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 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism