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The
status of man in Islam
There is a book entitled The
civilisation of Islam, written by Von Grau Neebaum, an
orientalist of Austrian origin and translated by Professor
Abdul Aziiz Tawfiiq Jaawiid, within the project of "The
thousand books", which is sponsored by the Directorate of
General Culture" in the Ministry of Education and
Instruction.
In this book there are many errors
about Islam, its beliefs, legislation, civilisation and
history. This is a situation that cannot be avoided when a
book about Islam is written by an orientalist whose
religion is not Islam, and who does not believe in the
revelation of the Qur'an, and in the Prophet Mohammed. It
is certain that such an orientalist will explain Islam and
its heritage in accordance with what would suit his
preconceptions about it.
The professor, who translated the book,
made a few comments about these errors. But, first, he did
not understand the book fully; second, his comments were
not adequate, and third, he separated the comments from
the parts commented upon and inserted the former at the
end of the book. At this point, our object is not to
criticise the whole book, suffice it to quote an example
of the deviation of the author from the truth that the
translator did not comment upon. The author said in the
section entitled "The Perfect Man", (p. 283) : "Since its
beginning, Islam gave man only little consideration, and
the Qur'an tends to convince him with the weakness of his
bodily origin, thus it describes the creation of the
individual and his evolution in detail as follows :
"Verily, We created man from a product of wet earth; then
placed him as a drop (of seed) in a safe of lodging; then
fashioned We the drop a clot, then fashioned We the clot a
little lump, then fashioned We the little lump bones, then
clothed the bones with flesh, and then produced it as
another creation"(1) .
So, man does not have any pride since
his beginning. Not only is he made of insignificant
matter, but is also weak and lacks all feeling from the
time he comes into life. Only the will of God preserves
his existence that is surrounded by dangers. He is also
the aim of ills and pains, and is subject to hunger and
thirst whether he likes it or not. In spite of the fact
that he likes knowledge, ignorance is his only share. He
likes to remember but always forgets. He might make all
kinds of plans for his safety but he never reaches the
point of certainty over his life or his place.
Al Ghazzali says as he contemplates his
situation : "His end is nothing but death, which leads
him to the quiet feeling that accompanies his beginnings
and which turns him into a smelly corpse.
Minimal contemplation of the
foundations of Islam responds to the allegations of the
author concerning the little consideration that Islam
gives to man, and invalidates the evidence he brings about
what he alleged.
In order to make this point, and as
clearly stated in his references, the author purposely
used words that were mentioned by Imam Al Ghazali in his
book “ Al Kibr” in “ Al Ihya”. Words like
the ones mentioned by Al Ghazali are inadequate as basic
evidence for an extremely important principle which
concerns the status of man in Islam. He only mentioned
them in the context of exposing ways of curing arrogance,
and that of addressing the arrogants, and as it is said,
there is to each context an appropriate discourse.
He wants to remind the arrogant of his
days of weakness when he was a foetus in his mother's
womb, or even when he was nothing to speak of and could
absolutely not do without his God : "Hath there come upon
man (ever) any period of time in which he was a thing
unremembered? Lo! We create man from a drop of thickened
fluid to test him; so We make him hearing, knowing. Lo! We
have shown him the way, whether he be grateful or
disbelieving"(2) .
After quoting these verses(3), Al
Ghazali said : "This means that he brought him to life
after he had been a dead object, in the form of dirt,
first, then as a drop. He made him hear after he had been
deaf, and made him see after he had been blind and made
him strong after he had been weak, and taught him after he
had been ignorant. He also created limbs for him,
including all their amazing gifts and after he had not had
them. He also made him rich after he had been poor, and
clothed him after he had been bare, and led him to the
right path after he had gone astray. Then, look how he
created and made him, and He led him to the right path.
When it comes to tyranny he becomes an idolater and when
it comes to ignorance, he excels. "Hath not man seen that
We have created him from a drop of seed? Yet lo! He is an
open opponent"(4) "And of His signs is this : He created
you of dust, and behold you human beings, ranging
widely!"(5)
Consider also how the favours of Allah
upon him raised him from insignificance, ridicule and dirt
(the dirt of the earth and the dirt of the sperm) and
raised him to this glorification and honour. So, he became
a being after void and became alive after death, and was
bestowed with speech after he had been dumb, and with
sight after he had been blind. He became strong after he
had been weak, and knowledgeable after he had been
ignorant, and guided after being astray, and capable after
having been unable, and rich after being poor. So, in
himself he was nothing and there is nothing less than
nothing, and then became something by the will of Allah.
