Do Not Be Perturbed by Ethical Objections against Islam
By Bassam ZawadiUnless Islam teaches something deemed to be universally morally abhorrent across all ages (e.g., gratuitous abuse of a toddler), you should not be perturbed by ethical objections against Islam. Objections against Islam today are either misinformed or are ‘informed,’ yet concern issues heavily influenced by social conditioning (i.e., they are subjective, not objective).
God is powerful enough to hard-wire our brains to embrace all of Islam’s directives, so hard-wired that it could not be overturned by social conditioning. However, where is the trial in that? What kind of worldly test is that? In fact, that is no test at all. Rather, we presume God’s desire for our placement in situations whereby we make willful choices to defy the pressure of creation in favor of the Creator. It makes sense that there would be at least some matters where God requires us to amass the inner strength to withstand man’s fallible yet ubiquitous moral standards, in favor of the divine.
Your life has sanctity only because God made it sacred. Your bodily organs have intrinsic worth only because God made them so. So if this God proclaimed a particular life to be violable under certain conditions, or ordered the removal of organs as a result of specific actions, then where is the theological or philosophical objection to this? It is tough for a theologian or philosopher to lodge a successful argument that maintains that it is implausible, let alone impossible, for God to ordain a specific moral law. The only exceptions I could think of are those cases I alluded to at first (i.e., universal rejection across the ages), whereby one could dispute the wisdom of why God would ordain something, yet concurrently naturally wire all of humanity into rejecting it, while simultaneously labeling it as “fitrah.” Otherwise, any other attempt at making a successful argument is futile, for it remains nothing short of speculation.
Do Not Be Perturbed by Ethical Objections against Islam
Unless Islam teaches something deemed to be universally morally abhorrent across all ages (e.g., gratuitous abuse of a toddler), you should not be perturbed by ethical objections against Islam. Objections against Islam today are either misinformed or are ‘informed,’ yet concern issues heavily...
islamicdiscourse.substack.com