Our apparently pious leaders prefer the grandeur of empire to the tradition of the humble trader and shepherd who mended his own clothes.
It is their right to spend £400 million on magnificent palaces, they claim, and millions more on summer residences and yet millions more on private jets and motorcades. Even as beggars wander the streets, leaders considered by the masses as righteous sages pine after the opulence of medieval imperial courts… and we support them, thinking that glorious ascension emblematic of our deserved place in the world. Where the humility prescribed by the Quran?
Indeed those who have believed and done righteous deeds, and humbled themselves for their Lord…
The servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk on the earth in humility…
And the servants of God are those who walk on the earth in humility and calmness…
Give good news to the humble…
Is the vain extravagance and wanton wastefulness truly of the Way? Is our parading around, all puffed up with pride, while others sleeping under open skies go hungry, a tradition we recognise anywhere in our Book?
Surely we will be asked about the opulence and our conceit.
Last modified: 27 March 2021
