How does Shariah define what is good and what is evil?
The first section of R of T is
titled in the English Translation, “The Book of Sacred Knowledge,” but the
accurate translation of the Arabic is “Book of Science.” Why change knowledge
to science?
Even the term knowledge when referring to what the Western World calls ethics is a bit of a surprise. Ethics being the “science” of what is right vs. what is wrong. The term science here is not the best word because ethics is a study of moral philosophy that concerns systems off right and wrong.
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a1.0 The knowledge of good and bad |
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a1.0 Knowing good and evil |
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a1.1 (' Abd al-Wahhab Khallaf:) There is no
disagreement among the scholars of the Muslims that the source of legal
rulings for all the acts of those who are morally responsible is Allah
Most Glorious. |
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a1.1 (Abdul Wahab Khallaf:) There is no disagreement
among Muslim scholars that the source of Islamic rulings for all actions
of those accountable is Allah Most High. |
This is the first “law” or rule
in shariah. It should not be overlooked for what it claims. All Muslim scholars
agree that the source of shariah is Allah. With this is mind we should pay
strict attention to what shariah says about good and evil. Moreso, we should
evaluate if there are correlations of Allah’s communication with those who
wrote shariah and other beliefs to provide deeper understanding of what Allah
is aiming at. Allah being the god, that Muslims worship. This is not the same
God that Christians and Jews worship according to shariah, and that will be
revealed shortly.
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a1.2 The question arises, is it possible for
the mind alone, unaided by Allah's messengers and revealed scriptures, to
know rulings, such that someone not reached by a prophet's invitation
would be able through his own reason to know Allah's rule concerning his
actions? Or is this impossible? |
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a1.2 And can reason know it on its own without
the mediation of Allah's messengers and His books, such that someone who
has not received the message of a messenger can interpret Allah's
ruling on his actions according to his own reason, or is that not possible? |
TRANSLATION DIFFERENCES: Note the slight differences in
translation above. Notice that the translator of R of T, attempts to frame the
statement in a more legal manner. There is no prophet mentioned in the actual
Arabic. Why is this only a messenger mentioned? This will prove important
later.
In reviewing the question above,
we must ask what is meant by this question? Are the Islamic legal scholars
claiming that Allah can only communicate with people through messengers and
books?
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a1.3 The
position of the Ash'aris, the followers of Abul Hasan Ash'ari, is that the mind is unable to know the rule of Allah about the
acts of those morally responsible except by means of His messengers and
inspired books. For
minds are in obvious disagreement about acts. Some
minds find certain acts good, others find them bad. Moreover. one
person can be of two minds about one and the same action. Caprice often wins out over the intellect,
and considering something good or bad comes to
be based on mere whim. So it cannot
be said that an act which the mind deems good is therefore good in the eyes
of Allah, its performance called for and its doer rewarded by
Allah; or that whatever the mind feels to be
bad is thus bad in the eyes of Allah, its nonperform-ance called
for and its doer punished by Allah. |
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a1.3 The
Ash'ari school of thought, the followers of Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, holds
that reason cannot know Allah's ruling on the
actions of those accountable except through His messengers and His books. Because
minds differ significantly in their views on actions, some rational minds consider certain actions good and
others bad. Even the mind of a single person can differ regarding
a single action, and often desires overcome reason, so that the judgment of
good or bad is based on desire. Therefore, it
cannot be said that what reason deems good is good in the sight of Allah and
what Allah requires to be done, and that the doer will be rewarded by Allah
for it. Similarly, what reason deems bad is
bad in the sight of Allah and what Allah requires to be avoided,
and the doer will be punished by God for it. |
According to a1.3 a sane man cannot use rational thought to come
to an understanding of what is good or evil independently. In Islam man is not
capable of knowing what is good or evil apart from Allah’s direct intervention
through messengers.
This is a theme in the Qur’an, that Allah guides whom he
wills, and misguides whom he desires. Doing right in the Qur’an is evidence
Allah guides you. Doing wrong is evidence that Allah has misguided you. Islam
has a fatalist belief structure. All of mankind is predetermined to whatever a
person does from before a child is born. Even the creatures and trees are
predetermined. Nothing happens in the universe unless Allah predetermined it to
be (21:30).
Quran 3.69-79 declares that the Jews seek to mislead the
followers of Allah, but this in itself is a problem, because if they are able
to mislead those whom Allah leads that means Allah guidance is not stronger
than the God of the Jews.
Below are just a few more verses backing that Allah leads
and misleads, meaning that he alone is responsible mankind for doing what is
good and right and for mankind doing what is wrong.
