Page 60 - Solution, the values of the Qurʼan

58 SOLUTION THE VALUES OF THE QUR'AN

Everywhere, west
and east, in developed as
well as developing
countries, it is possible to
see that politics is fused
with business. Thus, it is
not uncommon to see
examples of those who,
abusing politics for
personal benefit, risk
their political careers or
are forced from office
following "quid pro quo
" scandals. In many
authoritarian systems,
leaders fund expensive
tastes and indulge in Mobutu
extravagance while their
people fight hunger and epidemic. Mobutu Sese Seko, the ousted
president of Zaire, is a good example. While the Zairian people fought
each other for a loaf of bread, each and every month Mobutu was sending
his personal plane to France to fetch his coiffeur; he also chartered a
Concorde supersonic jet to fly him and his family to France to indulge in
shopping trips. He amassed a huge fortune, regarding all the natural
resources and diamond mines of his country as his personal assets.
Furthermore, he allowed western countries to benefit from this natural
wealth of Zaire, while his people experienced deteriorating economic
circumstances and civic unrest due to tribal clashes.
No society is immune to such practices unless the Qur'an reigns. In
irreligious communities, people hardly attach any meaning to concepts
like justice, mercy, love, respect and honesty, since everyone pursues his
own interests and shows unquenchable greed. In a verse, Allah stresses
the dimensions of the threat such people pose to societies as follows: