In the West, which has made an incredible progress in science and technology, mental illnesses are increasing rapidly, people complain of unhappiness and loneliness. The ministry responsible for loneliness was established in England, the land of the lords. The children of the technology age, who did not get acquainted with values such as attachment and sharing, which are an inherent necessity, tried to be alone in the crowd and to relieve the pain they experienced in their selves. But once the first button on the shirt was buttoned incorrectly, how would it be without fixing it? Individuals who regarded individual life as emancipation fell into a pathological loneliness and could not get rid of it.
Wherever you turn your head, you encounter a flood of people, but how interesting is it that you experience an indescribable loneliness and emptiness in your inner world? You breathe the same air with dozens of people, step on the same soil, walk on the same street, shop at the same place, but you cannot establish a heartfelt closeness with these people and you cannot make your voice heard. You are alone in a deserted field, or you walk side by side with people who cannot feel your presence in the crowd. What difference does it make?
If we had heard about the establishment of a ministry responsible for loneliness in a country forty years ago, I guess we would have had a hard time believing it, but today this statement does not surprise any of us. Because isolation has become a problem not only for Western societies, but also for Muslim peoples affected by the secular culture, and it has spread to all layers of society like a deadly virus. The weakening of family ties, the abandonment of the elderly to nursing homes, the young people living a life separated from their parents caused the problem of attachment and loneliness. But nobody took it seriously until it turned into a chronic problem. Whereas, being lonely is as grave as a person's starvation. But the masters realized this too late.
Nowadays, isolation is a problem that affects not only England, but the whole world. However, this problem naturally makes itself felt more in societies that do not take family dynamics into consideration and see life only as a matter of material. As a matter of fact, the reason why Britain established a ministry on such a sensitive issue is that 9 million people in the country try to cope with the problem of loneliness. In a country where nearly 200 thousand elderly people long for human voices, loneliness has as much effect as an infectious disease and invites mental problems. And people are afraid not only of viruses and inexorable diseases, but of loneliness.
You may remember recently that the Japanese Prime Minister appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto, who was also the regional minister, as the minister of loneliness. Japanese officials stated that the coronavirus greatly affects social life and isolates people, resulting in an increase in suicide rates, and stated that the minister was appointed for the problems of people living alone. The loneliness minister stated that they aim to improve interpersonal relationships and strengthen social ties in order to prevent social loneliness and isolation.
The materialist system limits human needs only to materiality and reduces them to a one-dimensional entity. However, people also have needs such as belief, trust, love, sharing, and closeness with their own kind, and when these needs are not met, isolation is inevitable. The economic opportunities offered to man will not be able to meet his need to connect and share with his own kind. These possibilities will not replace a friendly hand, a warm voice or a touch.
In order to overcome the problem of loneliness, which has become a disease of the age, it is necessary to be subject to the order set by Allah and live in this way. Otherwise, searching for clean water in the sea of dirt will bring nothing but waste of time. The solution is hidden in the core of morality and spirituality, whoever grows this nucleus will be the one who attains the bliss of the world and the hereafter.