THE NEWW ORLODR DER by MAULANA MUHAMMAD 'ALI THE AHMADIYYA ANJUMAN ISHA' AT ISLAM LAHORE www.alahmadiyya.org PREFACE Out of evil comes good, and the terrible ruin and misery of the present war may only be an inauguration of a new era of happiness for the human race. It was with such a hope that I wrote a small tract, entitled The New World Order, in Urdu, in December, 1942. A few months later came a suggestion, from distant Iraq, to render the same into English for the benefit of the English speaking world. This prompted me to approach the subject anew, and the present book is the result. If the ideas presented in these pages are in any way helpful to bring about a betterment of the human race, the credit for this service to humanity does not go to the author but to the selfless and devoted band of co-workers of Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at-i-Islam, Lahore who have made possible the dissemination of these ideas. In this book, The New World Order, I have tried to offer a solution for the ills which materialism has brought in its train. It is a brief discussion, no doubt, but amply supported by references to original authorities. All references given without an indication of the name are to the Holy Qur' an, the first figure representing the number of the chapter and the second the number of the verse. In the references to Hadith books, B. stands for Bukhari, M. for Muslim, Msh. for Mishkat, AD. for Abu Dawood, Tr. for Tirmidhi, Ah, for Musnad of Ahmad, the two figures representing the number of the book and the number of the chapter respectively, except in the last case where reference is to volumes and pages. For a fuller discussion on most of these and other subjects relating to Islam, the reader is referred to my larger work, The Religion of Islam, which is a comprehensive work exhaustively dealing with the principles, laws and regulations of Islam. Before concluding this short foreword, I must give expression of my thanks generally to every member of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam, Lahore, who has been helpful in bringing out this work in these difficult days, and in particular to the following gentlemen who have offered liberal donations or made efforts to collect funds for the free distribution of this book on a large scale: M. Abdul Latif Ismail, Baghdad. K.S. Haji Mian Abdul Qader Patel, Bhiwandi. K.S. Haji Amir Sahib M. Rais, Manor. Syed Tasadduq Husain Qadiri, Baghdad. Mr. N.A. Faruqui, Bombay. Mirza Muzaffar Beg, Lyallpur. Haji S. Mian Muhammad, Lyallpur. Haji S. Muhammad Ismail Maula Bakhsh, Lyallpur. Shaikh Niaz Ahmad, Wazirabad. Muslim Town - Lahore MUHAMMAD 'ALI January 1944 CONTENTS Preface I. Foundations of the New World Order 1-31 Appendix: Summary of Islamic Teachings 32-37 II. The Economic Problem 38-53 Appendix: Summary of Islamic Teachings 54-58 III. The Home 59-71 Appendix: Summary of Islamic Teachings 72-75 IV. The State 76-86 1 FOUNDATIONS OF THE NEW ORDER Humanity is to-day face to face with the biggest catastrophe and the severest crisis that it has ever seen. The devastations of the First World War were yet fresh in the minds of the present generation when, within the short space of twenty years, we find a veritable hell raging on this earth from one end to the other in the form of the Second World War. And while there is yet not the slightest indication of the subsiding of the present conflagration, there are already whispers of a Third World War; and who knows if a fourth or a fifth visitation, each more horrible than the one that precedes it, is yet in store for this world! Are these the travails through which humanity is going to give birth to a better world order? Such is the hope of everyone who has faith in the wisdom of God; even a man who does not believe in God can see in these horrible calamities the harbinger of a mighty revolution. But, as a matter of fact, all this is happening, as will be shown later, according to a set Divine plan calculated to take humanity by gradual steps to its destined goal of perfection. The cry of a New World Order is universal, especially in the Western world which was hitherto under the impression that by its unprecedented material advancement and unthought-of conquests of Nature it has reached the acme of perfection. That impression has received a rude shock by the happenings of the past thirty 2 THE NEW WORLD ORDER years. The material advancement, which was believed to be the source of increased happiness for the human race, has brought instead untold misery and vast destruction. The world is almost in a chaotic condition, every weak nation being the victim of the tyranny of its more powerful and more advanced neighbor. The sense of right and wrong in international relations has entirely disappeared before the passion for national aggrandizement, and this mentality rules the world. from end to end. Might is as much right to-day as it was in the savage state. Instead of