[This was published on 18 April 2014 in Dhaka
Courier]
A man went to a barber shop to have his hair
and his beard cut as always. He started to have a good conversation with the
barber who attended him. They talked about so many things and various subjects.
Suddenly, they touched the subject of God.
The barber said: “Look man, I don’t believe
that God exists as you say so.”Why do you say that?” – asked the client.
Well, it’s so easy, you just have to go out
in the street to realize that God does not exist. Oh, tell me, if God
existed, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned
children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I
can’t think of a God who permits all of these things.”
The client stopped for moment thinking but he
didn’t want to respond so as to prevent an argument. The barber finished his
job and the client went out of the shop. Just after he left the barber shop he
saw a man in the street with a long hair and beard (it seems that it had
been a long time since he had his cut and he looked so untidy).
Then the client again entered the barber shop
and he said to the barber: “Know what? Barbers do not exist.”
“How come they don’t exist?”-asked the
barber. “Well I am here and I am a barber.”
“No!” – the client exclaimed. “They don’t
exist because if they did there would be no people with long hair and beard
like that man who walks in the street.”
“Ah, barbers do exist, what happens is that
people do not come to me.”
“Exactly!”- affirmed the client. “That’s the
point. GOD does exist, what happens is people don’t go to Him and do not look
for Him that’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in the world.”
What are lessons from the story above? Reply
is very simple and straightforward that tells us over and over again that
deserving persons having necessary backgrounds are not being consulted,
respected and visited by those who need them acutely and adequately. As a result,
disorder, chaos, confusion, incompetence and so on backed by a rule of
irregularities are chasing and hunting us gravely at every station of life,
starting from personal to familial to social to economic to political to religious
domains and landscapes and come what may not.
To our utter surprise, in today’s Bangladesh
most of the ‘deserving persons’ are bewildered, suffocated and strangulated
because of the blasts, pressures and sidetracking by the ‘less deserving and/
or no-deserving persons’. More attention-grabbing is the shameless sycophancy,
overt or covert, by men of high profile (excepting a very few) centering around
those who matter in politics and statecraft. In Hindu mythology this is the
period of ‘Kali kal’. Predictions in Islam are also available. In fact, stages
of human existence, beginning from the day of creation to the present, have
been viewed in various ways with many interpretations by various mythologies
including Greek and Hindus.
In Western perspective, two classical authors
(Hesiod and Ovid) in particular offer accounts of the successive ages of
humanity, which tend to progress from an original, long-gone age in which
humans enjoyed a nearly divine existence to the current age of the writer, in
which humans are beset by innumerable pains and evils. In the two accounts that
survive from ancient Greece and Rome, this degradation of the human condition
over time is indicated symbolically with metals of successively decreasing
value.
An alternative system according to Hindu
scriptures, the cycle of creation and destruction, known as kalpa, is a period
of 10,000 divine years, and is divided into four ages or yugas (Sanskrit yuga =
age/epoch). According to one calculation, one yuga cycle is estimated to be
4,320,000 years, and one kalpa 4,320,000,000 years.
The Hindu and Vedic writings also make
reference to four ages (Yuga) termed: Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali. According
to the Laws of Manu these four ages total 4.32 million years. These four yugas
make up a Maha Yuga, a Chatur Yuga, or a Divya Yuga. 1000 Maha Yugas taken
together equals one day of Brahma or 4.32 billion years. Brahma’s night is of
an equal length which is also 4.32 billion years. Taken together Brahma’s day
and night are 8.64 billion years in total. Brahma lives for 36,000 "Brahma
days" so his lifespan is equivalent to 311 trillion, 40 billion years.
After his death there is an equivalent period of 311 trillion, 40 billion years
when the Universe is unmanifest. Then a new Brahma is born and the cycle starts
all over again. Taken together the life and the death of Brahma equal 622
trillion, 80 billion years. This equals one cycle out of innumerable cycles in
the Vedic Universe.
