Subject of Moral Judgment

 

Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society

2. Subject of Moral Judgment :

The Qur’anic view with regard to the subject of moral  judgment is that it is the Conscience, or, Moral Reason, of the moral agent, because it maintains:

“Oh, but the human being (in his Conscience,^[1] or, Moral Reason) is endowed with discernment concerning himself.” (75:14).

And this is possible because of the duality of human nature:

“By the Soul, and Him Who gave it proportion and order, and inspired it (with the conscience of) what is wrong for it and (what is) right for it.” (91:7-8).

 

Verse 8 implies that the human self is capable of wickedness (fujūr), which is the urge of the lower self, or, the “Impelling Self” (12:53), and also of virtue (taqwā), which is the urge of the higher self, or, the Moral Reason named as the “Reproaching Self” (75:2). But the urge of the lower self should be made subordinate to the urge of the higher self in order that it becomes finally powerless in respect of compelling the individual to follow the path of Desire in defiance of the call of Duty,—the human self at attaining finally the stage of the Beautified Self  (89:27).

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[1] In respect of the nature of Conscience, there are two views in modern moral philosophy. One of them holds that it is ‘Moral Sense’,—that is, it is based on Feeling. The other maintains that it is Reason,—that is, its basis is Knowing. According to the Holy Qur’ān, it may best be termed as ‘Moral Reason’. This view we obtain from the word basīrah in the Arabic original of the word.

As regards the function of Conscience, again, there are two schools of thought. One, which Sidgwick names as ‘unphilosophical Intuitionism’, maintains that Conscience is a dictator, dictating all the time and in all acts as to the course of moral action. The other school, which is called ‘philosophical Intuitionism’, holds that Conscience is a legislator, legislating in respect of the morality of human actions. According to the Holy Qur’ān, Conscience is the judge (or, the evaluator)—as basīrah, whose function is to judge whether a certain action is morally approvable or disapprovable in the light of the standard laid down by the Divine Law, that standard having reference to consequences also, as we shall shortly see.

Thus the Holy Qur’ān steers clear of the mistakes committed by the modern intuitionist thinkers in respect of the nature and function of Conscience.

Source

to be continued . . . . . 

Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times