Yes, I think Leigh Hunt’s poem ‘Abou Ben Adhem’ is very much relevant in the present-day world.

The poet extends the message that love for man is more important than love for God. This is why Abou’s name came at the top in the angel’s list of those who loved God. Evidently, God Himself is more pleased with the people who love their fellow human beings than those who love Him.

And this teaching of the poem is very relevant in today’s troubled world where religious and communal intolerance has risen to an alarming state, when people don’t hesitate to kill others in the name of religion, in the name of God.

Leigh Hunt’s poem was written in the first half of the nineteenth century (1834), but it has not lost its appeal even today. Rather, we can feel the need to remind this message of the poem now more than ever before. And that is why ‘Abou Ben Adhem’ is included in so many boards and college syllabuses.