Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
Chapter 7
INTEGRALISTIC MORAL PHILOSOPHY
AND COMPREHENSIVE MORAL CODE
We have noticed in the foregoing that the Holy Qur’an gives a monistic principle of evaluation in its concept of God. That principle plays a vital role in the Qur’anic moral philosophy, so that the Qur’anic ethical norms are established in what might be named as Divine Ethics.
The Divine Ethics emerges in the Qur’anic concept of God as ‘ethical Being’ Who behaves towards human beings in the ethical way. As for the human being, he has to imitate the Divine Ethics as the vicegerent of God—as best as he can.
God is the Possessor of the Best [1] Attributes (7:180; 17:110; 59:24), and “all that is in the heavens and the earth is devoted to His tasbīh (i.e., proclaims His absolute freedom from every type of evil and attests His glory in respect of His absolute perfection).[2] (59:24).
Elsewhere, the act of tasbīh has been distinguished from the act of prayer: “Behold you not that it is Allaah Whose tasbīh is the function of all (beings that are) in the heavens and the earth, and the birds (in flight) with wings outspread? Surely each one knows its (own mode of) prayer and its (own mode of) tasbīh. And Allaah is Aware of what they do” (24:41).
Then, among the human beings, those who do not ignore the Signs of God—which form the keys to the understanding of the meaning of human life and the nature of human destiny—and establish such a living faith in God that they become capable of appreciating those Signs, surrender of their whole self and tasbīh enshrined in the realisation of God’s absolute Perfection become the guiding lights of their lives: “Only those (human beings) are (genuine) believers in Our Signs, who, when they obtain admonition therewith, fall down prostrate (in adoration of Allaah’s Glory) and engage in tasbīh celebrating the praise of their Lord; and they are never arrogant (in respect of the acceptance of their total dependence on Allaah)” (31:15).
Tasbīh has been made a regular daily routine for the Believers: “O you who believe! Remember Allaah with much remembrance and engage in His tasbīh morning and evening” (33:41-42).
According to Imam Raghib al-Isfahani, the act of tasbīh stands for worship in thought, word and deed.[3]
Thus: As it relates to thought and word, tasbīh is a process of active realisation in one’s consciousness of the infinite glory of the Divine Attributes, and thereby of the infinite purity and perfection of the Personality of God; and, as it relates to deed, it is a process of active assimilation of the ethical value-system of those Attributes in one’s personality on the basis of a dynamic understanding of the privileged status that God has conferred on him through the infusion of what He calls ‘My spirit’ (15:29)—the goal being the realisation of the human vicegerency of God, which starts actualising only when the human personality begins to project the reflection of the Divine Attributes.
The ethical implications of this Qur’anic teaching are:
God Himself is the ethical ideal, and the proper ethical function of the human being is to imitate Him.[4] This teaching forms the fundamental base of the Qur’anic moral philosophy, and it has been repeatedly brought into focus in explicit terms in the Qur’an. For instance:
1. The mercy, compassion and loving kindness of God is the ever-recurring theme of the holy book. Its very first verse projects it with full emphasis in terms of rahmah. Hence the observance of compassionate kindness (marhamah) has been made one of the governing principles of Islamic life (90:17), along with its different dimensions projected in different contexts at different places,—for instance, love and mercy spoken of in respect of their observance by the husband and the wife (30:21).
2. God is al-Barr (52:28). Hence, a human being has to act as barr through practising birr comprehensively (2:177), with special emphasis on social good (3:92). In fact, birr has been made one of the governing principles of human life (5:2), and to be from among the abrar (pl. of barr) has been made the ideal (3:193).
The words barr and birr, which emerge from the same root, are untranslatable because of the richness of their meanings. The basic connotation is: kindness, affection, gentleness, justice, righteousness, honesty, veracity, considerateness, extensive beneficence.[5]
3. God is Forgiving (Ghafūr) and Merciful (Rahīm). Human beings should also be forgiving and merciful in their behaviour towards one another (24:22).
4. God is the Bestower of Good. A human being should also do good to his fellow-beings (28:77).
5. God does not wrong any human being even in the slightest measure (10:44; 4:40). The human beings also should not wrong either others or themselves (2:279; etc.).
One important aspect of this ideal is that it has not been laid down only theoretically, but has also been projected in practical terms in the moral personalities of all the Prophets of mankind, who came to exemplify the Divine Ethics,—and, finally, in the exemplary moral character of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on him!), which enshrines comprehensively the Divine Ethics in terms of human perfection and thus forms the perfect human Model for imitation (33:21).[6]
As to the implications of the ideal of “imitation of Divine Ethics” for moral philosophy, they may be stated thus :
1. This ideal is the highest—the most sublime, the noblest and the most consequential—ideal conceivable for humanity, because of its basis in God’s Personality.
2. This ideal imparts a dynamic approach to human life, because God’s Personality is dynamic.
3. This ideal makes creativity the fundamental mode of human struggle, because God’s Personality is committed to continuous creation.
4. This ideal supplies an objective moral standard, because it places the standard totally outside of human subjectivity;— and thus it ensures the absolutely-pure moral behaviour.
5. This ideal provides the highest motivation for morality. Because, on the positive side, the entire human moral behaviour has been conceived therein as based on ‘love for God’ (2:177; etc.); and, on the negative side, the devotee of God is to remain perpetually in a state of ‘fear of God’, Who is always present with him (57:4), is always watching him as to whether he is fulfilling his role of vicegerency (49:18; etc.), and will recompense him after death, i.e., at the termination of his earthly sojourn, as the Lord of the Day of Judgment (1:3; 99:6-8; etc.).
6. This ideal enshrines infinite possibilities for human evolution, because the levels of imitation of the infinite perfection of the Divine Personality are infinite.
7. This ideal projects an integrated and comprehensive view of human struggle and destiny, because God’s Personality possesses the highest integration and comprehensiveness; and, consequently, the Qur’anic moral philosophy runs into all the dimensions of human activity and functions as a philosophy governing total human behaviour.[7]
As such, the Moral Code which the Qur’an has given is the most comprehensive code possessed by humanity.[8]
[1] al-Husna: the Best (Lane’s Lexicon).
[2] Meaning of tasbīh according to Lane’s Lexicon.
[3] Mufradat al-Qur’an, sec: SBH.
[4] Cf. The Qur’anic verse: “(We take our) colour from Allah, and who is better than Allah at colouring ? It is He whom we worship” (2:138).
[5] Lane’s Lexicon, Sec: ‘BR’.
[6] All the Divine Messengers of the world have been, as mentioned above, the embodiments of the ideal. But, because history has not preserved any authentic records of their lives, while historical records are available for a critical assessment of the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s imitation of the Divine Ethics, he alone is to be followed as the Exemplar.
[7] The Holy Qur’an integrates the life of humanity both horizontally and vertically. The integration mentioned here is horizontal integration; while, through its teaching concerning the role of the Prophets and their genuine followers, it establishes vertical integration in human moral history.
[8] The entire volume on the “Structure of Islamic Society” forms the Qur’anic moral code.
to be continued . . . . .
Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times
