Controversial Questions about Islam

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Controversial Questions about Islam and Comments relative or absolute. Only when it is relative can it be equivalent to justice. God created human beings and distinguished some of them with better natural gifts, such as intelligence, and better chances to acquire acquirable gifts, such as wealth or dedication or sincerity. This distinction is to facilitate the complementary and competitive relations between different groups. In the light of the Divine system of accountability, this does not mean exclusion of justice. For absolute equality is different from justice. In fact, sometimes it contradicts justice. An example of this is the equality between the diligent and the lazy, the sincere and the insincere, the intelligent and the dull, the father and the son, the teacher and the student, or the citizen and the non-citizen. This is why we have tests and contests, the legal ways of distinction between people. For the same reason, it was necessary for some to obey others. Without this arrangement, communities, countries, and the universe itself cannot survive, regardless of whose perspective it is, the secular or the religious. On the other hand, the opportunity for improvement in the area of the innate gifts is limited, but the opportunity for improvement in the area of the acquired gifts is wide open. Nevertheless, in both areas, the more gifts one has, the greater his responsibility towards himself and the community at large. Only relative equality can be equivalent to justice, because justice means to give everyone what he or she deserves or what is suitable for each person. Just or fair equality is also to judge a person according to his accomplishment or his effort in the light of his innate gifts. Justice in Islam also means that there should be sufficient reward and punishment, and a just settlement of their rights between creatures. Therefore, in Islam this life is not the whole story, but it is completed by the life in the Hereafter. In this world, the lucky person enjoys his luck, which he did not create himself; and the diligent would die without receiving his fair reward. The oppressor may not 46
Controversial Questions about Islam and Comments only escape punishment but would enjoy the resultant injustice; and the oppressed may perish without fair compensation. From these facts springs the need to a fair and comprehensive accounting where each will receive his deserved punishment, unless God forgives him, while the diligent person receives his rewards multiplied endlessly. Therefore, in the Hereafter the final settlement of the rights between creatures shall take place. What is the Islamic Concept of Freedom? Freedom in Islam does not mean the absolute freedom of the secular cry. Islam is a realistic religion, comprehensive in perspective. Therefore, freedom in Islam is a relative thing because human beings are connected with a perfect and gigantic system of natural laws that run the universe, with the permission of Allah. God created the universe and runs it by His direct command (i.e., “be and it will be”) and the natural laws that He created. Furthermore, nothing can occur without his permission for He has full control over His creation, and everything that will happen is prerecorded. Certainly, this does not mean that God destined people to live the way they will live, as some of us like to perceive the concept of alqadar (fate). Alqadar, as it was explained before, is a prerecording of what will occur, based on the absolute knowledge of the Creator, which is not limited by time or space nor by limited senses. (1) The freedom of man is also limited by his responsibility towards his Creator, Who made him a vicegerent on earth and made many creatures available for him to enjoy and to invest for the Hereafter. This responsibility is based on three special gifts: the gift of thinking, the guidance (the holy books) and the relative freedom to choose between the causes of imminent results (laws of nature). It is evident that man cannot normally free himself from the effect of laws of nature. However, he has the choice of neglecting Divine guidance and commands, with the knowledge of God. But he then has to face the consequences of his disobedience. (1) Ismaeel, Prerecording pp. 3-28. 47
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تساؤالت جدلية ‏إجن
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