The Miracle

How people conceive welfare society?

- By: Zafar Alam Sarwar Islamabad Info at Email: zasarwar@hotmail.com

When a housewife goes to any eastern or western ‘cash and carry’ she returns home grumbling. When asked if she has lost some money she further loses her temper, saying a bunch of green coriander has gone up 300 per cent to Rs.60. 0. “God help us!” Why the common man isn’t happy with democracy? The question is which social and economic system they want for their welfare. Visit to several places and mosques revealed middle, lower middle and poor segments wa want a society based on principles laid down i in the Quran. Most of them feel financiall­y crippled by su surging prices of kitchen items as well as tho those of children books and stationery. Th They raise some basic questions: Why a new ho homeland was created for Muslims in the su sub-continent, why feudalism and capitalism ha have not been replaced by a welfare system wh when the new state was achieved after a long str struggle in the name of Islam, and why the ma masses are exploited. Di Disgusted people psychologi­cally get heartened when some participan­ts of discussion emphasize the need for studying the Quran, particular­ly Surah Al-Baqarah, for getting rid of miseries caused by socio-economic injustice, bribery, corruption, hoarding, blackmarke­ting, nepotism and unemployme­nt etc. City olds say understand­ing the Quran will help evolve a welfare society as ordained by Almighty God. The society thus organized by humans must live under laws that guide their everyday life based on principles of righteousn­ess and fair dealing, cleanlines­s and sobriety, honesty and helpfulnes­s one to another—yet shaped into concrete forms to suit and circumstan­ces, and the varying needs of average men and women. The food will have to be clean and wholesome. The prerequisi­tes of a welfare society we need include abolition of blood feuds; recognitio­n of the rights and duties of heirs after death, not in a spirit of formalism but to help the weak and the needy; and check on selfish act and wrong-doing of so-called ‘punchayats’; learning self-denial by fasting; the courage to fight in defence of the homeland. In such a welfare society charity and help to the poor is organized; gambling and riots are banned; orphans and the rights of women are protected. “In short, that’s the cure of any bad governance,” asserts the housewife.

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