WEAAAZ ALSALTEEN

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I present to the Arab reader a frank and unbiased study about the nature of man.
...We have been afflicted with a group of Platonic thinkers who have a style of thinking that mimics the style of preachers who are only good at declaring woe and destruction upon man for deviating from what they imagine to be high ideals, without pausing for a moment to determine the extent to which those ideals are suitable for human nature.
These thinkers have a habit of attributing our social decay to our moral failings. They thus consider reform a simple matter. Once we reform our morals and cleanse our hearts of the impurities of envy, selfishness, and lust, we will, they claim, become happy and prosperous and restore the glory of our ancestors.
They consider the human soul like a garment washed with soap and water, removing any temporary dirt. Therefore, they loudly proclaim: "Refined morals, people! Cleanse your hearts!" But if they find people unmoved by their logic, they unleash a torrent of harsh rhetoric and heap calamities upon them.
I believe this is the most ridiculous and malicious opinion in terms of social reform.
If we were to continue for hundreds of years doing as our ancestors did, shouting at people and urging them to change their ways, we would never achieve anything worthwhile. Perhaps in doing so, we are harming our society without even realizing it.
We may be preoccupied with this and delude ourselves into thinking that we are on the path of reform, while in reality we are standing still or going backwards.
Human nature cannot be reformed by mere preaching. Like other phenomena in the universe, it operates according to specific laws. Nothing can be influenced before understanding its inherent qualities.
The ancients conceived of man as free, rational, and free of choice. In their view, man follows the path he chooses, guided by logic and abstract thought. Therefore, they preached extensively, believing that they could thereby change human behavior and improve morals.
They have been doing this for hundreds of years. Meanwhile, the people are engrossed in their usual activities and are not affected by the sermon until it is delivered to them. We see them weeping in the sermon gathering, then leaving it as they entered it, ignoble.
Our thinkers today have followed in the footsteps of their ancient predecessors, regardless of whether they were educated in modern or traditional cultures. Almost all of them attempt to change human nature through words.