Preface

The greatest problem that has confronted man from time immemorial is the moral problem-all other problems, social, economic, political, etc., are only aspects of this master-problem. Whatever be the situation man is always faced with the question: What are right and wrong, good and evil? He enjoys a certain degree of freedom and his primary concern has always been to find out the right course in the use of this freedom. History of human thought and action is only a record of man's search in this direction-his contemplations, his endeavors and strivings, his blunders and failings, his successes and attainments.

Islam gives this problem the importance it deserves. The story of the trial of Adam and Eve, in fact, makes a masterly presentation of the moral problem of man and its solution. This was the first problem that beset man-it is the problem that will beset him till he reaches the journey's end.

Maulana Maududi has discussed, in his inimitable style, the nature of the moral problem and the viewpoint which Islam puts forth in this respect. His two discourses are being presented in this brochure to the English speaking public. "The Ethical Viewpoint of Islam" is an address delivered at Islamia College, Peshawar, on 14th February 1944. ^{[1. Nine editions of this address have been
published in Urdu, the latest in 1965 was published by the Islamic Publications
Ltd Lahore.]} An English translation was published in 1946 but it was defective in more than one respect and the author was dissatisfied with the same. That is why a new translation was undertaken and is now presented to the public. It is impossible to recapture in a translation the beautiful Urdu style of the author. Maulana Maududi is not only a great thinker, he is also a man of letters who wields a powerful pen and has a unique style of his own. If the translator has been able to convey the line of the author's reasoning, not to say the form and style, he will feel more than rewarded.

While going through this discourse the reader should keep in view the fact that it was delivered in February 1944 when the world was caught in the grip of Second World War and human blood had become thinner than water The international situation of 1944 is acting as background to the address and is reflected between the lines. There are certain veiled references to the then prevailing conditions and the monstrous situation created by the menace of Fascism and Nazism and the reader can better appreciate them if this fact is kept in mind. The central problem, however, remains unchanged. The moral crisis persists, it has now sought new channels for its expression. The socio-political scene continues to be shrouded, only the manifestations have taken new shapes.

All keen observers strongly feel that the contemporary Western society is in peril. The institution of family has broken down. Younger generation is moldering with discontent and frustration. Symptoms of revolt are writ large on the horizon. Education has failed to engender loyalty for social ideals. Respect for teachers and parents is at its lowest ebb. Sexual morality has disintegrated. Honesty has become meaningless where it does not pay. What has been achieved after more than three centuries of the worship of the gods of Wealth and Expediency is: meaninglessness in philosophy, insecurity in polity, exploitation in economy, immorality in society, distortion in art, frustration in literature, chaos in poetry, lack of creativity in art; in short, supremacy of techniques but the eclipse of man. It is the failure in the moral realm which is responsible for the explosive contemporary situation which has been rightly put by Bertrand Russell, himself an agnostic, in the following words:

"To describe man as a mixture of god and beast is hardly fair to the beasts . . . . No beast and no Yahoo could commit the crimes committed by Hitler and Stalin. There seems no limit to the horrors that can be inflicted by a combination of scientific intelligence with the malevolence of Satan. When we contemplate the tortures of millions deliberately inflicted by Hitler and Stalin, when we reflect that the species which they disgraced is our own, it is easy to feel that the Yahoos, for all their degradation, are far less dreadful than some of the human beings who actually wield power in great modern states. Human imagination long ago pictured Hell, but it is only through recent skill that men have been able- to give reality to what they had imagined ....Sometimes, in moments of horror, I have been tempted to doubt whether there is reason to wish that such a creature as man should continue to exist." ^{[2. Bertrand Russell, Human Society in
Ethics and Politics, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London, 1954, pp.
236-37.]}

Pitirim A. Sorokin describes the contemporary situation as follows:

