Thank you for this really comprehensive and thought-provoking post Abdullah. I am in full agreement that wanting a better, more stable, well-functioning society where high-quality education, a well supplied and well-run medical system, and access to quality employment and social services are not antithetical at all to the Islamic ethos and teachings about life and civil society. I wish more people were aware and cognizant of the fact that working for and towards those things is not against or somehow opposed to faith.
I also agree that being outwardly religious and demonstrating piety are perfectly fine, but these should not come at the expense of responsible and committed statecraft, where actual practical improvements to things like infrastructure, education, quality of life and social services are neglected.
Your experiences in Jordan perfectly mirror what I’ve heard from all my Moroccan friends about their homeland. When you have to bribe a nurse to get a bed in a hospital it’s not going to incline you to want to invest your society.
If you haven’t heard of the i3 institute in Canada, I recommend you look them up or at least watch their YT channel:
"The desire to have working roads, clean water and air, an advanced medical system, highly sophisticated defense technologies, is all part and parcel of making it through the world without losing your sanity, and on a macro level, essential to attaining any sort of sovereign recognition and dominance." seems right.
Can relate to your experience in Jordan, living in India has been radicalizing. Here, I kid you not, they have whole people (plural!) to tell you where to go in a parking lot. Instead of, say, using an electronic sign board...
Thank you for this really comprehensive and thought-provoking post Abdullah. I am in full agreement that wanting a better, more stable, well-functioning society where high-quality education, a well supplied and well-run medical system, and access to quality employment and social services are not antithetical at all to the Islamic ethos and teachings about life and civil society. I wish more people were aware and cognizant of the fact that working for and towards those things is not against or somehow opposed to faith.
I also agree that being outwardly religious and demonstrating piety are perfectly fine, but these should not come at the expense of responsible and committed statecraft, where actual practical improvements to things like infrastructure, education, quality of life and social services are neglected.
Your experiences in Jordan perfectly mirror what I’ve heard from all my Moroccan friends about their homeland. When you have to bribe a nurse to get a bed in a hospital it’s not going to incline you to want to invest your society.
If you haven’t heard of the i3 institute in Canada, I recommend you look them up or at least watch their YT channel:
https://youtube.com/@i3institute?si=fwt4khx509ANuNs7
"The desire to have working roads, clean water and air, an advanced medical system, highly sophisticated defense technologies, is all part and parcel of making it through the world without losing your sanity, and on a macro level, essential to attaining any sort of sovereign recognition and dominance." seems right.
Can relate to your experience in Jordan, living in India has been radicalizing. Here, I kid you not, they have whole people (plural!) to tell you where to go in a parking lot. Instead of, say, using an electronic sign board...