The home, indeed, is a microcosm of 

social existence. It provides a day-to-day working 

model of social harmony unflawed by grievances or 

disagreement.  

The feelings of love which cement family life can be 

brought into being in social life through conscious

deliberations. Unity can spring from a human 

awakening to its ultimate necessity.  

Where family life is governed by the heart, social 

life is governed by the will. There is nothing that 

cannot be endured for the sake of unity, provided 

there is the will to achieve it.

                                                                Ref - The Moral Vision

                                                                                                       - by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan 

A Practical Solution

“When one’s ego is touched,” an eminent 

psychologist once observed, “it turns into superego, 

and the result is breakdown.” Much the same 

thing was said some thirteen hundred years back by 

‘Umair ibn Habib ibn Hamashah. During his last 

days this Companion of the Prophet Muhammad 

gave some advice to his grandson, Abu Ja’afar al

Khatmi, part of which was about patience. “One 

who does not bear with a small hurt from a foolish 

person will have to bear with great harm,” was 

what he said.  

The gist of both these remarks is the same, namely 

that the only way to avoid being harmed by others 

is to keep out of their firing line as much as 

possible, to keep as far away as one can from those 

who show themselves to be potentially harmful.  

Every human being is born with an “ego”. More 

often than not, that ego is dormant. It is better to 

leave it sleeping, for the ego can be like a snake 

which, when aroused, will harm all within its reach.

It is a commonplace in any society for one to be put 

out, and even aggrieved, as a result of someone 

else’s foolishness or willful malice. Usually the best 

way of avoiding great harm from mischief-makers 

is to put up with initial hurt, for, if one does not, 

one will set off a chain reaction in which things will 

go from bad to worse. Instead of having to bear a 

relatively small hurt, one will be subjected to much 

greater suffering. And if one has not been able to 

bear a pelting with stones, how will one fare when 

great rocks descend upon one’s head?

                                                                  Ref - The Moral Vision

                                                                                                       - by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan 

Muslim Journalism

The first generation of Muslims were moved by a 

sense of discovery. But present generation Muslims 

base their efforts on a feeling of loss. This is the 

basic reason for all the intellectual and ethical 

differences between latter-day Muslims and the 

original Islamic community.  

For those who became Muslims at the opening of 

the Islamic era, Islam was the greatest of blessings. 

But present-day Muslims have no such feeling for 

their faith. All they have is a feeling that other 

nations have taken away from them the political 

supremacy that Islamic history had granted them. It 

is for this reason that Muslims the world over are 

today suffering from a persecution complex. They 

look at other nations as oppressors and themselves 

as the oppressed. They hold different nations 

responsible for their problems in various parts of 

the world.  

America, Israel, and Russia are variously the target 

of their anger and resentment. The Jews, Hindus, 

and Christians, are held responsible at different 

moments for their plight. Because of this attitude, 

all they have been able to achieve through their 

efforts has been futile protest.  

This has also had an adverse effect on Muslim 

journalism. There is one thing common to the 

Muslim press the world over, and that is protest. 

All Muslim periodicals and newspapers today have 

adopted this tone. Their sole purpose is to put 

forward the Muslims’ political case. But the true 

purpose of Muslim journalism should be to 

represent Islam; it should be run on the basis of 

principle, not on the basis of national prejudice.  

If one represents a nation’s case, one will spotlight 

its national issues. But to represent Islam, on the 

other hand, is to present God’s religion before 

mankind. The Qur’an tells us how God sent 

countless prophets in ancient times, and revealed to 

them the scriptures. Man, however, was unable to 

preserve these scriptures in their original form. 

Then the final Prophet came to the world. The Book 

that was revealed to him would be preserved for all 

time. It is now our responsibility as Muslims to 

communicate this authentic book of divine

guidance to all nations and all peoples of the world. 

True Muslim journalism is that which represents 

the message of Islam in this way. 

                                                                  Ref - The Moral Vision

                                                                                                       - by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan 

The First Emigration

By the fifth year of the Prophet Muhammad’s 

mission, conditions in Mecca had become 

intolerable for many of the Muslims, as persecution 

by the Quraysh intensified. At this time the Prophet 

advised his companions to emigrate to Abyssinia. 

This is called the first emigration of Islam; it 

preceded by some eighty years the mass emigration 

of Muslims to Medina.  

This was part of the advice which the Prophet 

imparted to his followers on the occasion of the 

emigration to Abyssinia:  

“Disperse in the land; surely God will gather 

you once again.”  

How meaningful these words of the Prophet are! 