finding itself at the height of perfection by its great material strides, the world finds itself at the lowest depth of degradation, at the very place from which it started thousands of years ago, at the kill-and-destroy stage. Selfishness, disregard of other's rights, indifference to moral responsibilities, tyrannising over the weak, are as rampant - perhaps more - at the height of civilization as they were in the savage state; they have only donned a different garment. Selfishness is denounced so long as it is a disease affecting one or more individuals, but when it becomes a plague and affects a whole nation, it is lauded as a great national achievement. Individuals may be secure within certain territorial limits, but whole countries are insecure and may at any time be run over by a nation which has developed a more powerful war machinery. Tyranny may not be allowed within the limits of a State, but there is nothing to check the tyranny of a nation against a nation. A certain social system may have been successful in curbing the greed of individuals, but there is nothing to curb the greed of a nation except the greater greed of a more powerful nation. Evil is taken for a virtue if it wears the cloak of nationalism. Humanity has been divided into races and nations which hate one another; in their march for advancement and their passion for more and more of material comforts and worldly pelf and power, they seek to destroy one another, not being bound by any moral code. The material civilization of the West which has made the acquisition of wealth the highest purpose of life is wholly FOUNDATIONS OF THE NEW ORDER 3 responsible for the anarchical state of things which prevails there. It is evident that materialism which fans the fire of human greed will bring in its trail only ruin and misery, just as it has brought in the two world wars, if there is no force to unite the human race. Such a force could only be a spiritual force. In the materially advanced Western world, the seismic centre of the convulsions which are shaking the entire world, such a moral force does not exist. Christianity which supplied such a force for centuries retreated before the advancing forces of materialism; ultimately it has been utterly routed. Its hold on Russia is now too weak to withstand the advancing tide of atheism; in Germany too, Nazism does not owe allegiance to Christianity. In most other European countries where it still lives, it lives in name only, not as a vital force. Religion is recognised only as man's private concern, and people feel ashamed of speaking of it in society. The name of God is on the lips, and the politicians, instead of serving him, requisition His services in some great national calamity or .for victory in a war. God is needed more to further material gains and to serve political ends than to bring contentment of mind - as the slave of materialism, not as a spiritual force, to check the evil tendencies of materialism which are proving so ruinous for the world. Europe has practically banished God from the soil of its mind, and God has banished peace and order from the soil of Europe. It will be said that Europe is still bent upon converting the world to Christianity; it sends out missions to and spends enormous sums of money in Asia and Africa and other parts of the world with this purpose. Does it show that Europe believes in the spiritual force of Christianity? It does not. If Europe had any faith in the spiritual value of Christianity, it should have tried to save Russia first. Europe only believes in the materialistic value of Christianity, and therefore the message of Christianity is 4 THE NEW WORLD ORDER deemfietod n folryt hmea terbiaaclkplweyao ropdftl hee Easfotrt, hu en toucohfIa nbdfolireta sh,s e a vNaegger o triboerfos r t hbea ckwCardh inmeasses Ietis st. h us matertihagaloetias sb moi utnth E ea wsetar itnhcgel ooafk : ChristTihaeinrnsieo st eyn.is npe re acthoti hnEega as t reliwghiihocapnhsr osvpeidr ainte unatflialreiiy ltn uh ree Wesitt sCehlrfi.s htainsao sntai vtEeyud ro pweh iicsh noiwtn hger oimfpa terainaidbls urni isnmlg ih keefrl olm oneen tdto h oet hieitars b; s tusordu pptohisawteti tlurnl Asiinaat h oe avFeani.il wsur rlarietg o ent hfoer ehoefa d Chrisittreistrea antiifontrcgye ;as rtr ey itnhgle uiicrtnk h e Eawsittt hhme e ssoafeg ceo nuopmliuicnf atc,c ompanied bya nsyp iribteunaelfi t. ICfh rishtaiasan snypi itrfoyir tclueeia fnilta t f ter itdse feaattth h ea nodfms a terwihadylo iiesntsmo m,ta ke ana ttetmocp otn vaetrhteR iusstswiihcao p,so ei osfo n godleisassff neectsthswie hn ogwl oer ilnds,ot sfee andd ing misstioto hnEesa swthe breel iinGe ofds teixlilis nt s greavtietra liittdy o eitsnEh uarnoa pneAd m erica? Eurodpeefe nidtssa eglaRfiu nsssCtio amnm unbiutsthm a,t toboe caiautffs eeic tmtsas t eirnitaelr beesctasiiu tssa en d am enatcoEe u roCpaep'istw ahliiicthsshe mfo undation­ stoonfEe u roIpmepaenr iIafBlo ilssmhe.em viiscs aries