Page 189 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

HARUN YAHYA (ADNAN OKTAR)
187

Today, the civil war between various domestic tribes continues by
a number of means, and people are still dying every day. The worst
problem facing this country of some 8 million people is hunger and
poverty. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) report for 2000, 75 percent of Somalis are malnourished, and the
endless floods affecting the country are bringing it to the brink of a ter-
rible famine.
It must not be forgotten that contrary to general world opinion, the
problem of hunger is not an insuperable one. A fair distribution of
world resources, the technological resources of wealthy nations being
placed at the service of the whole world, and preventing wasteful use of
surplus production to instead use it for aid purposes are only a few of
the things that could be done. However, what lies behind the failure to
find a solution to problems such as hunger and disease in our day is
again moral deficiencies such as selfishness, overbearing personal inter-
ests, greed and apathy.
The atheist culture that dominates the world today drives people
towards selfishness instead of sacrifice and striving to help others. This
culture produces excessive poverty and excessive wealth in both indi-
vidual societies and in the world in general. In the Qur'an Allah
describes the kind of people who do not feed the hungry
and needy in these terms:
Have you seen him who denies the religion? He is the
one who harshly rebuffs the orphan and does not urge
the feeding of the poor. (Surat al-Ma'un: 1-3)
For that reason, the salvation of the world lies not
in those who deny religion, but in government by peo-
ple who sincerely believe in religion and rule accord-
ingly. If Islam can grow stronger and come to
prevail in the world, this will be the salvation
not just of oppressed Muslims, but of all op-
pressed people in the world.