Session 52 Notes
We will continue to understand the relevance of Shari’ah, divine rules in our living. A reminder that the Shari’ah rules can only be applied to societies that freely believe in the authority of an Absolute Creator and live according to that belief. In our personal living, everyone can apply divine rules to the extent they understand and practice belief. The pre-requisite to apply Shair’ah rules is to first establish belief in an Absolute God and live according to that belief.
As we have been studying a few selected verses, we notice that the Qur’an covers many aspects of our lives. The Sharia’ah laws are generally comprehensive where nothing is ignored. There is a law, a principle to be applied in different situations of our lives. However, when there is no rule for something specific, is that negligence from the Qur’an? No, it is deliberately not mentioned and left for one to look into the practice of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). If still, the situation is not covered within the prophetic practice, it is left to the people who specialize in studying the laws whereby they would align with the message of the Qur’an and the prophetic practices. This is a specialty fulfilled by those who study the divine laws and practice of the prophet (pbuh) seriously.
The Qur’an presents the Shari’ah to easily be applied by human beings who are equipped with the abilities to acknowledge and worship God, to get to know His qualities. In our living, we must accept no other super power, a superior race, etc. No human has any superiority over any other human as they are all created by the same God. With this understanding, we are all equally “Abdullah”, worshipers of God to acknowledge Him as the Creator, Owner of every being.
Human rights:
Let’s examine the verse below on how the Qur’an describes the value of human beings:
وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ
“Truly, We have honored the children of Adam.” (17:70)
The Creator of human beings is saying that I honor human beings, every individual. This means that when one understands that every human being is created with honor then there should be no discrimination based on anything at all. Every human being regardless of their race, skin color, age, gender, status, etc. in their creation is to be honored. The Qur’an is giving the news that everyone is honored and needs to be taken seriously as a God-honored human being. It is not only their material side but also the psychological side where one cannot look down upon any other created being.
When someone does something wrong, punishment is given to him in order to make this person understand that he has done something wrong. This way the person would hopefully realize not to do the same wrong again. Even if the person is punished for something wrong, his honor must be respected. In Islam, people are punished honorably. One should not insult or mock this person.The choice of doing something wrong is different from the person himself. One does not like the wrong thought or action but that is different from the person as an honorable being. This is what human rights should be. For example, if someone says 2+2 equals 5, does the fact that I disapprove of this idea—which is clearly wrong—require me to insult this person’s honor? No, the ideology of denial is different from the person himself; we must make the distinction. We cannot respect the idea of denial but we respect human beings. Everyone is created with the ability to choose between right and wrong, they are given free will to make the choice. When one employs their given free will to do wrong, that wrong is not accepted but we should not insult the person. Everyone is free in the use of their free will, if they misuse it, that is their choice. One does not have to accept their wrong choice. However, one must not insult the person, dishonor the person but respect him as a human being.
Governance
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَن تُؤَدُّوا۟ ٱلْأَمَـٰنَـٰتِ إِلَىٰٓ أَهْلِهَا وَإِذَا حَكَمْتُم بَيْنَ ٱلنَّاسِ أَن تَحْكُمُوا۟ بِٱلْعَدْلِ ۚ
“Indeed, God commands you to return trusts to their rightful owners, and when you judge between people, to judge with justice. (4:58)
The word “trust” in the verse does not mean only property but could be a position one holds in an administration. God is asking us to return trusts to their rightful owners and judge between people with justice. To live with justice has many aspects. Human beings must be treated in a just way and not looked down upon. I cannot be biased by favoring my relatives, my nation, my country but hold onto justice, to what is right. For example, John has a company and needs someone who has studied mechanical engineering. He has a good friend that he likes but he studied biology. By hiring this friend of his with no background in engineering, John would be doing an injustice to his company. This is what the Qur’an is emphasizing here to be just in our dealings.
Doing Justice to ourselves
Everyone wants justice for themselves; they wouldn’t want to mistreat themselves. For example, one may use their given eyes in the wrong way, they may listen to wrong things, walk to wrong places. My body, mind, eyes, ears, nose, feelings, etc are all given to me as trusts, I need to do justice to them as well. Can anyone claim that it is their body, they can do whatever they want with it? The Qur’an reminds us that one has no right to mistreat anything, the body is not ours but given to us by its Owner. All our feelings, human qualities, spiritual side are given as trusts to us by our Creator. Our Creator has put everyone in an honorable position but we have the freedom to dishonor ourselves. We are free to get intoxicated and drunk where we lose our consciousness, speak nonsense, insult people just because of this wrong choice of ours. According to the Qur’an, no one has the right to harm themselves. For example, an obstinate individual would study the Qur’an with the intention of finding faults, looking for something to deny the Creator of the universe. The Qur’an pleads us to use all our senses, feelings, intellect, consciousness, body with honor and justice, giving them their due rights.
Let’s examine the following verse:
وَبَـٰرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَىٰٓ إِسْحَـٰقَ ۚ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِهِمَا مُحْسِنٌۭ وَظَالِمٌۭ لِّنَفْسِهِۦ مُبِينٌۭ
“And [We] blessed him and Isaac too: some of their offspring were good, but some clearly wronged themselves” (37:113)
This must be an example for us where we should ask, how can we wrong ourselves. We all are given the choice to be a good believer by choosing justice while using our human qualities as well as in our relationship with other people and all creatures. We have no right to treat ourselves in an unjust way. We are responsible for our free will and at the end of our life, we will be held accountable for our choices. Our Creator will say that: “look, I gave you all these tools but you abused them, misused them.”. For example, a weapon must be used to defend oneself rather than to kill others. God will say: “because of your misuse of the weapon, you do not deserve to get another weapon.” The reason is because we are supposed to treat everything given with justice, as a trust from our Creator. When one insults something in the universe by saying that it happens to exist by itself, this individual is insulting the whole universe. We are given reason to look at the universe, see that things are purposefully created and prepared for me. If one mistreats God’s trust by insulting creation, they deserve punishment for that insult.
Doing Justice to creation
Let’s examine the following verse:
ٱلشَّمْسُ وَٱلْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍۢ وَٱلنَّجْمُ وَٱلشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ وَٱلسَّمَآءَ رَفَعَهَا وَوَضَعَ ٱلْمِيزَانَ أَلَّا تَطْغَوْا۟ فِى ٱلْمِيزَانِ وَأَقِيمُوا۟ ٱلْوَزْنَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ وَلَا تُخْسِرُوا۟ ٱلْمِيزَانَ
“The sun and the moon [ created and moved ] by precise calculation ”. And the stars and trees prostrate. And the heaven He raised and set the measure. And never transgress the measure of [what is right]. Establish justice to appreciate the intrinsic value of all beings, and do not give short measure to them [ do not undervalue their existence ] (55:5-9)
In the existence of the sun, moon, stars and trees, they are “screaming out” that they are demonstrating the qualities of their Creator. The “prostration” of the stars and the trees signifies that they pray to their Creator, declaring that they don’t exist by themselves but glorify their Creator. This means that we conscious beings are also to declare our dependency on our Creator and glorify Him, His Beautiful Qualities. Every being, the seeds, trees, sun, moon, the whole universe declares that they are the product of the Creator of the universe.
The verse continues describing the “heaven He raised and set measure”, i.e. everything is created with perfect, precise measurement and balance. We should never transgress that measure by being heedless, not valuing them in their existence. Human beings as well are created with perfect measurements and balance that must be appreciated.
When we look at a tree, we can study so many details in it. Every single cell of that tree is created with perfect measurement and balance. We must be honest to appreciate creation in this universe to then appreciate the Creator of the universe. When we hear about galaxies, we can only appreciate them demonstrating the qualities of their Creator. Same thing when we look at a particle, every particle equally demonstrates the qualities of their Creator. Do we notice that the smaller the creature is, such as a fruit fly, the more obvious are the qualities manifested in them? This doesn’t mean that the fruit fly is a small being compared to a big creature such as an elephant which should declare the qualities of their Creator more. Not at all, every being is created perfectly demonstrating equally the qualities of their Creator. We have no right to do any injustice to creation in the universe.
Let’s look at an analogy of a country that is not protecting the rights of their citizens. The administration is acting in an unjust way, whereas it should be responsible in protecting the rights of their people. The administration must punish those who are insulting the rights of other beings and take them to court. This is just an analogy; when it comes to Shari’ah, people are afraid as they think the laws are ruthless, the laws cut the heads of everyone who is in error. This is just general political propaganda against Shari’ah rules. We must understand that these Shari’ah rules are only applicable to believing people. It does not apply to those who do not believe in an Absolute Creator and practice all the requirements of Islam in their living. Shari’ah rules protect the rights of every being in the universe, establishing a universe wide justice. If human beings fail to recognize the value of the Shari’ah, they will experience psychological distress in their personal lives and suffer from injustice in their social lives.
Doing Justice to other people
Let’s study the following verse:
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُونُوا۟ قَوَّٰمِينَ لِلَّهِ شُهَدَآءَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ ۖ وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَـَٔانُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰٓ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا۟ ۚ ٱعْدِلُوا۟ هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ ۖ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ خَبِيرٌۢ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
“O You who believe, be steadfast in your devotion to God and bear witness impartially; do not let hatred of others lead you away from justice, but adhere to justice, for that is closer to awareness of God. Be mindful of God: God is well aware of all that you do” (5:8)
The phrase “do not let hatred of others lead you away from justice” implies to favor justice over the preference or hate of someone. For example, let’s say that A is an unbeliever and B is a believer. A is correct in their claim so one must judge according to the truth and accept that A is the one who is correct. According to the Qur’anic justice believers are expected to be fair people in their judgements regardless of the belief or the religion they follow. One should not let the hatred of others influence their judgements and decisions. One may not like their ideas, their ideology which they don’t have to agree with but that should not prevent them from being just. We cannot say that it is for the benefit of my family, my nation, my people, my country but stand for justice. We should not allow personal hatred or resentment toward others to lead us to treat them unjustly. Let’s say I am dealing with an atheist person, my judgement should be on what is right, not based on the person’s ideas of atheism.
We can see how comprehensive Shari’ah is which the believers must be pleased with. We will continue with further examples in the next set of notes.