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Humanism and Islamic Ethics: an Analytical Study

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Humanism and Islamic Ethics: an Analytical Study ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 13, 2020 HUMANISM AND ISLAMIC ETHICS: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY Dr. Rafiqul Islam1 1Assistant Professor,Department of Arabic, B.N College, Dhubri Received: 14 March 2020 Revised and Accepted: 8 July 2020 ABSTRACT: The word ‗Humanism‘ is a well defined term and it includes humanity. Humanity is the goal of ethics, to be achieved through the perfection of our identity as human beings. Man‘s rationality is in a constant process of confrontation with irrational product of human imagination. That is, with religion. This requires self- knowledge and self-criticism, and that forms the essence of humanism. This humanism manifests itself in the critical discourse of the word, in philology, which connects writers, intellectuals, and critics, as well as creativity, learning and judgment. The ethics of common mass is inflicted, resting on an inner contradiction. The fundamental source in the gradual codification of Islamic ethics refers to moral principles or moral values which determine the code of conduct by the Quran and practices of Mohammad (PBUH). The paper endeavours to focus on the Basic Principles of Humanism and Islamic Ethics, Moral Commandments, Early Reforms under Islam, Environmentalism, Islamic Democracy, Majlis ash-shura, Freedom of Expression, Human Rights, Right of Revolution, Medical Ethics, Neoroethics, Military Ethics, Bayt al-mal, Animal Welfare, Peace in Islamic Thought. KEYWORD: Humanism, Islamic Ethics, Human Rights, Bayt al-mal, Environmentalism, Medical Ethics. I. INTRODUCTION The term humanism is subject to wide variety of application- humanism as classicism, as referring to modern concept of humanities, and as human centeredness. It has freely been applied to a variety of beliefs, methods and philosophies that places central emphasis on man that meant the development of human virtues in all its forms fully. But we know from the history that humanism is also and educational programme of the 12th and especially of the 14th to 16th century in the Renaissance. This educational programme is oriented towards ancient Greek and Roman literature. Humanism originally means our return to exemplary antiquity. The ethical decisions are based up on a system of moral values that serve the best interest of society in human and caring way. The motive force in Islamic ethics is the notion that every human beings is called to ‗Command the good and forbid the evil‘ in all spheres of life. Therefore, regardless of their environment, humans are believed to have a moral responsibility to submit to Allah‘s will and to follow Islam. We can take both aspects as a starting point of our analysis of the history of Islamic ethics and its dimensional policy. 1.1. Basic principle of humanism and Islamic ethics: Humanism originally means our return to the exemplary antiquity. The rise of Islam was essentially shaped by its dialogue with cultures that it encountered during its expansion. Thinkers trained in Arabic letters and in the Greek sciences laid open by the translation movement of the previous century Aristotle seriously. But they were also imbued with the values of the court, the chancery, and the military camp. Theirs was the culture of ‘adab, the literature of courtesy and urbanity, i.e. it is the nourishment that gives substance to the mind as food gives substance to the maturing body, it is the content of wisdom- knowledge tested by experience about the good life and its means of attainment. Secular values- the distillate of Hellenistic old Persian, Arab, Byzantine, Jewish, and Syriac tradition, with a leaven of Indian fable and the vivid naturalism of Chinese portraiture and figure painting for critical distance- stood alongside law and faith of Islam, and like the philosophic outlook of the Greek teachers, claimed the power of interpreting and judging it. The philosophers of the period, a small group, many of them friends, colleagues, rivals, master and disciple, freely invoked an humanistic ethical discourse and ideal within Islamic culture. Among the most articulate and long lived was Abu Ali Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Miskawayh (936-1030). His ‗On the Refinement of Character‘ has been called ‗the most influential work on philosophical ethics‘ in Islam. But the influence takes a curiously underground route Miskawayh‘s ethics were substantially taken over by Abu Hamid al Ghazalli (1058-1111), the trenchant critic of Islamic philosophical school whose polemic against neoplatonic Aristotelianism in Islam, The Incoherence of the Philosophers and monumental spiritualizing summa Reviving the Religious Sciences led to his being called the Proof