What they amount to is an exhortation by the 

Prophet to his followers that they should avoid 

confronting the enemy for the present, but rather 

remove themselves from the line of fire. God would 

then provide them with the means to vanquish the 

enemy; He would gather them together so that they 

could come into their own once again.  

Emigration is indeed a great test of patience. It is 

those who pass this test who will receive the reward 

of God. As the Prophet said: “You should know that 

succour comes with patience; there is ease with 

hardship.”  

Patience, then, is the ladder by which one ascends 

to the Lord’s favour and succour. It is with patience 

that we should react to the difficulties of life, for it is 

on the field of human patience that divine succour 

descends. Our ability to face hardship with patience 

is a great portent, for it means that we are leaving 

our cause to God. That is a signal for the swift 

ending of our plight, and the conversion of our 

hardship into ease.  

Real paradise lies on the other side of the divide of 

patience. Any paradise that one finds without 

crossing that divide can only be an illusion. 

                                                                 Ref - The Moral Vision

                                                                                                       - by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan 

Proceeding with Caution

When rivers have to be crossed, small animals can 

swim across and larger lightweight animals can 

swiftly walk across. But watch an elephant who is 

about to make the crossing. He does not step out 

briskly like other creatures. First he tests the 

riverbed for hardness or softness, making sure not 

to put his whole weight on his forefoot, then, when 

he is sure of his ground, he sets forth. Even once 

launched, his progress is slow, for he is still afraid 

of becoming irremediably stuck in soft mud. He 

proceeds with caution, testing the riverbed at every 

step.  

Who taught the elephant to do this? Surely it must 

have been God who gave him his instinct for 

survival, thus setting upon him His seal of divine 

approval. God has given us this example to show us 

that when there are signs of danger in our path, we 

should not advance carelessly, but should move 

with similar caution, gauging the nature of the 

“ground ahead”.  

Man is endowed with far greater brain power than 

the elephant. No one lights a fire near reserves of 

gun powder. No engine driver is careless in 

shunting petrol bogies. But most of us tend to forget 

that this is a principle to be followed in social life. 

Every society is comprised of a variety of people 

who create different types of environment. In every 

society there are ‘marshy places’, there is ‘petrol’ 

there are ‘thorns’ and there are ‘pits’. The wise are 

those who try to avoid such difficult, even explosive 

situations, thus saving themselves from the 

trammels of confrontation.  

Those who have some goal or the other before them 

never allow themselves to become enmeshed in 

such things because that would mean being 

diverted from their objective. A purposeful man 

always looks ahead to the future,—straight forward 

and not towards, right or left. He always thinks of 

long-lasting consequences rather than momentary 

considerations. He looks at things not from the 

point of view of personal desires and whims, but 

from the point of view of reality.

                                                                  Ref - The Moral Vision

                                                                                                       - by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan 

There is Always a Way

You have probably seen manufacturers of glass 

frames scoring the surfaces of sheets of glass with a  

pen-like instrument, then neatly snapping them into 

two. The cutting edge of this tool is made up of 

small razor-edged diamonds. Even the huge drills 

used for boring through hundreds of feet of rock 

strata in the search for oil are fitted with diamond 

cutting edges. It is the extreme hardness of the 

diamond which makes these tools so effective. The 

diamond is, in fact, the hardest known naturally

occurring substance. It cannot even be scratched. 

Put it in acid, and there will be no effect. But there is 

another aspect to this wonderful stone. If it is 

heated to a very high temperature it will 

disappear—it will simply sublimate into carbon 

dioxide, and if struck a sharp blow at exactly the 

right point, it will break asunder. You have only to 

look at diamond gemstones to see what exquisite, 

multi-faceted forms they can be given by jewellers, 

because, by studying the inner structure of the 

diamond, they know exactly where and how to 

break them.  

Similarly, when we find ourselves in difficult 

situations, we should study them carefully, in the 

way that the jeweller studies his diamond. We 

should not approach them, carelessly, from the 

strongest point, but with circumspection, from the 

weakest. We should not adopt methods which are 

likely to gain poor results, like aggessiveness or 

violence, for these only engender bitterness and 

obstinacy in others. We should resort to politeness 

and diplomacy eschew harsh language in favour of 

gentleness and tact.  

We should consider also that there are certain human 

beings who are known as “rough diamonds.” That is, 

on the outside they appear to be unattractive and 

without merit, whereas on the inside they are of great 

worth. To bring out their worth, so that their true 

value is apparent to society, it is pointless scratching 

at the surface or using acid. If the upright human soul 

is to be revealed in all its beauty it must be given the 

same delicate handling and treated with the same 

expertise as the master craftsman lavishes on a 

superb but fragile piece of jewelry. 

