Munir Khalili History tells us that political, economic and military decay of the communities and civilisations, who met their awful end, often started with the worsening of their moral traits. The Western civilisation today seems rapidly heading towards the same extinction for the same reasons. Even the state of ignominy we - the Muslims - are in, is the result of our weakness of belief and moral downfall. While analysing the moral position, we ignore what are the trends in society and generally stipulate only the moral evils of an individual to be a liar, reviling, insolent, foulmouthed or showy, wicked and fraudulent. Thus, the subject gets shortened and horrible consequences of immorality remain hidden. Societies are an assemblage of individuals; so in case of moral corruption, they are like dustbins of their rotten ethic values. History examines the collective nature of the societies, as we mention the formation of the individual minds. The community and society, devoid of the moral treasure, are ravages in the same way as morally destitute individual hit by wreck. Think about the children whose father is ill-tempered and wrathful. Irrespective of his own wickedness, he harshly scolds and beats them on petty matters. We can easily judge, to what extent, the damaging impact of his sickened behaviour will be on the mental and emotional growth of the children. Can there be a pleasant environment in a house where a rake, hoodlum and drunken husband boorishly belabours his wife on trivial issues and at the slightest provocations? And, on the contrary, can a peaceful atmosphere be developed between a couple where the wife is quarrelsome, impudent and abusive, never caring about the honour of her husband - neither respects him, nor fulfils his genuine demands? Also, envisage how much aggrieved and miserable the parents will be whose children are disobedient and unscrupulous Now move out of the boundary walls of the houses to peep into workplaces. What the feelings of the employee would be whose boss is surly and cavilling: Only disapproves and criticises, and never says a word of appreciation. Encouragement is not in his dictionary and only reproves on minor mistakes. Conceive of a factory and mill owner, who is notorious for exploiting his labour for unfair advantages. He encroaches upon the rights of the workers. Pours invectives from his mouth and he knows not the encouraging language. And do not miss the workers in public or private sector, who are lazy, shirkers and disloyal to their establishments. They are not mindful of dutifulness and honesty in their work. Visualise the situation of the markets where the business community - being aware of what the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) has said, An honest trader will be resurrected among the Prophets, Siddiqeen and Shuhada - is in the habit of making profits by black marketing, hoarding of necessary commodities, food adulteration, wangling and always shortchange their customers in weight and measures. And think of the society where the religious leaders are ready to give concessions to the wrongdoers and for their worldly gains they compromise with the government on Hudood (the limits of lawful and prohibited laid down by Allah, SWT) on teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), and ethical norms. They are careless about a sincere Dawa venture and have abandoned the duty of enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong. They are heedless of establishing the truth and refuting the wrong. Instead of uttering the truth about Islam in the presence of tyrant rulers, they prefer to be the lackeys of the despotic rulers. They are no more the models of contentment and piety; while living in the desert of mugged up texts of religious books, they are badly short on comprehension of those religious classics. They have a little command over categorical references, but lack the wisdom behind what is in the text and are inadequate in depth of interpretative skill. They quote the verses from the Holy Quran and Ahadith of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH), but are ignorant of the spirit of Deen. Think of the ultimate destiny of the nation where the authorities, under obligation to maintain law and order and provide peace and justice to the people, themselves are the killers of peace and justice. They are hand in glove with those who loot and plunder. Despite being victims of law breakers, the people do not go to police stations and courts because they are apprehensive of getting humiliated and embarrassed there. There are manifolds of justice, for the poor entirely different from those who have influence and approach. The rich are acquitted even after gulping down billions of the bank loans, but the poor are either thrown behind bars or have to suffer distress for failing to repay bank debts of ordinary amounts. There are many ways of 'laundering for even those who are in power, their retinues, their party members and influential political groups, sunk in the corruption causing huge losses to the national economy. Consider about the society where in the working environment there is no mutual respect, no cooperation, and no sympathy for each other. All are indulging in leg pulling with the utmost effort of harming others. The norms of mutual trust, honesty, truthfulness and righteousness are missing. The politicians are selfish, opportunists and avaricious. They have no regard for the promises made and agreements signed by them. They fail to show the shrewdness of coming up to a civilised political culture and contrivance to run the States affairs. Neither they are trustworthy, nor they have a spirit of sincerely serving their nation. They are unable to show sufficient sagacity for resolving the problems of the people. Under these corrupt leaders, the entire workforce of government servants becomes used to dishonest practices. Bribery, undue intercessions and recommendations are the last resort for the people to get their problems solved. We have to admit that there is hardly something different, from what has been portrayed in the lines above, in almost all of the Muslim countries. The signs of decline are visible everywhere. No field of life is safe from a downward incline. We are divesting the warmth of man and radiance of morality, which are really preventive measures for the morally ailing societies. Our relief depends upon how much we follow the teachings of Islam. Our Holy Prophet (PBUH) morally and spiritually raised the people, who were at the lowest rank of their morality to the towering heights. Moral values are strong ramparts safeguarding the 'faith. If they are removed, not only the rituals and rites of lbadah become direct targets of satanic tricks, but the sense of servitude to Allah (SWT) also gets faded and then gradually disappears. As a result, all that has been mentioned above becomes evident. Then 'nature starts its operation about which we have been warned in the Quran: Say, He has power to send upon you affliction from above you or from under your feet or to confuse you in party strife (so you become sects) and makes you taste the violence of one another. Look how We diversify the Signs that they may understand (Al-Anam: 65). And if reaching this point no attempt of recouping becomes manifest then the next stage is the hegemony of any superpower; when it enters the towns despoils them and makes the most honourable amongst the people the lowest. The reins of power are given to the mean and the debauched of the society, who pushes the country to the extreme of deterioration. Do we see nothing like this? The writer is a freelance columnist.