of Islam in traditional Islamic circles. The ‗Ihya ‗Ulum al-Din, as the latter is called in 4630 ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 13, 2020 Arabic, draws on many sources and relies tellingly on Miskawayh for his treatment of the virtues. But the perspective is altered subtly but systematically for latter ethical thinking in Islam. The foundational source in the gradual codification of Islamic ethics was the Muslim understanding and interpretations of the Qur'an and practices of Muhammad. Its meaning has always been in context of active submission to God (Arabic: Allah), performed by the community in unison. The motive force in Islamic ethics is the notion that every human being is called to "command the good and forbid the evil" in all spheres of life. Muslims understand the role of Muhammad as attempting to facilitate this submission. Another key factor in the field of Islamic ethics is the belief that mankind has been granted the faculty to discern God's will and to abide by it. This faculty most crucially involves reflecting over the meaning of existence. Therefore, regardless of their environment, humans are believed to have a moral responsibility to submit to God's will and to follow Islam (as demonstrated in the Qur'an). Muslims believe that Muhammad, like other prophets in Islam, was sent by God to remind human beings of their moral responsibility, and challenge those ideas in society which opposed submission to God. According to Kelsay, this challenge was directed against five main characteristics of pre-Islamic Arabia: 1. The division of Arabs into varying tribes (based upon blood and kinship). This categorization was confronted by the ideal of a unified community based upon Islamic piety, an "ummah;" 2. The acceptance of the worship of a multitude of deities besides Allah - a view challenged by strict Islamic monotheism, which dictates that Allah has no partner in worship nor any equal; 3. The trait of muruwwa (manliness), which Islam discouraged, instead emphasizing on the traits of humility and piety; 4. The focus on achieving fame or establishing a legacy, which was replaced by the concept that mankind would be called to account before God on the day of resurrection; 5. The reverence of and compliance with ancestral traditions, a practice challenged by Islam — which instead assigned primacy to submitting to God and following revelation. 1.2. Moral commandments: In the 17th chapter, "Al-Israa" ("The Night Journey"), verses [Quran 17:22], the Qur'an provides a set of moral stipulations which are "among the (precepts of) wisdom, which thy Lord has revealed to thee" that can be reasonably categorized as ten in number. 1. Worship only God: Take not with Allah another object of worship; or thou (O man!) wilt sit in disgrace and destitution. (Quran 17:22) 2. Be kind, honourable and humble to one's parents: Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him, and that ye be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in thy life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honour. (Quran 17:23) And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say: "My Lord! bestow on them thy Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood." (Quran 17:24) 3. Be neither miserly nor wasteful in one's expenditure: And render to the kindred their due rights, as (also) to those in want, and to the wayfarer: But squander not (your wealth) in the manner of a spendthrift. (Quran 17:26) Verily spendthrifts are brothers of the Evil Ones; and the Evil One is to his Lord (himself) ungrateful. (Quran 17:27) And even if thou hast to turn away from them in pursuit of the Mercy from thy Lord which thou dost expect, yet speak to them a word of easy kindness. (Quran 17:28) Make not thy hand tied (like a niggard's) to thy neck, nor stretch it forth to its utmost reach, so that thou become blameworthy and destitute. (Quran 17:29) 4. Do not engage in 'mercy killings' for fear of starvation: Kill not your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin. (Quran 17:31) 5. Do not commit adultery: Nor come nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils). (Quran 17:32) 6. Do not kill unjustly: Nor take life – which Allah has made sacred – except for just cause. And if anyone is slain wrongfully, we have given his heir authority (to demand qisas or to forgive): but let him not exceed bounds in the matter of taking life; for he is helped (by the Law). (Quran 17:33) 7. Care for orphaned children: Come not nigh to the orphan's property except to improve it, until he attains the age of full strength...(Quran 17:34) 8. Keep one's promises: ...fulfill (every) engagement [i.e. promise/covenant], for (every) engagement will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning). (Quran 17:34) 4631 ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 13, 2020 9.
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