Preachers of the rulers | Ali Al-Wardi

I present before the Arab reader a frank research with no hypocrisy about the nature of man. ... We have been afflicted by a group of Platonist thinkers whose thinking style mimics that of preachers who only announce doom and destruction for humans because of their deviation from the ideals they imagine, without pausing for a moment to determine the extent that suits human nature from those ideals. These thinkers are accustomed to attributing the cause of social decay we suffer from to our bad morals. They thus consider reform to be an easy matter. As soon as we improve our morals, and wash from our hearts the dirt of envy, selfishness, and lust, they claim we will be happy and prosperous, and restore the glory of our ancestors. They think of the human soul as a garment that is washed with water and soap, removing the dirt that has accumulated on it. Therefore, you see them shouting at the top of their lungs: "Refine your morals, O people, and cleanse your hearts!" If they find that people are not influenced by this logic, they bombard them with a storm of harsh sermons and rain down doom and destruction upon their heads.