4.60
Have you not seen those who claim
that they believed in what has been sent down to you and what has been sent down before you? They
desire to be judged before the idolatry; and indeed, they were commanded to
become infidels in it, and Satan desires to lead them astray, a faraway
straying.
4.88
What is [the matter] with you that
you divided into two groups concerning the hypocrites when Allah has cast them
off because of what they have earned? Do you desire to guide those whom Allah
has led astray? And whomever Allah leads astray, so you will not find for him a
way.
4.143
And whoever Allah leads astray, so
you will not find a way for him.
6.39
And those who denied our verses are
deaf and dumb in the darkness. Whomever Allah wills, he leads astray;
and whom he wills, he makes him on a straight way.
6.116-117
And if you obey most of those who
are on earth, they will mislead you from Allah’s way. They follow only
the conjecture, and they only lie. 117 Surely your lord, he knows best those
who go astray from his way, and he knows best who are the guided.
6.125
So whomever Allah desires to
guide, he opens his chest to Islam; and whomever he desires to mislead,
he will make his chest extremely narrow as though he is only ascending to the
heaven. Likewise, Allah made the uncleanness on those who do not believe.
Al-Ghazali cites Sahih
al-Bukhari 71 in The Book of Knowledge. This hadith narrated by Muawiya
states,
I heard Allah's Messenger saying,
"If Allah wants to do good to a person, He makes him comprehend the
religion. I am just a distributor, but the grant is from Allah. (And remember)
that this nation (true Muslims) will keep on following Allah's teachings
strictly and they will not be harmed by any one going on a different path till
Allah's order (Day of Judgment) is established."
This means that Islamic beliefs have secretive knowledge
(Gnosticism) that can only be imparted by Allah. It also means that Islam
rejects the Creation story in Genesis. Because God makes man in His image (Gen.
1:27). That means we have His image ingrained on us. Then because it is here
that man partakes in the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen.
3:6-7). Which is passed down spiritually to all mankind this is why we can say God
gave us a conscience to know right from wrong.
What we are seeing here is that in some sense, the faith
structure of Islam, is akin to having absolute faith in a god who can deceive
you into committing actions it deems not good or guide you into what it wants
you to see as good. This creates other ethical problems in that if we ourselves
cannot know what is right and wrong, is that because this god Allah wants us to
do things that our conscience screams no that is evil.
This
actually has Allah stating there are alternative ethical beliefs in which he is
the guide. Nietzsche spoke on this in his Übermensch (Superman) belief, in
which the average human has a simple morality, that encourages him/her to walk
an elderly person across the street and that is deemed good. The Übermensch
(Superman) is superior to that morality and may deem hitting the elderly person
with their car good, and because they deemed it good it is good. The person
most known for his love of Nietzsche is Adolf Hitler.
a1.3 mentions the Asharis who are the followers of Abdul
Hassan Ashari, and that they believe the mind is unable to know the rule of
Allah about the acts of those morally responsible except by means of his
Messengers and inspired books. This is a problem because if the information provides
a contradiction to held beliefs on what is right vs. wrong, one belief must be
discarded. One cannot be of two minds about one and the same thing. This is
called the law of Non-contradiction. You can't hold two diametrically opposed
opinions at the same time it creates something called insanity.
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a1.4 The basic premise of this school of thought
that the good of the acts of those morally responsible is what the Lawgiver (syn. Allah or His messenger (Allah
bless him and give him peace)) has indicated is good by permitting it or
asking it be done. And the bad is what the Law giver has indicated is bad by
asking it not be done. The good is not what
reason considers good, nor the bad what reason considers bad. The measure of good and bad, according to this school
of thought, is the Sacred Law, not reason (dis: w3). |
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a1.4 The basis of this doctrine is that the good
actions of those obligated to follow Islamic law are those which the Lawgiver has indicated to be good by permitting
them or commanding their performance, and the bad actions are those which the
Lawgiver has indicated to be bad by commanding their avoidance. Good is not what reason sometimes deems good, nor is bad what reason deems bad. Therefore, the criterion for good and bad in this doctrine is
Islamic law, not reason [...] |
Note
that the English Translation in Reliance of the Traveller equates Allah and his
messenger. While this is not stated in the Arabic, it does create a problem for the Muslim as they must submit to Shariah
and if they can not read Arabic and can read English, now they must accept their
prophet as a partner/equivalent with Allah. This creates a dilemma since “Allah
has no partners.” This is found as a theme throughout the Qur’an.
23:91
Allah has not taken some son. And
there was not any other god with him or else each god would go with what he
created, and perhaps some of them will be against the others.
