Religion and Humanity

Translated and adapted by: Khalid Al Khaja

In our time and societies, the religion and its doctrines is at the forefront of the talk by comparing them to liberalism and its democratic doctrines. While there are those who believe that religious rulings should be legislated and implemented, there are also those who believe that religion is the cause of all calamities in history. There are also those who believe that liberal provisions must be legislated and implemented, and there are also those who believe that liberalism and democracy are just a collective form of tyranny and the cause of all the calamities in modern history.

What most alienates some from religion and liberalism are the contradictory actions of some adherents of religion and liberalism. You find the religious person who frequents temples, prays and fasts, in addition to his injustice to the people and violating people's rights and lying to them. Such Muslims discord the infidels and Muslims with their bad deeds, and we seek refuge in Allah to be among them as mentioned in Quran 60:5:

"رَبَّنَا لَا تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةً لِّلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَٱغْفِرْ لَنَا رَبَّنَآ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ"

"Our Lord! Make us not [objects of] discord for the disbelievers. Forgive us, our Lord! You ˹alone˺ are truly the Almighty, All-Wise."

You also find the liberal who is at the forefront of human rights organizations and talks about justice, equality, the care for the environment, respecting the freedom of expression, human dignity and the rights of humans and animals, in addition to his injustice to the people, violating their rights, lying to them and muzzling their mouth. Such liberals also discord the Muslims and the liberals with their bad deeds.

The problem begins when you receive a video clip titled "Humanity is the Best of Religions," in which a liberal atheist man is shown having mercy on a helpless animal, and then a religious man is shown being cruel to a cute animal.

Many mistakenly believe that humanity is the fruit of religion and liberalism, while humanity is in fact the fruit of reason and instinct. Humanity is not a religion or a political philosophy, but a duty; and kindness, honesty and justice are our human duties. Because we are rational beings, the advantage of rationality is an additional responsibility that we carry and weighs down our shoulders. Some falsely believe that it is necessary to applaud the honest, just and the sincere, while these are human and instinctive qualities that are specific to humans, as animal qualities are instinctive and specific to animals. Therefore, the goodness of man is from his reason and instinct, not from religion or liberalism. That is, human beings would have come to these innate meanings and observed them themselves.

Religion is a political and social philosophy, like liberalism. Furthermore, religion is a post-humanist rank, not before, and humanity is the base of religion, not its ceiling. Because you were created a human being, religion considers your humanity as your first obvious function. Only after you observe the laws of humanity and become a full human being, only then will you be ready to assume new and more prestigious religious tasks, with the aim of elevating you to higher ranks of humanity, as reported in Hadith:

".... ‏فَخِيَارُكُمْ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ خِيَارُكُمْ فِي الإِسْلاَمِ إِذَا فَقِهُوا"‏‏

"….. Those who were best in the pre-Islamic period, are the best in Islam, if they comprehended (the religious knowledge)" al-Bukhari 3374.

Religion (Islam) is a political and social philosophy like liberalism, and it has not come to make you a human, as building humanity is one of our innate duties. Religion has come to bring you closer to Allah, and one of the conditions for getting closer to Allah is to be a perfect human being. Religion invites you to look beyond the world that is witnessed, to learn about the world of the unseen, to reveal the truth of existence, the mystery of creation, the love of the Creator, and to expand the dimensions of human existence. However, none of this will be achieved until humanity is achieved.

Humanity is the first rung of the ladder of religion, and no one can climb the ladder without rising the first rung of the ladder. The similitude of one who revived in himself humanity, is like the one who sowed a good seed, and religion is the water that can turn this seed into a blessed tree. The similitude of one who performs religious rites without the realization of humanity, is like one who irrigates a land without sowing, five times a day for fifty years. The similitude of those who perform liberal rituals without achieving humanity, is like those who irrigate a land without sowing, many times a day for fifty years.

Similitude of those who have religion and do not possess humanity, is like those who ride the roller coaster, spinning on themselves in a closed loop, thinking and delusional that they will reach their destination, as mentioned in Quran 18:104:

"ٱلَّذِينَ ضَلَّ سَعْيُهُمْ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ يَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ يُحْسِنُونَ صُنْعًا"

"˹They are˺ those whose efforts are in vain in this worldly life, while they think they are doing good!”

Similitude of those who have humanity and do not have religion, is like a just man who rides a real train and is able to reach his worldly destination, as Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) hinted at that in Majmoo' al-Fatawa 28:146 "Allah establishes a just state even if it is infidel and does not establish an unjust state even if it is Muslim." And the similitude of who owns humanity and religion, is like a just man who has wings to fly.

