Being a good person is not enough: Why do ethics need Islam? (part 6 )

In modern society, where materialism and immediate gratification of natural needs is a tradition, it is becoming increasingly important that we base our life decisions in the spirit of deep morality and virtue, based on moral principles and divine teachings. The most important issues facing us today are the importance of following the revelation, that fiqh rules are not just outdated traditions, that we as Muslims do not follow the strictly defined standards and regulations of today's modern era arising from questions about the purpose and nature of life, first of all it is the need for us to pass through the criteria of good and bad. Article by Ovamir Anjum, head of the Department of Islamic Studies at the University of Toledo (USA), editor-in-chief of the Yaqeen Institute of Islamic Studies, and founder of the Ummatics Institute.

Worship of the One God as the first moral imperative (command).

We return to the concept that we began to cover earlier. We emphasize once again that the blessing of good deeds preached by Islam is built on one inevitable foundation, without which the concept of goodness remains incomprehensible and undermines the human innate love for righteousness. This basis is the recognition and submission to the Supreme Truth - Allah. When not grounded in ultimate truth, good deeds turn to mere dust and ashes (Ibrahim, 18).

To understand this, we must recognize that Islam is the correct doctrine of the Creator. Therefore, Islam is a moral way of life that requires not only God's approval to satisfy our worldly needs, but also an absolute relationship with the one true God who rewards the good and punishes the bad in the coming eternal end. However, the connection of religion and worship with morality has been lost from the mentality of many peoples of the past and present, so they worship their gods and perform spiritual purifications or rituals not for moral reasons such as trying to understand the truth and praising God, but to satisfy their worldly interests. These include everything from the ancient desire for children and a good harvest to modern concerns for stress relief, peace and balance. Secular scholars have hypothesized that fear of death, the great unknown, and humanity's desire to appease the rebellious forces of nature have been the main impulses of religiosity throughout history. In reality, these feelings are only hints and reminders that Allah Almighty has created in this world and in our hearts in the form of the initial desire for perfection and eternity. The destruction of these desires is an example of how Satan misleads people, just as he did with our father Adam: the promise of eternity and the perfection of the angels (eg Toha, 120; A'raf, 20).

Al-Fatihah, the first chapter of the Qur'an, before turning to our instinct to worship and seek help, states three main facts: Allah is worthy of praise because He is Most Merciful (Rahman, Raheem), Sustainer of all things (Rabb); and the holder of the final moral judgment. Only then will we realize that we should devote our prayers to Him alone and turn to Him for help, for He alone is worthy of worship and supplication. The idea of right or truth is essentially a moral idea. The sura concludes with a plea for guidance to the right path - once again to moral insight. As human beings, we need protection and a comfortable life, but the instinct to feel secure by seeking to please the Almighty is sandwiched between two equally basic moral imperatives in this sura. The first is to acknowledge the majesty and goodness of the Creator and Ruler (based on clear thinking, truth and consent) and the second is to plead with that Almighty for moral rectitude and guidance. So Islam is primarily concerned with moral truth, right and wrong: submission to the one true God, worshiping Him, and following God's chosen messenger. Unlike the secular worldview that today has deprived the world of meaning and beauty, Islam does not separate the reality of existence from the purpose of existence - it puts the two questions together and encourages Muslims to find answers to them together. Separation of purpose and reality of life is the essence of secularism. The moment the two are separated, secular interests inevitably take over and control the moral purpose of existence. In other words, we limit the question of the purpose and meaning of life to the confines of our homes and temples, deciding what is the best way of life based on our own desires and opinions. Otherwise, we declare from the outset that the Creator created life with a purpose, and that the fulfillment of this purpose is the foundation of all morality and truth. So why does God allow those who deny Him, the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, the colonial West, and today's endless despotic global powers, to flourish and dominate the earth, while even some who submit to God's truth suffer oppression? Before the truly immoral and evil nature of modernity was revealed in the First World War, some naïve and depressed Muslim thinkers attributed Europe's military superiority to their spiritual superiority. This defeatist idea is completely false. The Qur'an mentions such struggles in many places. When the people of Israel, God's people, failed to follow the message sent by Him, they surrendered themselves to unbelieving forces and rejected the divine teachings that they considered not worthy of them (for example, to those who cannot, Al-Baqara, 85). There is no doubt that God's patience is incomparably greater than ours, and that is why God is patient with those who wrong him, not with those who wrong and oppress others, even though the first category commits a graver sin than the second. This is the meaning of the famous sentence of scientists, "God gives respite to unbelievers who have the virtue of justice, but does not give respite to those who are believers and treat each other with justice." Therefore, those who have been guided by God should realize that they are accountable and responsible before God and humanity in this world and remind others of this, and it is absolutely appropriate to give time to those who have not received the message of God until it reaches them. God knows best.

In modern society, where materialism and immediate gratification of natural needs is a tradition, it is becoming increasingly important that we base our life decisions in the spirit of deep morality and virtue, based on moral principles and divine teachings. The most important issues facing us today are the importance of following the revelation, that fiqh rules are not just outdated traditions, that we as Muslims do not follow the strictly defined standards and regulations of today's modern era arising from questions about the purpose and nature of life, first of all it is the need for us to pass through the criteria of good and bad.

Ovamir Anjum is the head of the Department of Islamic Studies at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Toledo (USA), the editor-in-chief of the Yaqeen Institute of Islamic Studies and the founder of the Ummatics Institute.

To be continued. Read previous chapters

Being a Good Person Is Not Enough: Why Morality Needs Islam? (Part 1)

Being a good person is not enough: Why do ethics need Islam? (Part 2)

Being a good person is not enough: Why do ethics need Islam? (Part 3)

Being a good person is not enough: Why do ethics need Islam? ( part 4 )