Mohammad Hashim Kamali Human Dignity in Islam* This article explores human dignity through a reading of the Qur‟an and hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad), the two most authoritative and widely venerated sources of Islam. It is presented in four sections, beginning with a review of the textual evidence on human dignity, to be followed by a similar review of God-man relationship, then also a discussion as to how the Qur‟an guides and depicts as to how the humans should relate to one another while observant of each other‟s dignity. The discussion proceeds to examine the juristic positions of the leading schools of Islamic law on the subject, and ends with a conclusion that underscores the effects of these guidelines on the realities of Muslim life. I begin, however, with a note on the meaning of dignity and its implications on basic rights and duties, the two major components of justice in the Islamic tradition that evidently serve to provide a more substantive basis of commitment to human dignity. To discriminate against a person in terms of race and religion, before the law and before the courts of justice naturally compromises the human dignity of its victim. Dignity would similarly have little meaning when a person is subjected to acts of oppression and injustice without cause or when deprived of due process of justice. Dignity is a composite concept that can embrace a variety of objective values and those which may be relative and subjective in the context of particular legal and cultural traditions. The values that dignity subsumes are also liable to change with new developments in science and technology as well as the mobility and interaction of peoples and cultures. Broadly speaking, from a legal perspective, human dignity connotes inviolability of the human person, recognition of a set of rights and obligations and guarantee of safe conduct by others, including the society and state. It has also implications on a global scale as to whether the world communities and cultures accord dignity and inviolability to the Other. The Qur‟an extends an open and unqualified recognition of dignity to all human beings regardless of colour and creed. Outsider perceptions of this recognition are often unknown, ambiguous, or misrepresented, due to some extent perhaps to a certain level of internal disagreement in the Islamic juristic thought itself. The negative trends in the Muslim- non-Muslim relations have in recent years been exacerbated by persistent violence, militarism and disillusionments over the Israeli-Palestine conflict, Iraq and Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib and Bagram etc., that continue to pain human conscience and are affronts to human dignity in the guise of democracy and the so-called “war on terror.” 1. Textual Evidence on Human Dignity The most explicit affirmation of human dignity (karamah) is found in the Qur‟an, in a general and unqualified declaration: “We have bestowed dignity on the children of Adam( laqad karramna bani Adama) …and conferred upon them special favours above the greater part of Our creation” (Q. 17:70). * This is a revised and enhanced version of a paper I presented at the International Conference on “Pathways of Human Dignity: From Cultural Tradition to a New Paradigm,” jointly organized by Europe Science Foundation (ESF) and Linkopeng University,Vadstenna, Sweden, 1st November 2007. M H Kamali is founding chairman of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) Malaysia. www.iais.org.my 1 Mohammad Hashim Kamali The overall picture that emerges is summed up in the Qur‟an commentator al-Alusi‟s observation that “everyone and all members of the human race, including the pious and the sinner, are endowed with dignity….”1 Twentieth century Muslim jurists and commentators have also gone on record to note that dignity is not earned by meritorious conduct; it is established as an expression of God‟s grace; and also that dignity is a natural and absolute right which inheres in every human person as of the moment of birth. It is God-given and natural; hence no individual nor State may take it away from anyone. As for the question whether dignity also remains intact` of a criminal, the general answer provided is in the affirmative with the proviso, however, that it is partially compromised to the extent that a court decision on punishment may be enforced, but beyond that the personal dignity of prisoners must also be protected and observed.2 Prisoners are not to be subjected to humiliation nor be deprived of their right to the essentials of life. The reference to the grant of special divine favours on humankind in the verse under review is explained elsewhere in places where the text elaborates on the manifestations of human dignity by declaring, for instance, the spiritual ranking of human beings above those of the angels (Q, 7:11). For in this verse, the angels and the Iblis (satan) were asked to “bow down to Adam and they (the angels) bowed down, not so the Iblis.” Iblis asserted its own superiority, as the text recounts: “You created Adam from clay and created me from fire!” God‟s displeasure with this response was then conveyed in a question to Iblis: “what prevents thee from prostrating thyself to one whom I created with My Own Hand?” (Q, 38:75-76) The subject is taken up again in another context where God declared His intention to the angels that “I am about to appoint a vicegerent in the earth.” The angels protested, as the text goes, and said: “we extol and glorify Thee,” whereas Man is prone to corruption and bloodshed. Then the angels were told: “surely I know what you know not.” This is immediately followed by the affirmation: “And God taught Adam the names of all things…” (Q, 2:30-32), which would seem to suggest that knowledge and capacity to learn are relevant to the dignity and nobility of Man. A level of intimacy and closeness is also shown in the divine affirmation that “I created (Adam) with My own Hand.” For in most other places where a reference occurs to God‟s creation, it is often said that God commands it or wills it so and it becomes. But more explicitly, this intimacy is shown in God‟s illustrious affirmation: “And I breathed into him (Adam) of My Own spirit” (Q, 38:72). The spiritual superiority of humankind in the foregoing verses is then further supplemented by references to their physical constitution in places, for example, where God declares “Indeed, We created humankind in the best of forms;” and “ We fashioned you in the best of images….”3 It is reported in a hadith that the Prophet stood one day in front of the Ka‟bah, the holiest of all places known to Islam, and said in a symbolic language: 1 Shihab al-Din al-Alusi, Ruh al-Ma’ani fi Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘Azim, Beirut:Dar al-Turath al-„Arabi, nd., Vol. XV, 117. 2 See for a round up of opinion and references to Sayyid Qutb, Mustafa al-Siba‟i, „Abd al-Hakim Hasan al-„Ili, Ahmad Yusri, and Whbah al-Zuhaili Mohammad Hashim Kamali, The Dignity of Man: an Islamic Perspective, Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 2002, 1-2. 3 Qur‟an, 95:12 and 64:3 respectively. www.iais.org.my 2 Mohammad Hashim Kamali You are most pure and most dignified, but the One in whose hands Muhammad‟s life reposes, the sanctity and honour of a believer, his life and his property, is far greater in the eyes of God.4 The Qur‟anic vision of dignity for the human race has also been upheld for the Muslim community, whom God has ranked in honour (al-‘izzah) next to His own illustrious Self and His Messenger, Muhammad (Q, 63:8). The Qur‟anic designation of the Muslim community (ummah) is also that of “a community of moderation (ummatan wasatan- Q, 2:143), committed to the promotion of good, and rejection of evil (Q, 3:110), dedicated to the vindication of truth and justice (Q, 3:103). To quote the Holy Book: “The believers, both men and women, are friends and protectors of one another; they enjoin good and they forbid evil.”(Q, 9:71) This is given a more concrete manifestation in the following hadith: “ If any of you sees something evil, he should set it right with his hand; if he is unable to do so, then with his tongue, and if he is unable to do even that, then (let him denounce it) in his heart. But this is the weakest form of faith.”5 This is an evidently open address to all human beings. We find no evidence anywhere in the sources to say that non-Muslims may not participate in the promotion of good or prevention of corruption and evil that endanger individuals and societies.6 In two of his other sayings, the Prophet is also quoted to have said: “the best part of faith is to have beautiful manners;”7 and that: “I have been sent in order to perfect moral virtues (among you).”8 Rights and obligations are a manifestation of human dignity in all major legal traditions and the Shari‟ah is no exception. There may be some differences of orientation among legal systems, but as far as Islamic law is concerned the emphasis is not so much on rights and obligations as it is on justice. A balanced approach to rights and duties is essential to the conception of justice in all major legal traditions. Yet legal systems are also shaped to some extent by the philosophical underpinnings of a society‟s vision of a balanced mix of rights and duties.