Allah says, "Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves." (Surah Ar-Ra'd, 11) and states that a peaceful life is possible with the change we make in our inner world. If Allah had willed, paths would be opened and change would happen in an instant, but He wants us to show our sincerity and make an effort.
Internal cleanliness, which has an important place in the dynamics of Islamic culture, increases the awareness of the individual and makes him ready for change. The person who autocriticizes his/her state purifies his/her self from dirt and realizes the purpose of existence. The faith of the person who performs the inner cleansing turns into a radical revolution by reaching his actions, intentions, goals and all his organs. It's like tearing down a building and rebuilding it. The person has come a long way and has started to look at life from a different perspective. This is the change that our Lord wants from us, but this change is much more difficult than building giant buildings, huge shopping malls, roads, bridges, and factories. That's why our prophet Muhammad (pbuh) defined the change that a person will make in his inner world as a great jihad and stated that this can only be possible with faith, surrender and consistent effort.
A society stuck in the swamp of ignorance in Mecca headed for an internal transformation under the guidance of our Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) and built a civilization that made the voice of justice heard throughout the world. So, how could a central value such as justice come to life in a society where violations of rights have reached their peak? How did those people who see children, women and the weak as second-class creatures, who made adultery, bribery, gambling and entertainment a way of life, who prided themselves on their ancestry, who perceived violence as a power, changed their lives completely and embraced justice? They had believed and were purified by cleaning all the remnants of ignorance…
Nowadays, wherever I turn my head, I encounter the sign of a therapist, but on the other hand, mental problems are growing like an avalanche… So why? A person wants to get support from the therapist for his lying behavior, after a long treatment process, he gains awareness and change takes place. On the other hand, the people of Mecca, where moral corruption was at its peak, made a radical change in the individual, familial and social spheres with the principles presented by the Qur'an, and became human by abandoning their pathological behaviors.
Today, Muslim peoples who are integrated into the secular culture have achieved great success, have comfortable lives and set high goals, but have made no effort to develop the riches available in their inner world and have become impoverished. As a result of all these, the crime rate in the society increased and individuals started to talk about unhappiness, loneliness, mental emptiness and depressive problems.
Unless we change ourselves, neither our house, nor the neighborhood we live in, nor the society will change… First of all, we have to reach out to ourselves because what we do outside while there is so much dirt accumulated in our inner world will not contribute to our humanization.