                                                                Ref - The Moral Vision

                                                                                                       - by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan 

Big-Heartedness

The first Umayyad Caliph, Mu’awiya, was ruling in 

Damascus. Most of the eastern Byzantine Empire 

had been conquered by Islam. The Caesar had been 

forced to withdraw to Constantinople, and hold out 

there. Yet he made incursions into Muslim territory. 

In one clash the Romans imprisoned some Muslims, 

one of whom was a man belonging to the Quraysh. 

When the Caesar learnt of this, he asked for the 

captives to be brought before him.  

The Muslim captives were brought into the Caesar’s 

court with their hands tied and feet in chains. The 

emperor addressed them disparagingly. “The 

punishment for such as you will be a slow death. It 

will be a lesson to you and your compatriots to stop 

encroaching upon our territory:”  

The emperor’s words wounded the Qurayshi’s 

sense of honour, and he answered back in a severe 

tone. “As long as you remain an enemy of Islam,” 

he said, “there will be no peace between us. The 

price of our blood is a cheap one to pay for death in 

the path of God. But how precious our blood

becomes when it is spilled by a worthless ruler like 

you.”  

A patriarch of the Caesar’s court became incensed 

on hearing the Qurayshi’s words. He came up and 

hit the Muslim captive on both sides of the face. The 

Qurayshi’s hands being tied, he could offer no 

resistance. What he did was cry out in a loud voice: 

“Mu’awiya, where are you now? Are you not going 

to take revenge on these dastardly people who have 

stricken a man of noble birth—one of your own 

household?” Then he looked towards the patriarch. 

“I swear by God that there will come a day when 

you will realize who I am.”  

Mu’awiya was greatly aggrieved when news of this 

incident reached Damascus. He resolved to do 

something to make amends for what had happened. 

First of all, he arranged an exchange of prisoners 

with the Byzantine emperor. So great was his 

determination to secure the release of his men that 

he agreed to free a greater number of Roman 

soldiers in exchange for them.  

Once the captives had returned home, Mu’awiya 

surreptitiously hatched a plot. He obtained the

services of a man of Syria, a merchant who knew 

the Roman language. Mu’awiya gave him a great 

quantity of gold and money, charging him with the 

task of arresting the patriarch and bringing him to 

Damascus.  

The Syrian travelled as a merchant from Damascus 

to Constantinople. Before long he had established 

the identity of the patriarch and made friends with 

him, wooing him with gifts of perfumes, jewels, silk 

and other such precious items. The Syrian made 

several trips between the two cities, bringing the 

patriarch gifts each time. The whole operation was 

conducted in the utmost secrecy, with no one 

learning of it save Mu’awiya, and the merchant 

himself.  

A lengthy period elapsed. Contacts between the two 

men became so close that the patriarch requested 

certain specific gifts, which the Syrian promised to 

bring. On his return to Damascus, he purchased a 

swift camel and, along with a camel driver, brought 

it to a place near Constantinople. He himself went 

on to meet the patriarch. “I have brought all your 

gifts,” he told the Roman, “let’s go and collect 

them.” Thus he contrived to take the patriarch to 

where the camel and his companion were waiting. 

There both men caught hold of him, tied his hands 

and feet and, setting him upon the camel, set off 

towards Damascus.  

In this way the patriarch was brought before 

Mu’awiya. The caliph called a large meeting, to 

which the captive was also summoned. The 

Qurayshi who had been struck by the Byzantine 

courtier was astonished to see his antagonist appear 

from behind a curtain. “Cousin,” Mu’awiya said to 

his fellow Qurayshi, “now is the time for you to be 

thankful to this Syrian. He has done exactly as I told 

him to, without the slightest omission. His efforts 

have enabled you to extract your right from the 

patriarch, without wronging him.”  

“If I had not sworn an oath,” said the Qurayshi, “I 

would have forgiven him.” Raising his hand, he 

struck the patriarch once. “That suffices,” he said. “I 

am pardoning him what remains to be done by way 

of punishment.”  

“You are our guest for three days,” Mu’awiya told 

the patriarch. When the three days were over, he

was allowed to return to Constantinople, along with 

the Syrian and the presents he had been promised. 

Afterwards, all the Roman patriarchs gathered 

before the Caesar. They advised him not to mistreat 

Muslim prisoners from now on. “I have not seen 

any people as respectful, generous and good natured 

as they are,” said the patriarch who had 

been their guest. “If Mu’awiya had wanted to 

imprison me, he could have done so; but that was 

not his wish.”  

(AI-Dawah, Mecca, 14 Jamad al-Ula, 1405 AH) 

                                                                 Ref - The Moral Vision

                                                                                                       - by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan