"A man applied for a job at a construction firm.'We take turns making the coffee,' said the foreman. 'Do you know how to make coffee?''I sure do,' said the applicant.'And can you drive a forklift?', the forman asked again.'Why? Just how big is the coffee maker?'""Human beings are born in a state of innocence, which is the determining factor of their humanity, this the Islamic conception of the Human Being," said Jasmine while looking at 'Bouquet de Mains', hands printing on wall in Gua Ilas Kenceng, located at East Borneo."At birth, the human being is endowed with a natural disposition closely related to an aspiration to elevation, to the search for meaning and for the transcendent, an aspiration that will develop as she or he matures to attain the age of reason and self-awareness. This is the natural disposition called fiṭrah, and is described in the Qur’an as ‘the natural disposition, which Allah has instilled into man. Allah says,فَاَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّيْنِ حَنِيْفًاۗ فِطْرَتَ اللّٰهِ الَّتِيْ فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَاۗ لَا تَبْدِيْلَ لِخَلْقِ اللّٰهِ ۗذٰلِكَ الدِّيْنُ الْقَيِّمُۙ وَلٰكِنَّ اَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُوْنَۙ'So direct your face [i.e., self] toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fiṭrah [the natural inborn inclination of man to worship his Creator prior to the corruption of his nature by external influences. Thus, Islamic monotheism is described as the religion of fiṭrah—that of the inherent nature of mankind] of Allah upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of Allah [i.e., let people remain true to their fiṭrah within the religion of Islām]. That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know.' [QS. Ar-Rum (30):30]Fiṭrah harks back to the very origins of humanity and forms an integral part of the essential constituent of human beings. Allah says,وَاِذْ اَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِنْۢ بَنِيْٓ اٰدَمَ مِنْ ظُهُوْرِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَاَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلٰٓى اَنْفُسِهِمْۚ اَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْۗ قَالُوْا بَلٰىۛ شَهِدْنَا ۛاَنْ تَقُوْلُوْا يَوْمَ الْقِيٰمَةِ اِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هٰذَا غٰفِلِيْنَۙ'And [mention] when your Rabb took from the children of Adam—from their loins—their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], 'Am I not your Rabb?' They said, 'Yes, we have testified.' [This]—lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, 'Indeed, we were of this unaware'.' [QS. Al-A'raf (7):172]Thus was sealed the original pact between Allah and humanity, which finds its material expression in this natural disposition, this sense of attraction, this spark in the being of each individual that drives her or him to set out in search of meaning–the question ‘why (I am here)?’–that the Qur’an represents as the natural aspiration for the Divine.All children below the age of reason are innocent and as such are guaranteed Paradise, when they are born into a state of fiṭrah and dead before the age of responsibility, their innocence ensured their salvation.Born in innocence and possessed of the natural disposition that leads them towards the search for truth and meaning, human beings are likewise torn between two contradictory aspirations: one towards good, the other towards evil. Allah says,وَنَفْسٍ وَّمَا سَوّٰىهَاۖ فَاَلْهَمَهَا فُجُوْرَهَا وَتَقْوٰىهَاۖ قَدْ اَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكّٰىهَاۖ وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسّٰىهَاۗ'And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it [i.e., balanced and refined it, creating in it sound tendencies and consciousness], and inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness, he has succeeded who purifies it, and he has failed who instills it [with corruption].' [QS. Ash-Shams (91):9]Such are the two contradictory impulses that struggle within us and that grow and develop in the course of our earthly lives. They coexist in innocence until we attain the age of reason, but a change takes place when consciousness awakens, and humans become aware of the world’s realities and thus assume responsibility—mukallaf [age of reason, responsible for one’s acts]—for the choices they make. The innate aspiration to transcendence is subverted by the inner tension that thrusts into contradiction two natural loves: the first, which invites human beings to remain faithful to their primary disposition and to reconcile themselves with it by a choice of conscience; and the second, which calls them to submit to their natural instincts, which will ultimately obscure, veil and stifle their original disposition, and thus shackle them to their desires and passions.In Islam, the soul and body are not evil in and of themselves. In