Religion And Morality: Islam Revived Moral Values That Are Now Part Of Global Ethics
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
29 April
2024
Divine Religious
Scriptures Deal Largely With Morality
Main
Points:
1. Morality and
ethics have their root in religion.
2. Religion
laid the foundation of morality
3. Prophets
taught man morality.
------
To many,
religion and morality are two different entities. They argue that morality does
not have its origin in religion. Even agnostics or atheists believe in moral
values.
But when we
study the history of man, we find that it is religion that taught morality to
man and guided them whenever they strayed or became wayward satiating their
physical desires at the cost of the freedom of other human beings. Cane killed
Abel under intense jealousy. Such killing was denounced by God and the killing
of an innocent person was declared immoral and a great sin for all the time to
come. If Abel's killing had not been declared immoral or a sin, no man on earth
would be safe as it would have been a normal act to kill anybody for any
reason. It was told in the Quran and in earlier religious scriptures that
killing an innocent person was akin to killing the entire humanity and saving
an innocent person akin to saving the entire humanity.
Corruption,
sexual perversion, oppression, exploitation and other violations of social order
were declared immoral and unethical by religions and prophets. Honesty, good
treatment to others and justice to all were exhorted by prophets. The people of
Sodom and Gommorah indulged in sexual perversion. Prophet Lot a.h. told them
that the practice was immoral though his community did not consider sexual
perversion immoral or unethical. If Prophet Lot a.h. had not declared unnatural
sexual act unethical or immoral, the human society would not consider it
immoral today. Therefore, it was religion that told man that sexual perversion
was immoral.
Similarly,
dishonesty in business transaction was the accepted norm in the community of
Madian. When Prophet Shoaib a.s. objected to this practice they turned hostile
to him because they did not consider it immoral. Religion told them that
dishonesty was immoral.
The
practice of earning riba or interest on loans was also a financial practice
that originated in the middle ages by some business communities and was
considered morally right on the basis of various arguments. But Islam declared
it immoral because it precipitated financial slavery and even physical slavery
of the borrower. Even if interest is considered acceptable in modern society,
in principle, it is not considered morally permissible.
The
practices of female foeticide and slavery were not questioned in the society,
not even by intellectuals of the western and oriental society before the advent
of Islam. Female foeticide and infanticide was rampant in all parts of the
world from Africa to China and from America to Arab. In Arab, girl children
were buried alive without any hesitation. To the people of Arab, it was a
normal practice to bury the girl child alive. In China too, girl children were
killed by various means. It was only Islam that declared killing of the female
foetus or an infant immoral. One can argue that today even non-Muslims and
atheists consider female foeticide and infanticide immoral. It is true but the
initiative was first taken by religion and later the idea was adopted by the
global community as a universal moral value.
Slavery was
also one of the practices that was an accepted norm during the period before
the advent of Islam. Keeping slaves was a sign of status for the rich and the
powerful and the sale and purchase of slaves was a lucrative business in those
ages. The slave trade was rampant in every region of the world from the east to
the west, including India where maid slaves were considered property that was
inherited by the son after the father's death. Islam was the first to initiate
social rehabilitation of slaves and maid slaves by declaring slavery immoral
and against human values.
In fact,
religion was not only concerned with man's obedience to God but also it was
concerned with man's over all safety and welfare in the society. Therefore,
religion outlined moral values and code of ethics apart from teaching man the
ways of worship and conducting religious rituals. Ways of worship and code of
ethics were therefore formulated to ensure man's freedom and safety in the
society. The code of ethics or moral values were formulated to prevent one man
from infringing upon the freedom and safety of others. A man's freedom was
restricted to safeguard his own freedom in the society. If one is given
unbridled and unrestricted freedom, others will also have the same measure of
freedom and this unbridled freedom will get in the,way of every body's safety
and security. Therefore, religion rejected the culture of power that gave the
powerful section of society the right to do whatever they wanted to fulfil
their personal interests and desires. This culture of power gave birth to the
saying, 'The king can do no wrong'. Religion, or more particularly, Islam does
not approve of this ideal and gives equal rights to all in the society and hold
every one accountable for his deeds.
That the
atheists or agnostics have their own morality is not correct. The atheists also
believe that slavery or female foeticide because they have inherited these
ideals from religion. Atheists or agnostics are only the citizens of the modern
world. The primitive man was not atheist or agnostic. He believed in one or the
other or in many seen or unseen gods. His god may have been a tree, a snake,
the wind or even the sun and the moon. Morality or code of ethics were
established in the human society long before the modern society was evolved.
The moral values that the modern universal community comprising both religious
and non-religious sections have inherited have been itched in the subconscious
mind of the man thanks to centuries of religious teachings by prophets and religious
scriptures and later by religious reformers.
Even if a
section of the modern human society argues in favour of some practices that
have been declared immoral by religion, the universal human society still
considers them immoral because they infringe upon the social and economic
freedom of the people and cause a breach in the established social order. In
fact, their campaign in favour of immoral practices is an act of turning back
to the immoral practices of the primitive human society unaware of moral or
human values before the advent of religion.
There are
some modern immoral practices like bribery etc which have gained acceptance in
the modern society but Islam has not approved of it and runs a campaigns against
it. There are other immoral practices that Islam strongly protests against. In
fact, Islam continuously speaks for moral values because moral values are the
core of religion.
-----
S.
Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-spiritualism/religion-morality-moral-values-global-ethics/d/132222
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