This is what Al Ghazali mentioned about
man arrogance and the arrogant as triggered by the context
of curing arrogance and the arrogant and that does not
come up with the result the quoting author reached. Had
the author intended to be fair, he would have quoted Al
Ghazali's comments on many other occasions, where he
showed the status of man in the universe, and his value in
the eyes of Allah, and his noble spiritual
characteristics. Suffice it to mention here, what he
mentioned in the book of Love in the section on “
The safeguarding elements” in his book of “Al Ihyaa’ .
So after he mentioned that amongst the reasons of love are
affinity and resemblance; because resemblance and affinity
attract one to the other. He said : "This reason also
requires the love of Allah of a latent affinity, not
referring to resemblance in looks and shapes, but to
underlying meanings, some of which may be mentioned in
books, while others are not allowed to be mentioned"(6).
What may be mentioned is the nearness
of the subject to his God Almighty in the divine qualities
which He ordered man to imitate and acquire to the point
of assuming the morality of divinity. This is why it said
: "Assume the morality of Allah, by acquiring the good
qualities which are the divine ones, and those of
knowledge, good deeds, virtue, the pouring of bounty on
humans, giving them advice, and guiding them to truth, and
preventing them from committing injustice, among other
aspects of the rules of Islamic law". All this makes us
nearer to Allah Almighty, not in the sense of nearness in
space, but in qualities.
What is disallowed from appearing in
books, concerns the special affinity which is special to
the human being' is what Allah Almighty alludes to in His
verse : "They are asking thee concerning the spirit. Say :
The spirit is by command of my Lord" (7). So He Showed
that it is divine matter that is beyond the bounds of the
human mind. And, even clearer than that is His verse :
"And when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My
spirit"(8). And that is why He made His angels prostrate
to Him. This is also referred to in His verse : "Lo! We
have set thee as a viceroy in the earth" (9). Meaning
that Adam did not deserve being God's viceroy except on
that affinity.
That is what the Prophet (PBUH) refers
to in his saying : "God Created Adam on the basis of His
Own image". Upon this, short-minded people thought that
picture can only refer to the apparent picture that is
perceived by the senses; so they made references to
Allah’s resemblance, in body and image. Allah is much
greater than what the ignorant say.
That is the reference that we find in
His saying to Moses (Peace upon him), "I was ill and you
did not visit me. He said : "How is that my Lord?" He
said, "My subject so and so was ill and you did not pay
him a visit. Had you visited him, you would have found me
there"(10).
This affinity is created only thanks to
perseverance on the supererogatory performance after
insuring the obligations, as Allah Says - in the Hadith
Qudsi - : "As long as my subject endeavours to be closer
to me by observing the supererogatory performance I Keep
loving him, when I Love him I become the hearing that he
hears with, and the sight that he sees with... ", etc.
The verse used by the orientalist to
make his point, and which shows the stages of the creation
of man from a drop of sperm, into a clot, and then into a
lump, etc..., does not aim at persuading man of the
weakness of his bodily origin - as the author says - but
like similar verses, it aims at replying to the people
who denied the world of the hereafter, and the Day of
Reckoning after death, and who have discarded as remote
the possibility of man's resuscitation after death. These
verses were revealed to draw the attention of the people
who deny the resuscitation in the hereafter to the first
creation, it also warns the sleepy minds to the power of
Allah the Great, who Created man from a weak state, and
turned that into strength as we can read in God Almighty's
words : "And man saith : When I am dead, shall I forsooth
be brought forth alive ? Doth not man remember that We
created him before, when he was naught" (10a) "Hath not
man seen that We have created him from a drop of seed?
Yet lo! He is an open opponent. And he hath coined for Us
a similitude, and hath forgotten the fact of his creation,
saying : Who will revive these bones when they have rotted
away? Say : He will revive them Who produced them at the
first, for He is Knower of every creation"(11).
So, how can a fair mind understand from
the context of these verses that their object is to
belittle man? And that Islam attributes to man little
consideration. Islam has given man much consideration in
scores of verses and in scores of surahs. It is
sufficient to realise, that the first set of divine verses
revealed on the heart of the Prophet (PBUH), which amount
to five in number, did not ignore man and his relationship
with his God: the relationship of the creation and being,
the relationship of instruction and guidance to the right
path. These verses selected the word God, as it gives the
feeling of education, sponsorship, and promotion in the
hierarchy of perfection : "Read: in the name of thy Lord
Who createth, createth man from a clot. Read : And thy
Lord is the Most Bounteous, Who teacheth by the pen,
Teacheth man that which he knew not"(12).