Religion without humanity is a childish joke, and religious texts are explicit that there is no faith for those who are ruthless, no faith for those who are not ashamed, and no faith for those who are impatient. It is important not to confuse religiosity with faith, as many have religion but do not have faith, as reported in Sunan Ibn Majah 61:

"عَنْ جُنْدُبِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، قَالَ كُنَّا مَعَ النَّبِيِّ (ﷺ) وَ نَحْنُ فِتْيَانٌ حَزَاوِرَةٌ فَتَعَلَّمْنَا الإِيمَانَ قَبْلَ أَنْ نَتَعَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ ثُمَّ تَعَلَّمْنَا الْقُرْآنَ فَازْدَدْنَا بِهِ إِيمَانًا"

“It was narrated that Jundub bin Abdullah said: "We were with the Prophet (ﷺ), and we were strong youths, so we learned faith before we learned Qur'an. Then we learned Qur'an and our faith increased thereby.”

Religiosity or liberalism makes the good better and the bad worse, and whoever has mercy the religion will be increase it for him, for the sake of Allah and the love for Allah. But those who do not have mercy, religion, liberalism and other political and social philosophies, will further reduce their mercy, and justifies their merciless actions. This is true of the Eastern ISIS, who filmed cutting off human heads with knives, as it was true before of the Western ISIS, who filmed burning human beings (men, women, children, the elderly and the sick) with a nuclear bomb.

Someone may ask: Is it possible that religion makes the good better and the bad worse?!
The answer is: Yes! The Holy Qur'an, the miracle of Muhammad (ﷺ), confirms this in 17:82:

"وَ نُنَزِّلُ مِنَ ٱلْقُرْءَانِ مَا هُوَ شِفَآءٌ وَ رَحْمَةٌ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَ لَا يَزِيدُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ إِلَّا خَسَارًا"

"We send down the Quran as a healing and mercy for the believers, but it only increases the wrongdoers in loss."

The Qur'an is a healing for the believer, who is the righteous man in whose presence you can be for what you are, without fear of accusation, as in 9:4:

"إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ عَـٰهَدتُّم مِّنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَنقُصُوكُمْ شَيْـًٔا وَلَمْ يُظَـٰهِرُوا عَلَيْكُمْ أَحَدًا فَأَتِمُّوٓا إِلَيْهِمْ عَهْدَهُمْ إِلَىٰ مُدَّتِهِمْ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ"

“As for the polytheists who have honored every term of their treaty with you and have not supported an enemy against you, honor your treaty with them until the end of its term. Surely Allah loves those who are mindful ˹of Him˺.”

But the Qur'an is also the cause of the oppressor's loss, not his guidance. For example, when you put an egg and a potato together in a boiling water, the soft contents of the egg will harden and the hard contents in the potato will soften. A good man is like a potato, when faced with religion he softens and softens his heart, while a bad man is like an egg, when faced with religion he hardens and hardens his heart.

Acts of worship, such as prayer, pilgrimage and almsgiving, has not come to build human, but to ascent the human. As prayer does not fix the bad man but increases the goodness of a good man. And the world is full of good men and women, even if they do not pray and do not fast. Similarly, the world is full of bad men and women, even if they pray and fast. Performing seventeen rak'ahs a day as part of the obligatory prayers, in honor of Allah, will not heal my desire to despise others, envy them, and other psychological complexes. These diseases and ugly traits need to be treated with knowledge, dialogue and self-struggle. Prayer does not fix a person who suffers from lack of self-confidence and fasting does not convert envy to pride.

It was said that a man met a religious scholar and asked him what would he look like in the isthmus. The scholar replied, "You will resemble a donkey." Then the man retreated for 40 days, fasting the days and praying the nights. He then returned to the scholar and asked him again, what he would look like in the isthmus, and the scholar answered, “You will look like a shining donkey”.

Religion and liberalism intend to increase your brightness, but what is the use of such brightness in the absence of humanity? The likes of this Muslim shinning donkey are the ones who assassinated Omar bin Al-Khattab, Othman bin Affaan, Ali bin Abi Talib and Hussein bin Ali, may Allah be pleased with them. And the likes of this liberal shinning donkey are the ones who assassinated Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and the American President J. F. Kennedy. There is nothing more dangerous than religiosity or liberalism in the absence of humanity because such a person will permit himself perform inhumane actions with a sense of religious spirituality or the transcendence of liberalism. Such as a Muslim persecuting a free woman to remind her of the hijab or a liberal persecuting a free woman to remove her veil. They sound like he who said in Quran:

"أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِّنْهُ".
“I am (Iblis) better than he (Adam) is” Quran 7:12

Therefore, I remind myself and you that man needs humanity. Religion and its doctrines or liberalism and its democratic doctrines will not benefit us in the absence of humanity. So, hold your humanity accountable, Oh human, before holding religion (Islam) accountable!