weroeuo tn ltyop regaocdhl easnsddni endso tsto uch CapitaanIldmi psemr oifEa ulrioIspwmteo ,un lodmt o ve itlsif titnlagege arti hnesmt. Thfea iolfCu hrrei sttoki eaetnphifi etr oyeff aith burniinnhg u mhaena argtasti hntesi otdf me a teriisa lism duteto w roe asIontnh fiser. ps lta tchCeeh, r iresltiigaino n -notths ei mfpaloieftJ he sCuhsrb iuastsret p resbeyn ted thCeh ur-wcahbs a soenadd ogwmhai wcahrs e pugnant toh umraena sSooln o.na gsE urowpasesu nlko iwn ignoriatrn ecmea,si anteidws ifittehhd ae u thoritative Chudrecchl ar-Baetliiaoenndvd one o qtu esWtiittohhn e! advaonfsc cei eknntoiwfilcien ad lbglre a nocflh ieifest, waesv idtehntathth e o lodfa r eligiobna swihco se doctdreifinreeeadss s ohno luolods Cehnr.i stfiirasnti ty's FOUNDATIONS OF THE NEW ORDER 5 clash was in fact with science. Every new discovery in the domain of science was looked upon by the Church as a heresy, because its spirit was more in consonance with ignorance than learning. It was not because of Christianity, but in spite of Christianity, that scientific research gained ground in Europe. The Church tried to suppress every scientific discovery with all the force at its command but suffered defeat every time. Then came a stage at which, contrary to all previous traditions of Christianity, reason began to be applied to Church doctrines; all basic doctrines - the Divinity of Jesus, the crucifixion, the atonement of sins, the Eucharist - when brought under the searchlight of reason, were found to have been based on the myths of ancient idolatrous nations. Christianity was the only religion known to Europe, and Jesus Christ the only God, and if these failed to satisfy the advanced mind, religion and God were bound to go along with them. The other reason for the failure of Christianity was that it was only a creed that concerned itself with salvation in the next life. It was not a system or an order dealing with this life; all the interest that it took was in ultra­ mundane questions. But with the advance of science there was a general progressive outlook of life, to which the very spirit of Christianity was opposed. The two great problems of this life, the problems of wealth and sex, as accepted by generations of Christianity, did not satisfy the advanced mind. Not only did Christianity not offer any solution to the new questions that arose in the march of civilization, it opposed all reform on these matters, and therefore men's minds were turned in disgust from it. The hold of religion on the minds of men having thus loosened, materialism remained the sole master in the field. The cementing force of religion has thus for the time being disappeared from Europe, and the one-sided development of its civilization, the unchecked growth of materialism, has let loose the forces of selfishness, jealousy, hatred and grabbing political power, which have 6 THE NEW WORLD ORDER brought ruin and destruction upon humanity. The first requisite of the New World Order, therefore, is that it must be based on spiritual force which religion alone can supply. If the foundations are not deep and reliable, the superstructure of the New Order would go to pieces. This is what happened twenty years ago. The First World War raged for over four years, visiting ruin and desolation on populous cities and towns, changing fertile lands into barren wastes, killing hundreds of thousands of the healthiest youth, maiming even greater numbers for their lives, destroying the happiness of millions of homes, and plunging vast sections of humanity into misery and affliction. The end of the war seemed to justify all these sacrifices. The aggressor was defeated, and the democracies won a complete victory. There were summoned together the best brains from the winning nations and a great international conference was convened so as to lay the foundations of a New World Order. The map of Europe was redrawn. New territorial bounds were demarcated. The vanquished aggressors were so cut up into pieces that never again should they regain the strength to raise their heads. The League of Nations was created to give this Order a moral support. This was New World OrderNo.1. Where is that Order to-day? It went to pieces within ten years of its creation, and another ten plunged the world into a conflagration more horrible than the first. All the travail that humanity had to go through ended in smoke. Why? Because the New Order had no moral foundations. The worthy people that assembled at the conference gave no thought to the real ills of humanity. They thought that vanquishment of one nation by another was a remedy for future aggression. It was not, and it shall never be. They did nothing to eliminate the mutual hatred of the warring factions. They did nothing to bring about a change of heart, either in the conquerors or in the conquered. They did not pay the least attention to the fact that in their peace proposals they were only giving impetus to the very human