Human Beings
- From: "Altway" <altway@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 23:48:05 -0500
Question:-
There are numerous different definitions and descriptions of human beings,
biological, psychological, historical, political, economic, aesthetic and so
on. It seems to me that Religion will not be properly understood until it is
clear what the religious concept of man is. What is the Islamic concept of a
human being?
Answer:-
This is a very good insight.
Most certainly each discipline has its own subject of study and constructs
its own concepts accordingly. In so far as all these study human beings they
are obvously dealing with different aspects of the same complex thing,
aspects that are regarded important or relevant in the context of that
system of thought. The Religious view of human beings is certainly different
from that of these other systems and also deals with what is regarded as
most important about them. The subject of religion is not just facts but
also meaning and values. It deals with the relationship of human life with
the rest of existence.
According to the Quran:-
"Verily, we are Allah's and, verily, to Him is our return." 2:156
"As He brought you forth in the beginning, so shall you return unto Him."
7:29
"Say: Verily, my worship and my sacrifice, and my living and my dying belong
to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds." 6:163
"Seek they other than Allah's religion? When to Him surrenders whoever is in
the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and unto Him shall they
return!" 3:83
"O you who believe! You have charge of (or guardianship of) your own souls;
he who errs can do you no hurt if you are rightly guided. Unto Allah will
you all return, and He will declare to you the truth of that which you did."
5:105
How is all this to be understood?
The important concept for Islam is the soul.
"Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not
during their sleep; then He withholds those on whom He has passed the decree
of death and sends the others back till an appointed term; most surely there
are signs in this for a people who reflect." 39:42
"How can you disbelieve in Allah, when you were dead and He made you alive,
and then He will cause you to die, and then make you alive again, and then
to Him will you return?" 2:28
It is the soul that makes the difference between the sleeping and awake
body, and the living and dead body. It can be regarded as the seat of
consciousness, conscience and will. These spiritual faculties correspond to
thought, feeling and action at the mental level. From the Islamic point of
view it is the most significant aspect of man. This because if you are not
conscious then nothing can exist for you, not the world and not even
yourself. There is no "I" about which it can be said "I am", "I do", "I
will", "I think", "I feel" etc.
The soul arises from the Spirit, which is the fundamental or first emanation
from Allah and carries His creative Word :-
"The Spirit is by the command of my Lord, and you are given but a little
knowledge thereof." 17:85
"(Allah) Who made good everything that He has created, and He began the
creation of man from dust. Then He made his progeny of an extract, of a
fluid held in low esteem. Then He fashioned him and breathed into him of His
spirit, and made for you the faculties of hearing, and sight and heart;
little is it that you give thanks." 32:7-9
This verse tells us that man has a physical and spiritual aspect and the
combination creates the faculties of the mind. As the soul is personal to
each individual and distinct from others, it can be regarded as organised
spirit.
Spiritually man is a spark of the Divine. He comes from Allah and must
return to Allah. To know the Spirit within is to know Allah and vice versa.
"He who knows his Self knows Allah." A Hadith
"And be not like those who forgot (or forsook Allah), so He made them forget
(or forsake) their own souls: these it is that are the transgressors." 59:19
"Verily, We offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the
mountains, but they refused to undertake it, being afraid of it; but man
undertook it. Lo! He has proved a tyrant and a fool." 33:72
The Trust can be regarded as referring to the Spirit of Allah in man and
most probably refers to the Vicegerency:-
"And when your Lord said unto the angels: I am about to place a Vicegerent
(Agent, Successor, Inheritor) in the earth, they said: Will you place
therein one who will do evil therein and shed blood? While we celebrate Thy
praise and glorify Thee. Said (the Lord): I know what you know not. And He
taught Adam the Names (qualities), all of them; then He propounded them to
the angels and said: Declare to Me the names of these, if you are truthful."
2:30-31
"He it is who made you Vicegerents (Agents, Successors, Inheritors) of the
earth, and raised some of you above others in degree (or rank, virtue,
power, wealth, ability etc.), to try you by that which he has given you;
Verily, your Lord is swift to punish, but, verily, He is Forgiving and
Merciful." 6:166
The entry of the spirit into the earth is the Fall of man.
"And We said: O Adam dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise, and eat there
from amply as you wish; but do not draw near this tree or you will be of the
transgressors. But Satan made them backslide there from and drove them out
from what they were in, and We said: Go down, one of you the enemy of the
other, and in the earth there is an abode and a provision for a time. And
Adam obtained certain words (revelations) from his Lord, and He relented
towards him, for He is the Relenting, the Compassionate. We said: Go down
from here altogether and per chance there may come from Me a Guidance, and
whoever follows My Guidance, no fear is theirs, nor shall they grieve."
2:35-38
"Surely, We have created man in the best of moulds. Then We reduced him to
the lowest of the low; Save those who believe and act right; for theirs is a
reward unfailing." 95:4-6
Islam requires us to grow spiritually and return to Allah:-
"And by the soul and Who fashioned it, and enlightened it with what is wrong
and right for it! He indeed is successful who causes it to grow (or purifies
it)! And he indeed is a failure who corrupts it!" 91:7-10
"But O, you soul in peace and fulfilment! Return unto your Lord, well
pleased and well pleasing unto Him! 89:29. Enter you amongst My servants,
Enter you My Garden!" 89:27-30
A study of any individual human being shows that he interacts and is
inter-dependent with other people genetically, socially, culturally,
educationally, historically, politically, economically, and with the rest of
the environment for materials (food, water, air), energy (including heat and
light) information (impressions, experience).
We can distinguish between three interdependent aspects to human beings:-
(1) the body which is a physical structure consisting of matter, (2) the
mind which can be regarded as his behaviour, and (3) his spirit which refers
to his capacity for consciousness, conscience and will. These correspond to
the distinction in science between matter, energy and order, though these
are not entirely separate things, but more like aspects of something more
fundamental.
Physically, human being are constantly changing. They have an intake, from
the environment, of food, water, air and solar and other radiations which
they transform, utilise and expel. This enters the environment where it is
processed and again enters into other organisms that process and expel it.
Human beings are part of a universal circulation of materials, energy and
information.
The material of which man is composed is completely recycled every few
years, yet he is regarded as being the same person. He cannot, therefore, be
identified with his physical body. Mentally, too, man changes owing to
accumulation of experiences and erosion of memories. Man must, therefore, be
identified with the continuation of some kind of order.
If we analyse man physically we see that he consists of organs, each having
a different function but which are inter-dependent with others. Each is
divisible into cells of different kinds and functions which are also
inter-dependent. These are divisible into molecules and atoms which are
further divisible into sub-atomic particles which are divisible still
further into some kinds of fundamental states, which could be regarded as
points of convergence and divergence in a network of forces.
There is, therefore, a Fundamental Universal Field (FUF), which connects all
things. That is the real ultimate context in which things must be judged. An
individual human being, as other entities, is therefore a small part of this
Field, a pattern at various level in the FUF. He can be represented as a
small area within it, interacting with it and having a function with respect
to it. His fate depends on how this function is fulfilled.
Hamid S. Aziz
.
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