3:64
Say, "O People of the Book,
come to an equal word between us and you. That we serve only Allah nor partner
anything with him nor take each other as lords rather than Allah." So if
they turn away, so say, "Bear witness that we are Muslims."
6:163
He has no partner.
Note that a1.4 continues the alternative morality claim, that
what people believe to be good is not what Allah claims, nor what people
believe to be bad is what Allah claims. This brings us back to the problem
Allah has communicating with mankind. Since we are starting in Shariah and not
in the Qur’an, revealing what Allah thinks is good and bad will be a gradual
process.
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a 1.5 According to this school, a person is not
morally obligated by Allah to do or refrain from anything unless the
invitation of a prophet and what Allah has legislated have reached him
(n: w4 discusses Islam's relation to previous prophets' laws).
No one is rewarded for doing something or punished for refraining from or
doing something until he knows by means of Allah's messengers what
he is obliged to do or obliged to refrain from. So whoever lives in
such complete isolation that the summons of a prophet and his Sacred Law do
not reach him is not morally responsible to Allah for anything and deserves
neither reward nor punishment. And those who
lived in one of the intervals after the death of a prophet and before a new
one had been sent were not responsible for anything and deserve neither
reward nor punishment. This view is confirmed by the word of Allah Most
High, "We do not punish until We send a messenger" (Koran 17: 15).
('lim usul al-fiqh (y71), 96-98) |
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a1.5 According
to this doctrine, a person is not obligated by God to do or refrain from
doing anything unless the message of a messenger and God's law have reached
him. No one is rewarded for doing something, nor punished for refraining
or doing something, unless he learns from God's messengers what he must do
and what he must refrain from doing. Whoever
lives in complete isolation, such that the message of a messenger and his law
have not reached him, is not obligated by God in anything and does not
deserve reward or punishment. Those who lived during the period between
prophets, who lived after the death of a messenger and before the advent of
another, are not obligated in anything and do not deserve reward or
punishment.
This doctrine is supported by the Almighty's statement: "And We
would not punish [a people] until We sent a messenger." (Al-Isra: 215)
(Edited from the Science of the Principles of Jurisprudence: 09896) |
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a1.5 has in it in the RofT translation: “And those who lived
in one of the intervals after the death of a prophet and before a new one had
been sent were not responsible for anything and deserve neither reward nor
punishment.”
What Muslim scholars saw here was a problem. What if the Muhammad
their messenger is dead? Wait he is! But do these words mean there will be
more? But… But Muhammad is the last of the messengers right? Is shariah stating
the opposite here, that there will be more messengers? This is why they give a
citation of w4. W is the note section.
They did cite Quran 17:15, “We do not punish until we send a
messenger.” But, if there's no messenger can anybody today be punished if
there's no present day messenger? Does
that not logically mean that after Muhammad died there has to be more
messengers like Muhammad?
But Does this mean you can go out and do anything you want because
you can do no wrong? Does this mean that Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, or any other
mass murderer would have received no just reward because there is no messenger
to warn them?
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w4.0 THE FINALITY OF THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE (from
a1.5) w4.1 (n:) This section has been translated to
clarify some possible confusions among Muslims as to Islam's place among
world religions. The discussion centers on three points:
(2) Previously revealed religions were valid
in their own eras, as is attested to by many verses of the Holy Koran, but
were abrogated by the universal message of Islam, as is equally attested to
by many verses of the Koran. Both points are worthy of attention from
English-speaking Muslims, who are occasionally exposed to erroneous theories
advanced by some teachers and Koran translators affirming these religions'
validity but denying or not mentioning their abrogation, or that it is
unbelief (kufr) to hold that the remnant cults now bearing the names of formerly
valid religions, such as "Christianity" or "Judaism," are
acceptable to Allah Most High after He has sent the final Messenger ( (3)
Islam is the final religion that Allah Most High will
never lessen or abrogate until the Last Day. A hadith that seems to
imply that "a tenth of Islam" will be enough for Muslims in the
latter days is discussed at the end of the section. |
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As noted above, there is no Arabic here. There are a few
subsections following that state in more detail what is said here. “Muhammad is
the last prophet and messenger. Anyone claiming to be a prophet or messenger of
Allah after him or to found a new religion is a fraud, misled and misleading.”
This statement brings us back to the original problem. If there is no messenger,
and people do not read the Qur’an we are brought back to the original issue.
“How do people know what is right vs. wrong?
In this note, they have not answered the question of what
Allah means by right and wrong, except that they have told us it is not
something we will easily accept. Instead, they issued an authoritative
statement saying Islam presides over all other faith structures, and accept
what Allah says.
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