"Every important aspect of the life, organization, and the culture of Western society is in the extraordinary crisis…. Its body and mind are sick and there is hardly a spot on its body which is not sore, nor any nervous fiber which functions soundly . ...... We are seemingly between two epochs: the dying Sensate culture of our magnificent yesterday and the coming Ideational culture of the creative tomorrow. We are living, thinking, and acting at the end of a brilliant six-hundred-year-long Sensate day. The oblique rays of the sun still illumine the glory of the passing epoch. But the light is fading, and in the deepening shadows it becomes more and more difficult to see clearly and to orient ourselves safely in the confusions of the twilight. The night of the transitory period begins to loom before us, with its nightmares, frightening shadows, and heart-rending horrors. Beyond it, however, the dawn of a new great Ideational culture is probably waiting to greet the men of the future." ^{[3. Pitirim A. Sorokin, The
Crisis of Our Age, E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, 1951, p. 13.]}

These are not lone cries. Lewis Mumford speaks about "the invisible breakdown in our civilization", the "erosion of values, the dissipation of humane purposes, the denial of any distinction between good or bad, right or wrong, the reversion to sub-human levels of conduct." ^{[4. Lewis Mumford, The Conduct of Life,
Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1951, p. 148.]} A philosopher says: "The train of events of recent decades has made it clear that something has gone tragically wrong with human affairs. Man has gained great new powers in the fields of science and technology, but too frequently these powers have been used for destructive purposes. Man has rapidly extended the range and the quality of his knowledge, but he has advanced little if at all towards happiness and well-being. He has devised numerous plans and organizations for gaining greater security and comfort, yet he suffers from a mental and emotional insecurity as to the meaning of life, the nature of the world in which he lives and the kind of life he wants to live with his fellows." ^{[5. Harold H. Titus, Living Issues
in Philosophy, American Book Company, New York, 1953, p. 2.]} A biologist says, "Mankind is now in the midst of one of the greatest crisis in its long history." ^{[6. Professor E. G.
Conklin. Man, Real and Ideal, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1943, p.
1.]} A sociologist, after pointing out that ideological conflicts are present everywhere goes on to say: "Ours is a paradoxical world. The achievements which are its glory threaten to destroy it .. ..It would seem that the more civilized we become the more incapable of maintaining civilization we are." ^{[7. F. S. C.. Northrop,
The Meeting of East and West, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1946, pp. ix, 1.]} And Einstein, the father of Atomic Physics, writes in his epitaph on civilization that "In Europe to the east of the Rhine free exercise of intellect exists no longer, the population is terrorized by systematic lies . . . . Nothing of all that will remain but a few pitiful pages in the history books briefly picturing to the youth of future generations, the follies of its ancestors." ^{[8. Albert Einstein, I
Believe : The Personal Philosophies of Twenty Three Eminent Men and Women of
Our Times, London, 1947, pp. 74-75.]}

These are cries of the thinking men. This is what a philosopher, a historian, a sociologist, a biologist, a physicist feels when he ponders over the final outcome of a civilization man has created after so much toil and labor and sacrifice. It is the depth of the feeling which intensifies the agony and gives sharpness to expression. Maududi feels the situation intensely, is grieved over it beyond measure and speaks his mind frankly. He says things as he feels them and I have to offer no apology for 'that.

In a discourse of this type, given to the College students, the survey of moral philosophies of the contemporary world could not but be rapid and sketchy. It could not be loaded with copious references, nor was that needed. The Editor has, however, added a few notes here and there so as to give certain necessary references or suggestions to. those who want to pursue the point further.

"Moral System of Islam" is a Radio-talk broadcast from Radio Pakistan, Lahore, on 6th January 1948. The suggestive concluding note of the talk can be better appreciated in the context of the newly-born state of Pakistan, established to translate the Islamic ideology into the socio-political life of the society and to make this country a witness of truth unto the world.

The Translator is indebted to Dr. Muhammad Umar Chapra for going through the manuscript of "Ethical Viewpoint of Islam" and to his friend, Mr. Muhammad Zubair for going through "The Moral System of Islam". He has profited from the comments and suggestions of both of them, but the responsibility for errors and shortcomings that might have crept in is exclusively his.

This brochure has been prepared under the auspices of the Islamic Research Academy which has undertaken, inter alia, the task of translating the works of Maulana Maududi and other scholars of Islam.

Karachi 1st July, 1966.

KHURSHID AHMAD.

I have taken the opportunity of further revising and improving the text of the translation in this new edition. I am thankful to all those friends who pointed out some lapses of expression and editing.

Karachi 12th July, 1967.