Human Dignity, Justice, Fairness, Youth - Eubios Ethics Institute

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Macer, DRJ and Saad-Zoy, S. eds., Asia-Arab Interregional Philosophical Dialogues:
Human Dignity, Justice, Fairness, Youth, Democracy and Public Policy (UNESCO, 2011)
Still, one might ask that question raised by Martin Buber: What if it were true? The economic
and political crises of the last half-century, the environmental catastrophes of the last decade,
might all be attributed to the notion that the human being has lost the sense of place; that is to
say, we have arrogated to ourselves a place that was never ours to begin with, and the dereliction
we experience has to do with the idea that we have “lost our place.” Might we not benefit from a
renewed submission; a humble acceptance of our place in the universe?
To engage the thinkers of Islam would be to hear a call to return to the source of all, the cause of
all that exists. It would be to hear Al-Farabi say, for example:
In the First there is no deficiency in any way whatsoever. There can be no existence more perfect
and superior than Its existence. There can be no existence prior to It nor at a rank equivalent to It
that is not Its own existence exclusively. Therefore, the bestowal of existence [on It] from
anything other than and prior to It is as equally unlikely as the possibility that such bestowal
would come from anything less perfect than It. Thus, It is also completely different in Its
substance from everything other than it. The existence that It has cannot belong to more than
one, because there cannot be a difference between whatever has this existence and something
else that has the very same existence. 16
The humble realization of one’s own finitude, especially in the face of the First, the One, the
Absolute, may lead to a recovery of the human being’s sense of place in view of the larger
cosmos. Perhaps one would tread more carefully in dealing with the environment with the
understanding that we are part of a larger hierarchy. In describing the human as vice-regent of
creation, Islam underscores the responsibility of the human being towards the world, as opposed
to the entitlement that modernity proclaims.
POLITICAL RENEWAL
Although our selected texts tended to focus on the metaphysical and epistemological
themes of Islamic thinkers, our class discussions inevitably led to discussions of how these ideas
applied to the contemporary setting. More often than not, these discussions focused on questions
of culture and politics.
Unfortunately, our course ended just as the so-called Arab Spring began. Still, the
changes we have witnessed in the Middle East and other regions where Islam is the majority
religion suggest that Islam is more than the theocracy it is made out to be, especially in Western
media. There is a rich tradition of ethics in Islam, found mainly in the Qur’an, but also to be
discovered in the thought of these philosophers.
Again, this ethics cannot be separated from the view of the cosmos mentioned earlier. To
know one’s place in the universe, after all, is to know also how to live with other human beings.
Listen, for example, to Al-Kindi:
16 “Al-Farabi,” in McGinis, Jon and David C. Reisman, eds. Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology
of Sources. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 2007. p. 88.