Unbridled individualism armed with the latest means of communication is breaking through all the social barriers which had been established to withstand the temptation of evil. The strength of inner faith and firmness of conviction have remained our sole weaponry against immorality and obscenity. The enemy has reached within our homes and confronts us inside. What is worse obscenity and immorality are gradually receiving open legal protection and tacit social acceptance.
The mass media technology unlike other technologies is not a deaf, dumb and blind technology. It is rather equipped with all the three faculties with a tremendous reach. It is a technique, a medium and an idea combined which not only converses with the user but influences and inspires him also. It is a three dimensional entity that has a technological device to work on, a language to speak and a message to convey.
So far as the technology is concerned as a Muslim there is absolutely no objection in acquiring it. Islam does not belong to any particular technological era. It. is guidance for every stage of human development. In fact Muslims regard it a service to mankind from those who produced it and made it available to humanity.
With regard to language sometimes one feels strong reservations in switching over to other language when centuries of attachment with a particular language not only makes one obsessed with it, but the intellectual investment made in the language makes it the repository of the whole innovative and creative wealth of the people. Still it is true that no people have a language for eternity. In fact it is commonplace to find people taking to other languages after regular intervals of say a thousand years or so. What is more important English language has been now in ascendancy for more than two centuries when it was introduced by the greatest colonial power of the time as an official and academic language. The end of colonialism brought a brief recipe for regional languages due to the emergence of nation-state, where everything belonging to nation was to be held supreme and language being such a vital component of national identity could not be ignored. But English continued to be the dominant language and most of the literature belonging to non-English people and non- English subjects and religions was also produced in this very language.
The advent of internet is establishing a complete sway of this language, not only as intellectual and official language but communication medium of every outdoor activity. Regional languages are fast confined to indoor communication. People from non-English speaking world are also making most of their literary contribution in this very language, be it in the field of science, humanities or any other branch of knowledge.
With the result the young generation is developing such a powerful taste for this language, that even if they can read and write other languages better they still prefer to read English. As such they are completely exposed to the cultural onslaughts of Godless materialism, that bears a deep seated prejudice against long established moral values, which are treated as impediments in the path to development? This culture comes as a complete pattern of life with its own gods and rituals. The god of materialism and the rituals of new-year day, valentine day and dating and pub culture.
If technology is welcome, the language has nothing evil intrinsic in it. The language can be adopted owned and even Islamized as we have done with many languages in the past like Persian which was owned to the extent that it became identical with Muslims. It is only the invading culture accompanying this language which is to be fought out. And we can only succeed if we make full use of this most powerful medium. We have to equip ourselves with the light of divine guidance to over-come this darkness. That can be only done by adopting this powerful medium and bring it to the service of spreading the word of God. No religion, which is not a mere indoor activity, but claims to encompass the whole life, can afford to ignore such a powerful medium.
It is in this context, and with this purpose, that a humble beginning is being made to present, particularly to the new generation; the divine guidance in most concise and attractive form. The journal would do its utmost to stick to the fundamentals of the faith and steer clear of sectarian and factional controversies. Inshaallah!
Dr A M Pandit
