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Islam
is the loving, conscious, and voluntary submission to the will of God.
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Morals can either be
classified as secular or religious. Secular morality tries to establish a moral
system that is independent of
God
and religious faiths. In terms of motives for morality, various explanations
have been given. One explanation is that people are ethical in pursuit of
happiness or perfection. Another suggests that pressure by political power or
social means forces people to follow a certain code of conduct. Yet another
explanation is that a feeling of duty makes people moral.
Another
problem in this classification for morals is that it lacks clarity in defining
ethical knowledge. For example, is happiness mental, physical, or spiritual?
As
for religious morality, it is fundamentally based on two things; first is the
belief in God as the Creator of the universe, and second is the belief in the
Hereafter.
“Religious
morality” is not a uniformly used term because the fundamentals of religious
morality are not the same for all religions.
Islamic
Concept of God
A
Muslim believes in the absolute perfection, sovereignty and lordship of God,
that He is the sole Lord, Creator and Sustainer of this universe. Some of God's
divine attributes include; absolute and perfect knowledge, absolute life,
perfection, wisdom, power, mercy, and justice. In Islam, the relationship of a
Muslim with God is a loving, conscious, and voluntary submission to the will of
God. One verse in the Qur'an describes this relationship: [And
We are nearer to him than his jugular vein (by our knowledge)]
(Qaf 50:16).
Unlike
some Hellenic philosophical ideas, advocated by thinkers such as Plato and
Aristotle, propose that God is both transcendent and remote from this universe,
Islam teaches both the absolute transcendence and perfection of God alongside
His direct relationship with mankind.
Differences
from Other Religious Communities
The
Muslim belief in a supreme and universal God whose
divine
attributes are not shared by any
of His creatures, automatically leads to the belief in one single ultimate
supreme
will (God's
will). This leads to stability and a sense of certitude because
that there is only one ultimate ideal to look up to. For example, some people
refer to phenomena in nature as "laws of Mother Nature". Muslims
believe that God created laws in nature, and that nature has permanent laws that
are not haphazard. This leads to the conclusion that there must be one single
and uniform Will behind creation.
Polytheism
is the belief in more than one ultimate God, or that other creatures of God
share some or all of His divine attributes, or the belief in some minor gods
that intercede between man and the Ultimate God. All this leads to the belief in
more than one ideal or ultimate source of guidance which would cause chaos in
the universe. That is why the Qur'an is very clear when it says what means: {Had
there been therein (in the heavens and earth) gods besides Allah, then verily
both would have been ruined. Glorified be Allah, the lord of the throne, (High
is He) above what they attribute to him!}
(Al-Anbiyaa' 21:22)
Comparison
with Biblical Concept of God
The
difference between Islamic monotheism and the concept of God as depicted in the
Bible is definitely not as comparatively large as the difference between Islamic
monotheism and other forms of polytheism. A very common error about the Islamic
concept of monotheism is that it is simply an extension of the Biblical concept
of God or is based on it.
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The concept of God in Islam is the purest form of monotheism.
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Many
non-Muslim scholars have pointed out that among the early Israelites the nature
of God seems to be like that of a super-human being. In the Book of Genesis you
find the description of God as someone needing to rest after He created the
heavens and earth. It describes Him as walking in the garden and Adam and Eve
hearing the sound of his feet. It also depicts God making mistakes and people
correcting him. God is portrayed as being jealous of the power of humans in the
story of the Tower
of Babel . When humans started building the Tower
of Babel , God, according to the Bible, believed they were becoming very smart and
powerful, so He changed their language so they would not understand each other.
This is what caused the multiplicity of languages, according to the
Bible.
Many times the term "God of Israel" is used, giving the impression
that He is a tribal God.
These
descriptions that depict God as a super-human contradict Islam’s emphasis of
God’s transcendence, His total freedom from all human defects, and that He is
not human-like because He is not “physical” in the sense that He can be
perceived.