In Christian world there we find also a talk
of six ages of the world. The Six Ages of the World (Latin sex
aetates mundi), also Seven Ages of the World (Latin septem aetates mundi), is a
Christian historical periodization first written about by Saint Augustine circa
400 AD. The Six Ages as formulated by Saint Augustine can be found in De catechizandis rudibus (On the catechizing of the uninstructed),
Chapter 22:
The First Age: "The first is
from the beginning of the human race, that is, from Adam, who was the first man
that was made, down to Noah, who constructed the ark at the time of the flood,"
i.e the Antediluvian period.
The Second Age: ".Extends from
that period on to Abraham, who was called the father indeed of all
nations.."
The Third Age: "For the third
age extends from Abraham on to David the king."
The Fourth Age: "The fourth
from David on to that captivity whereby the people of God passed over into
Babylonia."
The Fifth Age: "The fifth
from that transmigration down to the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The Sixth Age: "With His
[Jesus Christ's] coming the sixth age has entered on its process."
The Ages reflect the seven days of creation,
of which the last day is the rest of Sabbath, illustrating the human journey to
find eternal rest with God, a common Christian narrative. Underlying fact is
that the world is now within the domain of degradation of human values and
morality.
In Islam the period has fallen within the
fold of ‘post-Hijri 1400. (The Hijri year [anno hegirae /ˈænoʊ ˈhɛdʒɨriː/]
is the year-numbering system (or Calendar era) used in the Islamic calendar. It
commemorates the Hijra (هِجْرَة),
or emigration of Muhammad and his followers to the city of Medina in 622 CE. In
Arabic, AH is symbolized by the letter هـ. The year 2014
AD corresponds to the Islamic years 1435–1436 AH)’. The first day of 1 AH
corresponds to July 16, 622, denoted as "1 Muharram 1 AH’’. Here we recall the
predictions made by Hazrat Muhammad (PHB) about the possible course of events
covering also somber derailments and degradations of Islamic values, customs,
moralities etc after Hijri 1400.
Noticeable it is that in all cases, it is
predicted, at a certain stage of human existence, negative landscapes shall be
prevailing over the positive landscapes in almost all spheres of life ranging
from local to national to regional to global phenomena. Allegorically the
period is also called Iron Age since iron with all its characteristics stands
opposite to softness, calm and quiet and that’s why ‘a man of iron age is moreover
referred to as a selfish/sinful person’.
Asking is how to get rid of such state of
affairs? Answer is, let our social, political and religious leaders in
particular feel free and obligated to invest their valuable time and energy to
pave ways wider in practice for finding pragmatic, acceptable, reconciliatory
and accommodative way-out(s) to suit the very purposes of life at different
stations meaningfully. Let there be happy exchanges and marriages between those
who think, feel and realize and those who wield the machine of politics,
statecraft and power both from the seats of position and opposition(s). It’s a
challenge of the first water and, therefore, needless to utter twice that
decision(s) must come from the pinnacle without a fear, suspicion or
oscillation.
Let us not be oblivious of the truth that
‘Moon sees everything save the dark’ meaning that nothing in the world are
hundred percent primed and here lies the uniqueness and sovereignty of Allah,
Creator of Universe(s). A prophet is a prophet because he is duly ordained by
Allah. A professor is a professor as he is rightly possessed of knowledge of
the respective discipline. Same remains as a whole the case in case of others
in the ranks and files in the world. If a barber gets and accepts light from a
small but significant lesson, why not are our leaders of various folds, natures
and dimensions fell free and obligated to do so to enlighten and broaden them
accordingly?
Therefore, let us raise our hands in a motion
of prayer to Allah and say from the very bosoms of our minds: O Allah, All of
Universe(s), from the standpoints, inter alia, of creation, distribution,
maintenance, doomsday, day of resurrection, day of judgment, day of punishments
and rewards, bless us in full to live, stay and continue being respectful and
considerate to self and to others, being fair and just to self and others and
above all being sacrificing and
trustworthy to others under all the circumstances, favorable or not’.
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