full awareness, human beings must choose between good and evil with the faculty of reason, in conscience, through their intentions, and in their hearts. When they overcome their naturally degrading impulses, they unchain the surging force of spirituality and goodness that has always lain within them like a spark, an aspiration. Now, strengthened with faith, it becomes an unveiling, a light, and a liberation that draws them nearer to the divine. Qur’anic terminology is here at its most revealing: a person who negates Allah is ‘one who denies, and whose heart is veiled’. The etymological meaning of the Arabic term kufr is ‘veiled’, ‘covered’, or ‘sealed off’. The believer, who has turned her or his gaze and footsteps towards the divine, is reconciled with the original essence of her or his being on returning to Allah with a ‘healthy heart’ (qalb salīm: the state of original health and purity), having consciously and through reason made peace with her-or himself. This is the peace felt by children who experience their inner tensions unconsciously, and are selected to receive it because of their original innocence. The conscious adult’s sense of peace will depend thenceforth on the attestation of faith and the decision to pursue the good.The outstanding and innate characteristic of human beings is dignity, or nobility, Allah says,وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِيْٓ اٰدَمَ وَحَمَلْنٰهُمْ فِى الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَرَزَقْنٰهُمْ مِّنَ الطَّيِّبٰتِ وَفَضَّلْنٰهُمْ عَلٰى كَثِيْرٍ مِّمَّنْ خَلَقْنَا تَفْضِيْلًا ࣖ'And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference.' [QS. Al-Isra (17):70]In modern society, especially in Western society, according to Remy Debes, dignity—that is, human dignity—refers to the fundamental moral worth or status supposedly belonging to all persons equally. It's relatively new, until about 1830–1850, neither the English term 'dignity,' nor its Latin root dignitas, nor the French counterpart dignité, had any currency as meaning the 'inherent or unearned worth of all persons.' Instead, 'dignity' had a conventional merit connotation, something like the 'rank of elevation'. In other words, until a little over a century ago, dignity connoted social status of the kind associated with nobility, power, gentlemanly comportment, or preferment within the church—not some fundamental, unearned, equally shared moral status among humans. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a clear reflection of the fact that dignity’s moralized meaning had become normalized by 1948: human beings are 'free and equal in dignity and rights' or they have 'inviolable' dignity and (therefore) 'inviolable and inalienable' rights.The Arabic expression equivalent to ‘human dignity’ is karamat al-insan. In this verse, that 'We have indeed honored the children of Adam (karramna Bani Adam)' indicates that Allah is the only source of karam, it is He Who bestows karam on human beings. To put it in other words: karamat is not an inherent quality of man; it is a special gift of Allah. Human beings enjoy a particular standing within the wider construct of creation in two ways: first, by their nature and constitution, and secondly, under the role that they are destined to play on earth, between Allah, the universe, their fellow human beings, and Nature.In this case, one has to raise the question: who will be given karam by Allah? The answer is not surprising, Allah says,يٰٓاَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اِنَّا خَلَقْنٰكُمْ مِّنْ ذَكَرٍ وَّاُنْثٰى وَجَعَلْنٰكُمْ شُعُوْبًا وَّقَبَاۤىِٕلَ لِتَعَارَفُوْا ۚ اِنَّ اَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللّٰهِ اَتْقٰىكُمْ ۗاِنَّ اللّٰهَ عَلِيْمٌ خَبِيْرٌ'O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the noblest of you in the sight of Allāh is the most righteous [literally, 'he who has the most taqwa,' i.e., consciousness and fear of Allah, piety and righteousness] of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Aware.' [QS. Al-Hujurat (49):13]The word ‘atqa’ is translated here as ‘most righteous’, although the correct meaning of the expression is ‘most pious’, ‘most God-fearing’. Thus, Allah gives karam to all human beings, but some of them will get less, some of them more of it, corresponding to one’s devotedness.Then, what form does 'karam' take? Allah tells the story of Pharaoh, because he was chasing Prophet Musa, alayshissalam, and the Children of Israel, Pharaoh and his army had left their country, leaving behind their Maqamul Karim: their kingdom, greatness, luxury, and so on. Allah says,فَاَخْرَجْنٰهُمْ مِّنْ جَنّٰتٍ وَّعُيُوْنٍ ۙ وَّكُنُوْزٍ وَّمَقَامٍ كَرِيْمٍ ۙ'So We removed them [Pharaoh and his soldiers] from gardens and springs and treasures and honorable station [Allah caused them to abandon their wealth and property in pursuit of the Israelites].' [QS. Ash-Shu'ara (26):57-58]The expression maqam karim is translated as ‘pleasant abodes’, or as ‘comfortable dwelling’. However, the expression clearly implies a life in security, free of harm, in well-being and comfort. This is what a pious man deserves from Allah as a human and God-fearing creature.The elevated position (maqam karim) of human beings implies free will. This means that in various situations of life, human beings are free to decide whether they do something or not. In this respect, there is a serious difference between human beings and angels. The latter are only servants without any freedom to make decisions. The angels do not have a choice: they can only obey the commands of Allah. Man as a rational being, however, always has a choice, on which his dignity depends. If he obeys Allah he will be dignified, but if he rejects Allah’s commandments, he will be punished. Allah’s commandments revealed to his chosen creature can be found in the Quran, and, consequently, the Quran gives everybody a guideline on how to attain human dignity. This idea is expressed in the symbolic language of the Quran in the following way, Allah says,وَكَمْ قَصَمْنَا مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ كَانَتْ ظَالِمَةً وَّاَنْشَأْنَا بَعْدَهَا قَوْمًا اٰخَرِيْنَ فَلَمَّآ اَحَسُّوْا بَأْسَنَآ اِذَا هُمْ مِّنْهَا يَرْكُضُوْنَ ۗ لَا تَرْكُضُوْا وَارْجِعُوْٓا اِلٰى مَآ اُتْرِفْتُمْ فِيْهِ وَمَسٰكِنِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُسْـَٔلُوْنَ قَالُوْا يٰوَيْلَنَآ اِنَّا كُنَّا ظٰلِمِيْنَ فَمَا زَالَتْ تِّلْكَ دَعْوٰىهُمْ حَتّٰى جَعَلْنٰهُمْ حَصِيْدًا خٰمِدِيْنَ وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاۤءَ وَالْاَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لٰعِبِيْنَ' And how many a city which was unjust [i.e., its inhabitants persisting in wrongdoing] have We shattered and produced after it another people. And when they [i.e., its inhabitants] perceived Our punishment, at once they fled from it. [Some angels said], 'Do not flee but return to where you were given luxury and to your homes - perhaps you will be questioned' [about what happened to you. This is said to them in sarcasm and ridicule]. They said, 'O woe to us! Indeed, we were wrongdoers.' And that declaration of theirs did not cease until We made them [as] a harvest [mowed down], extinguished [like a fire]. And We did not create the heaven and earth and that between them in play.' [QS. Al-Anbya (21):11-16]Persons obeying Allah’s commandments are elevated to the rank of His representatives (khulafa’) on Earth. This means that the Quran speaks of human dignity usually in terms of morals, and not in terms of law.Pious men will be dignified; the impious ones will be humiliated. Dignity is an admirable value in human being’s life. Human esteem does not emanate from universal declarations, international resolutions, regional agreements, or interstate conferences. Commitment to it from an Islamic standpoint is based on doctrine, not on accidental interest or temporal benefits’. Thus, the real firm basis of human dignity is the doctrine of the Islamic religion which has been derived from the Quran. Constituent elements of human dignity are security and safety in the life of society and compliance with the written and unwritten Code of Conduct in private life. Violation of the valid ethical judgment of the majority and the toleration of the deviant lifestyle of a minority forced by state authorities (in some countries) is an offence against human dignity.Qualities of human beings, that set them apart from the Angels, is first and foremost, free. Freedom is the condition—and one of the causes—of our dignity. We must accept it and make good use of it. Even though the Angels were right in saying that humankind would often make ill use of freedom, that same freedom remains the hallmark of human nobility, and even more so among those who consciously resist evil, corruption, and violence.We'll talk about Freedom in the next episode, bi i'dhnillah."While taking a break, Jasmine then sang,Yaa man sallayta bikullil anbiya’[O you who led all the prophets in prayer]Yaa man fii qalbika rahmatul linnas[O you whose heart contains mercy for all people]Ya man allafta quluuban bil Islam[O you who united hearts through Islam]Yaa habiibii yaa shafii’i yaa Rasulallah *)[My Beloved, my intercessor, O Messenger of Allah]
Citations & References:
- Tariq Ramadan, Islam: The Essentials, 2017, Pelican
- Remy Debes (Ed.), Dignity: A History, 2017, Oxford University Press
- Michael Rosen, Dignity: Its History and Meaning, 2012, Harvard University Press
- Marcus Duwell, Jens Braarvig, Roger Brownsword & Dietmar Mieth (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Human Dignity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 2014, Cambridge University Press
*) "Rahmatun Lil’Alameen" written by Firas Chouchane, Maher Zain, Muad Muhammad & Bara Kherigi
