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Man and Islam
An excerpt from Man and Islam by Dr. Ali Shariati
Ladies and Gentlemen: Tonight, as long as time permits, I would
like to investigate the following questions:
I. Does Islam recognize man as a helpless creature whose ultimate
goal and ideal is to stand powerless in front of God?
II. Does Islam recognize humanness as a nobility?
III. Is helplessness in man a pre-requisite of belief in Islam,
or on the contrary, is belief in Islam enough to bestow originality
upon man and a respect for his virtues?
The issue of man is an extremely important one. Today's civilization
has based its religion upon humanism; that is, the originality
and worship of man. It is assumed that various religions in the
past shattered man's personality, and forced him to sacrifice
himself for his gods, admit his powerlessness, and forced him
to ask favors from them through prayer, supplication and begging.
Humanism is a post-renaissance religion which set itself across
the providential orders and those religions which were based upon
the supernatural and the unseen, which aimed to bestow nobility
upon man. The roots of humanism go back to Athens, and as a universal
religion it has become the foundation of today's Western culture.
As a matter of fact humanism is a reaction against the scholastic
creed and Christianity of the Middle Ages.
In order to find out how man was interpreted in various religions
of the past, or to understand the role of humanism in religions,
one should study the philosophy of creation. Since I do not have
time to survey all the Eastern and Western religions relative
to the philosophy of man's creation, I will only emphasize the
philosophy of man's creation in Islam (and the religions of Abraham,
Moses, and Jesus of which Islam is a sequel and culmination).
How does Islam interpret and recognize the creation of man? Is
it possible to realize man's position from the quality of his
creation narrated in the Qur'an or the sayings of prophet Muhammad
(PBUH)? By investigating the quality of Adam's creation, which
stands as the symbol of man in the Qur'an, we can infer the kind
of status he occupies in the sight of God in Islam, as well as
in other religions.
As a preface I should say that the language of religions, especially
the semitic ones, whose prophets we believe in, are all symbolic.
This is the finest language accessible to man and it is superior
to expository language which is lucid and straightforward. An
expository language may be more suited and simpler to utilize
in instruction, but it is not lasting. Why? Abd-Alrahman Badawi,
the contemporary Egyptian philosopher, states that
A school or a religion which expresses all its facts and connotations
in direct, clear-cut, and one-dimensional sentences will not last
long, since it is addressing diverse individuals from all walks
of life. Further, these people include various strata and classes
who vary in thinking, viewpoint, and outlook. And so, a language
which is selected for a religion must be multi layered and multi-dimensional
so that each generation can decipher one layer and each group
can understand one dimension at a time.
This is why all the literary symbolic works are immortal. Hafiz's
poems are everlasting due to the fact that the more we read them,
depending upon our tastes, the more new areas we can infer and
discover. But such is not true for the History of Bayhaghi or
Golestan of Saadi, their meanings are relatively obvious. We enjoy
their dialects, but from a spiritual point of view most of their
contents are obsolete. But Hafiz's words, being multi-dimensional
and symbolic, allow each one of us, depending on our tastes and
mentality, to infer a new meaning and a new outlook from them.
And since religions were brought for various types of peoples
and generations, it was necessary that they contained symbolic
languages. Most of the meanings existing in religions were not
clear at the time they emerged. However, since such meanings had
to be explained to people, they had to be in plain language so
the masses could comprehend them. On the other hand, if the concepts
were plain enough, such religions would contain no new meanings.
This is why languages were symbolic so that future generations,
relative to their mental and scientific maturity, could discover
new meanings and concepts. This is why in European literature
symbolism is the finest style. Thus, the story of Adam's creation
was told in symbolic language so that now, after fourteen centuries
in the midst of scientific progress in all areas, it remains worthy
of study.
Man's Creation from the Islamic Viewpoint
In the beginning the Lord addresses all the angels: "I want
to create a vicegerent on earth," (Pay attention to the worth
of man in Islam. Even the Post-Renaissance European humanism has
not been able to bestow such an exalting sanctity upon man.).
God, being the greatest and most exalting from a faithful Muslim
point of view, addresses the angels to introduce His vicegerent.
Thus, with this providential address the mission of man on earth
is clarified. That is, man's mission on earth is to fulfill God's
creative work in the universe. Therefore, man's first superiority
is that he represents God on earth. The angels objected, "Do
you want to create a revengeful and vindictive creature to commit
crime and bloodshed on earth again?" But God responds, "I
know something you know not." And so, God became engaged
in creating man. And this is the point which symbols, loaded with
profound anthropological connotations, come into being. Since
God wants to create a vicegerent for Himself on earth, He must,
as a rule, choose the most valuable and sacred material. Yet He
selects the basest matter. In the Qur'an there are three references
relative to the material that man was made of: from a sounding
clay, like unto pottery, and from mud. Finally, the Lord breathed
His spirit into the dry mud and man came into being.