The Qur'an has clarified the
relationship between man and Allah in many verses. This
relationship is that of close nearness, which destroyed
the legend of the intermediaries, and mercenary agents
dealing in religions :"We verily created man and We know
what his soul wispereth to him, and We are nearer to him
than his jugular vein"(13). "And when My servants question
thee concerning Me, then surely I am nigh"(14) "and
whithersoever ye turn, there's Allah's countenance"(15)
"and He is with you wheresoever ye may be"(16).
The Qur'an also showed the status of
man at the level of the highly spiritual signs, and that
status has made the angels crane their necks to reach it,
but could not. The status referred to here is that of
Allah's viceroy in the earth. "They said : Wilt Thou place
therein one who will do harm therein and will shed blood,
while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee? He Said :
Surely I know that which ye know not"(17). The status of
he whom Allah has taught language, and commanded his
angels to prostrate to him to greet and honour him : "When
thy Lord said unto the angels : lo! I am about to create a
mortal out of mire, and when I have fashioned him and
breathed into him of My Spirit, then fall down before him
prostrate, the angels fell down prostrate, every one,
saving Iblis"(18).
The fate of man's enemy, who rebelled
against Allah's command of greeting and prostrating to His
creations the curse and permanent exclusion from paradise.
He Says : "Go forth from hence, for lo! thou art outcast,
and lo! My curse is on thee till the Day of
Judgement"(19).
The Qur'an has also shown the position
of man in the large and materialistic universe, it is the
position of the Master to whom Allah made available all
there is in the heavens and the earth : "Allah is He Who
created the heavens and the earth, and causeth water to
descend from the sky, thereby producing fruits as food for
you, and maketh the ships to be of service unto you, that
they may run upon the sea of His command, and hath made of
service unto you the rivers; and maketh the Sun and the
Moon, constant in their courses, to be of service unto
you, and hath made of service unto you the night and the
day. And He giveth you of all ye ask of Him" (20).
What offered man this status in the
universe - in spite of its huge galaxies? It is his
readiness to carry the great trust, i.e. responsibility,
which the Qur'an has described in such a great poetic
manner : "Lo! We offered the trust unto the heavens and
the earth and the hills, but they shrank from bearing it
and were afraid of it. And man assumed it"(21). A
responsibility which puts the fate of every man in his own
hands, leading himself either to heaven or to hell : "Oh,
but man is a telling witness against himself"(22)
"Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his
own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth
only to its hurt"(23).
This is part of what the Qur'an
mentioned about the status of man, it is rich for those
who want to look at it fairly, and the following two
direct calls with the title of humanity are sufficient
evidence : "O man! What hath made thee careless concerning
thy Lord, the Bountiful, Who created thee, then fashioned,
then proportioned thee? Into whatsoever form He will, He
casteth thee"(24) "Thou, verily, O man, art working toward
thy Lord a work which thou wilt meet (in His presence)"
(25).
1. Surah 23, verses 12,13,14.
2. Surah 76, verses 1, 2, 3.
3. Page 309 of his book Kibr rub`u al
muhlikat, published by Mustapha Al Baabii Al Halabii, 1346
H.
4. Surah 36, verse 77.
5. Surah 30, verse 20.
6. p. 263, of the book of love, in the
section of “The Safeguarding Elements”.
7. Surah 17, verse 85.
8. Surah 38, verse 72.
9. Surah 33, verse 26, concerning the
prophet Daawuud (Peace upon him), the first form of this
verse is from Surah 2, verse 30 which stated "Lo! I am
about to place a viceroy in the earth" and concerns the
father of humanity Adam (Peace upon him), so he thought
that is what Al Ghazali was referring to.
10. See Sahiih Al Jaami` Al saghiir,
1916.
10a. Surah 19, verses 66,67.
11. Surah 36, verses 77, 78,79.
12. Surah 96, verses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
13. Surah 50, verse 16.
14. Surah 2, verse 186.
15. Surah 2, verse 115.
16. Surah 57, verse 4.
17. Surah 2, verse 30.
18. Surah 38, verses 71, 72, 73.
19. Surah 38, verses 77, 78.
20. Surah 14, verses 32, 33, 34.
21. Surah 33, verse 72.
22. Surah 75, verse 14.
23. Surah 17, verse 15.
24. Surah 82, verses 6, 7, 8.
25. Surah 84, verse 6.
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