If
the Islamic concept of God is compared with Biblical concept of "God of
Israel", we find that the first chapter in the Qur'an describes God as {Lord
of the universe} (Al-Fatihah 1:2), and the last chapter of the
Qur'an describes Him as {Lord of mankind}
(An-Nas 114:1). The Qur'an does not say "God of Arabs" or "God of
Muslims" or God of any ethnic group, but God is the God of all humanity.
In
the New Testament,
Prophet
Jesus (peace be upon him) is described as the intimate, sole son
of God, who came to save humanity by shedding his blood on the cross. But from
the Qur'anic point of view, this is not acceptable. A Muslim believes in Jesus
as a righteous, noble prophet who is among the greatest prophets of God, and
that he is only a human, in the same way that all other prophets of God are
human. In addition, Muslims believe his relationship with God is metaphorical in
a sense that all human beings are “children” of God, whom He provides for.
The concept of God in Islam is the purest form of monotheism and is a consistent
and coherent system of belief that is completely independent from any other
belief.
Implication
of Ethics
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Self-discipline must be at the heart of any ethical or moral code of
conduct.
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The
concept of God in Islam affects its ethical system in many ways. For example,
when the pure monotheism of God and the conception of the highest ideal are
mixed up with imperfections, errors, or inconsistencies as it is in other
religions, then how can that be an ultimate, single and absolute source of
ethics? In addition, acknowledging God as the sole Bestower of all that we have
in this life leads to a feeling in the heart of a loving, conscious, and
voluntary submission to God, which is the meaning of the word
"Islam"
as a faith. This in turn leads the individual to have a sense of ultimate
loyalty to God alone.
By
believing in God, His Perfection and divine attributes, that He is the sole
power in this universe, and believing that He is the Ultimate God Who has the
full, perfect and complete knowledge, it follows that God knows what is in our
hearts and minds and we can not hide anything from Him or deceive him. This
results in increased self-discipline by knowing that you can not get away with
wrong-doing if you are not caught by humans because God is the All Encompassing.
This self-discipline must be at the heart of any ethical or moral code of
conduct.
Difference
from Other Beliefs in the Hereafter
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Muslims are told to prepare for the Hereafter by struggling in this
life on earth to right wrongs, and to establish justice and peace.
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Some
of the views held by religions other than Islam on the
Hereafter are quite different. Some
“eastern” religions look at the pleasures and desires of this world as being
temporary and conclude that because life is a passing pleasure, then there is no
sense in trying to accomplish anything in this world. This leads to a renouncing
of the body and of physical existence, and a focus on purifying the soul and
saving it by getting it out of the shackle of the material world. In that sense,
the life of meditation and religious exercise becomes what the ideal human being
aspires to. This is not only limited to “eastern” religions. Ernest Findley
Scott, in his book, The
Ethical Teaching of Jesus, indicates that some early Christians,
especially in the first, second and third centuries, upheld that somehow the
kingdom
of God is something that is going to take place only in the
future miraculously, and that denouncing this world would be an act of piety
because only then can you focus on self-purification.
Balancing
This World and the Next
Muslims
believe strongly in the Hereafter, but at the same time, Islam teaches that the
belief in the Hereafter should not lead to the neglect of this life. For example
the Qur'an says, when addressing Qarun, who was a wealthy contemporary of Moses:
{But
seek, with the (wealth) which God has bestowed on thee, the Home of the
Hereafter, Nor forget thy portion in this world: but do thou good, As God has
been good to thee, and seek not (Occasion for) mischief in the land: For God
loves not those who do mischief} (Al-Qasas 28:77).
So
when Islam teaches the belief in the Hereafter and the belief in punishment and
reward, it does not mean that the ultimate piety or righteousness can be
attained through the renunciation of this world. Rather, worldly life should be
coordinated with the Hereafter. Muslims are told to prepare for it by
accumulating “credit” for salvation by struggling in this life on earth to
right wrongs, and to establish justice and peace.
*
Adapted from a lecture in Dr. Jamal Badawi’s
Islamic
Teachings
series.
**
Dr.
Jamal Badawi is a professor at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Canada
where he currently teaches in the areas of Management and Religious Studies. He
is the author of several works on various aspects of Islam.
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