In the human tongue God is the most sacred and exalted being,
while mud stands as a symbol of the meanest and the basest thing.
And the spirit of God is the most sacred, exalting, and the noblest
"part" of His being. Accordingly, in creating man, God
did not use His "breath, "blood," or "flesh";
rather He blew His own Soul into man. God is the most sublime
being and His spirit is the finest entity for which man can possibly
have an epithet in his language. Thus, man who was formed from
mud and God's spirit is a two-dimensional being. For unlike all
other beings which are one dimensional, man is two-dimensional;
one dimension tends towards mud, lowliness, sedimentation, and
stagnation while the other aspires to the loftiest imaginable
point possible. So man is composed of two contradictions-mud and
God's spirit. Thus man's significance and grandeur lie in the
fact that he possesses two poles (mud and the spirit of the Lord).
It is up to man to choose where to go, towards mud or providence.
And as long as he has not selected either of the poles as his
fate, struggle will perpetually rage within him.
Once man was created, God taught him the names. It is not yet
clear what these names were, but every commentator has said something
that leaves no doubt that God was talking about education and
instruction. In any case, when the creation of man ended, God
taught all the names. Man became a possessor of names. At this
point the angels protested: "We are made from smokeless fire
but man was made from mud. Why should he have superiority over
us?" Whereby the Lord responded: "I know something you
know not. Bow down to man." The angels of all ranks prostrated
themselves before man.
This is what humanism is all about. Do you see the extent of man's
grandeur? So lofty is his position that the angels, in spite of
their natural and racial superiority (light vs mud), adored Adam.
How ever, since the angels protested, the Lord, in order to test
them, asked them to recite the names but they could not answer.
In this test the angels were defeated and the superiority and
virtue of Adam was established. Superiority depends upon knowledge
of the names. Man knows things which angels do not know. This
is indicative of the fact that nobility depends upon knowledge
and intelligence rather than upon racial superiority.
Another issue is the woman who is believed to have been created
from Adam's rib. This is the result of a wrong translation of
the Arabic word 'rib' into Persian. In Arabic and Hebrew 'rib'
has an additional meaning which is 'nature.' Thus, instead of
"Eve was created from Adam's nature," it came to mean
"Eve was created from Adam's rib."
A great man like Nietzsche believed that man and woman were two
different creatures. By and by they evolved and came to resemble
each other. So they are thought of as two different races. Mind
you that even those philosophers and scientists who believe that
Adam and Eve are of the same race have always despised the female's
nature. However, the position of the Qur'an is that man and woman
are of the same nature.
Another surprising point in man's creation in the Qur'an is that
God calls upon the whole creation-skies, seas, plants, mountains,
animals and so forth-and informs them: "I have a trust to
offer you." But all of them refused to accept except man.
This is indicative of the fact that man possesses another virtue;
that is, his acceptance of a trust that everyone else refused.
This means that man is a representative of God in the universe
as well as His trustee. As to what the 'trust' is, everyone mentions
something. Mawlavi believes that it is will and choice. So do
I.
The only superiority that man has over all other beings in the
universe is his will. He is the only being that can act contrary
to his nature, while no animal or plant is capable of doing so.
It is impossible to find an animal which can fast for two days.
And no plant has ever committed suicide due to grief or has done
a great service. Man is the only one who rebels against his physical,
spiritual, and material needs, and turns his back against goodness
and virtue. Further, he is free to behave irrationally, to be
bad or good, to be mudlike or Divine. The point is that possession
of "will" is the greatest characteristic of man and
it throws light upon the kinship between man and God.
Is it not true that God breathed His spirit into man and appointed
him as His trustee? Then man is a vicegerent and "relative"
of God on earth and the spirit of both quench their thirst from
the same fountain of virtue-possession of will. God, the only
being in the universe who possesses an absolute will and can do
whatever He wishes, even to work contrary to the laws of nature,
breathed His spirit in man. And so, man is capable of working
like God (not on par with Him, only resembling God), or acting
against the physiological laws of his own nature. Therefore, what
can be inferred from man's nature and the philosophy of creation
are as follows:
A. Not only are all men equal, they are brothers. The disparity
between equality and brotherhood is quite obvious; equality is
a legal term while brotherhood is an announcement of the identical
nature of all men who have, despite their colors, emerged from
a single source.
B. Contrary to all the past philosophies, male and female are
of the same nature, and were created simultaneously by God. They
are of the same race, they are brothers and sisters.
C. The superiority of man over angels and the whole universe is
scientific, due to the fact that man has learned the names. And
angels, despite their superiority in race and nature, bowed down
to Adam.
Above all, man is located between mud and providence, he is free
to choose either as his will dictates. Possession of will and
freedom creates responsibility. And so, from the Islamic point
of view, man is the only creature who is responsible not only
for his own fate but also has a mission to fulfill the Divine
Purpose in the world. Thus, he is a trustee in the universe. He
(man) is the only one who knows the names whose meanings, I believe,
stand for various scientific facts. Names are symbols for things;
that is, the specific aspects of various concepts. Therefore,
"having learned the names" is the potential and aptitude
for understanding and comprehending the existing scientific facts
in the universe. Accordingly, through his primordial education
from the Lord, man can grasp the totality of facts existing in
the universe, this is the greatest responsibility. Man's fate
must be fashioned by himself."
At this point I must refer to a great tragedy in history. Man
has not been recognized as a two-dimensional being. Unlike other
religions in which God and Satan are in a state of constant war
in nature, in Islam there is only one power in nature-the Divine
Power.
However, with man being the battlefield, God and Satan are at
war with each other. Thus, unlike former religions, the duality
in Islam consists of worshiping two deities which exist in the
constitution of man rather than in nature. Nature has a single
deity and is under the dominance of only one God. This is why
in Islam Satan is not standing against God but against the divine-half
of man. And since man is a two-dimensional creature who is kneaded
of mud and God, he is in need of both. His ideology, religion,
life, and civilization must all be capable of satisfying both
of these dimensions. The tragedy is that history does not bear
witness to this fact. History shows that all societies in the
past chose either asceticism or worldliness. Chinese civilization
was worldly first. The lifestyle of her aristocracy gave primacy
to pleasures, beauties, and the maximum use of natural resources.
In such an atmosphere Lao-Tzu emerged with an ascetic religion
that called attention to the spiritual side of man and consequently
society was driven towards monasticism, theosophy, and sufism.
Later, Confucius appeared and China swung back towards worldliness.
India, under the Vedic influence, was driven towards sufism and
ascetism. The present Indian mortification of the flesh-lying
on nails and living on a single date or almond for extended periods-is
a tendency towards the other half and ignores the worldly aspect.
In Europe, Rome went towards committing crime, bloodshed, dominating
the world, and accumulating the wealth of Asia and Europe. Later
Jesus (PBUH) emerged and oriented Rome towards the hereafter,
to such an extent that it led to the Middle Ages. In other words,
Rome, the land of bloodshed, power, and militarism turned into
the territory of monasticism and seclusion, until the Renaissance
was born and the pendulum was then swung back to worldliness.
And again today, the European civilization has become so world-minded
(by occupying humanity with sensual gratificaions) that, as Professor
Chandel states,
Today's world has dedicated itself to producing only life's amenities.
This shows the asininity of man's philosophy today. It signifies
the aimless direction of technology and the ideal-less civilization.
That is, humanity has deviated so drastically that it needs another
Jesus.
As far as Islam is concerned, man is a two-dimensional creature
who must possess a two-dimensional religion which can continually
exert a force upon him in the opposite direction-upon his society
as well as his soul-so that he can retain his equilibrium. This
is what Islam is all about.
In order to understand a religion one must see and familiarize
himself with its book, prophet, and its best products. Accordingly,
the God of Islam is two-dimensional: 1) a profile of Jehovah,
the Jewish God who is worldly, stern, political, a severe punisher,
and despotic; and 2) the God of Jesus who is kind, forgiving,
and merciful. All such characteristics for Allah, the God of Islam,
can be inferred from the Qur'an.
As for the Qur'an, it is a book resembling the Torah (Old Testament)
which contains social, political, and military precepts, including
instructions for conducting a war and capturing as well as the
freeing of captives. It is also a book which emphasizes the purification
of nature, the piety of the soul, and the exalting ethics of the
individual.
As to the prophet Muhammad (PBUH), he was also a man with two
profiles (as we see in the history of celebrities) combined in
one spirit. He was a man continuously at war, politically and
militarily, with the enemies and the subversive elements of society.
His aim was to build a modern society and civilization, while
guiding humanity towards a distinct goal. But above all he was
devout and virtuous.
Finally, the fruits of the prophet's training are Ali, Abuzar,
and Salman. These are among the very few two-dimensional human
beings of the world. These were men of politics and war, who struggled
for a better existence. They spent a lifetime in the battlefields,
military training, scientific inquiry and discussion. They were
also virtuous on par with the monks and theosophists of the East.
Today, with the information available on his meditations on God,
Abuzar is the best guide to knowing the Qur'an. A look at the
prophet's companions indicates that all were just, sensitive warriors,
and constructive individuals who were concerned with building
a better society and establishing justice.
Conclusions
In Islam man is not subjugated by God, since he is the Lord's
associate, friend, trustee, and kinsman on earth. God taught man
and all the angels prostrated themselves before him. Thus, such
a two-dimensional being needs a religion which can protect him
from swinging to either asceticism or worldliness, and continually
keep him at an equilibrium. Only a two-dimensional religion is
able to give reality to man's great responsibility.
