Respect for Humanity

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

God tells us in the Qur’an: "We have indeed honored the Children of Adam, and provided for them means of transportation on land and sea, and given them wholesome food and exalted them high above the greater part of Our creation" (17:70).

This shows that man by his very creation deserves regard and respect. This respect is man’s natural birthright, regardless of which community he belongs to.

According to a Hadith: "That person is not one of us who is not merciful to our juniors and respectful to our elders." According to another hadith the Prophet Muhammad said, "One who believes in Allah and the Last Day must honor his neighbors; one who believes in God and the Last Day must honor his guests."

There are a number of such commands to the believers in the Qur’an and the Hadith which lay great stress on showing due respect to the servants of God. For this is an important area in which we are actually being tested on our faith in God. Our love and devotion for God finds expression in this world in the form of our relations with other human beings. One who is a true lover of God has an inner urge to love God’s servants.

Respect for humankind is one of the basic teachings of Islam. Anyone, be he of one’s own religion or of any other religious tradition, whether he belongs to one community or another; whether he belongs to friendly group or enemy group, in all cases is worthy of respect. According to the teachings of Islam human beings are to be respected, despite their differences. Even where antagonism is displayed, we have to adopt the way of avoidance of conflict and continue to show respectful behavior. In the eyes of Islam all human beings are equal and deserve our respect.

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International Custom

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

During the final days of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) two Arabs, Musaylema ibn Hubayb of Yamama and Aswad ibn Kaab Ansi of Sana‘a claimed Prophethood. Musaylema sent a letter to the Prophet in 10 A.H. which read: "From Musaylema, messenger of Allah to Muhammad, messenger of Allah, peace be upon you. Later on, there should be no doubt about it that I have been associated with you in the matter of prophethood. Hence half the land belongs to me and half to the Quraysh." Two messengers, called Ibn an-Nuwana and Ibn Usal, brought his letter to Medina. The narrator of this incident has this to say:

"When the messengers of Musaylema Kazzab, brought this letter, I heard the Prophet ask: ‘Do you also believe what Musaylema has to say?’ They replied in the affirmative. Then the Prophet said, "By God, if it were not the custom that the messengers should not be killed, I would have had you beheaded.’"

The narrator, Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud explained that after this incident a sunnah (custom) was established that messengers were not to be killed (Al-Bidayah wa’n-Nihayah, 5/51-52).

This sunnah of the Prophet tells us of a very important principle of Islam, namely, that international matters will be dealt with according to international customs. In every age certain traditions are observed in matters of international relations. In modern times too there are many such customs to which the United Nations has now given a more organized form. All such customs and traditions should be held in the same respect as in non-Muslim countries. However, if any prevalent custom is clearly illegal, in terms of Islam, for instance, the offering of alcoholic drinks at international meetings, then that part of the custom is not to be observed.

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The Payment of Dues and the Recognition of Rights

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

According to al-Bukhari, God said: "I will become a claimant against three persons, one of these being a person who engaged a laborer, made him labor fully, but did not pay the wages" (Mishkat al-Masabih, 2/899).

Ibn Majah has narrated from Abdullah ibn Umar that the Prophet of Islam observed: "Pay the laborer his wages before his sweat dries up (that is, do not delay payment) (Mishkhat Al-Masabih, 2/900).

In this world, it repeatedly happens that one person employs another. In all such matters Islam enjoins the full payment of wages without any delay. After getting the work done, asking the laborer to come the next day for payment is extremely inconsiderate, and as such Islam forbids it.

Just as an employer needs the services of an employee, so also does the employee need compensation for his labor. This is a two-sided demand. When the worker has finished his work, it becomes incumbent on the employer to refrain from placing any obstacle in the way of payment of the sum he has promised.

In cases where wages or compensation have not been fixed in advance, Islam demands that for all services rendered, requital should be made in one form or another. If this cannot be done, for any reason, in material terms, the services should be fully acknowledged and publicly commended, and prayers said to God for the performer of the services.Paying immediate recompense on completion of a task increases mutual trust in society. Any practice contrary to this will cause society as a whole to fall prey to misgivings about a lack of trustworthiness in their fellow men.

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Worship and Social Service

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

All forms of prayer in Islam are essentially designed for the remembrance and worship God. However, they also serve the purpose of the building of humanity. In the course of their worship the believers never cease to be instructed in the paying of the dues of man along with the paying of the dues of God.

Salat (namaz), for instance, besides being a way of remembering and supplication before God, it has become a means of establishing equality between people. In congregational salat Muslims say their prayers standing in rows five times a day. Big and small, rich and poor, powerless and powerful, literate and illiterate all stand in the same rows without any discrimination. In this way the simultaneous worship of salat by all and sundry turns into a great lesson of human equality.

In Ramadan (the month of fasting) everyone on the fast goes without food and water from dawn to dusk. A man may be very rich, but he has to go hungry and thirsty just like any common man. In this way by observing the fast in the process of worshipping God, a Muslim personally experiences human need as well. Fasting along with worship of God also makes a man a servant of humanity.

The purpose of zakat, monetary worship, is also clearly the same. Zakat requires that out of one’s earnings a share be apportioned to God and given to the needy and the poor. In this way zakat is a form of worship of God along with a form of service to humanity. By apportioning a share of one’s wealth to God, man acknowledges God as the giver, while at the same time he trains himself to fulfill his responsibilities towards human beings.

Hajj, too, is essentially a form of worship. During Hajj many different kinds of people come together, but the pilgrims are forbidden to fight. The pilgrim must avoid all friction lest his pilgrimage become unacceptable in the eyes of God. In this way, hajj besides being a form of worship, takes on the form of annual training in leading a peaceful social life.

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Islam on Vegetation/Plants

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Vegetation/plants has been described in the Qur’an as a special blessing of god. According to the Qur’an Paradise is a world of highest quality, where the believers, God’s favored servants, will be inhabited. This abode has been called Paradise, meaning a garden, which is a special feature of paradise, referred to in the Qur’an as ‘beautiful mansions in Gardens of eternity." (61:12)

A believer is God’s desired person. What this desired person is like. In the Qur’an he has been likened to a tree (14:24). This is a very meaningful simile. As we all know man receives shade, fruits and flowers from the tree. The sight of a green tree cools the eyes of the people. All such qualities should be found in the believers/God worshippers. Human beings should live in society in a manner that the way give comfort to everyone, they may benefit everyone, they may become a source of coolness to all.

There is a hadith to this effect. The Prophet of Islam said: The believer is like a gentle plant. When the winds blow it does not show haughtiness, instead it swerves to and from with the wind, and when the winds are not blowing it stands in position once again. Exactly the same is the case with the God worshipper. A true believer lives among the people with gentleness. He does not display arrogance. His way is that of adjustment and not of clash and confrontation. He follows the principle of persuasion and avoids the way of violence.

At one point in the Qur’an honey has been mentioned in particular. Honey a valuable drink is produced from the plants. The Qur’an tells us about honey that ‘therein is healing for men’ (16:69. This indicates symbolically that besides food and drink plants have another special quality that of having the healing effect. It is a fact that most of the medicine are produced from plants. This healing attributes of the plants is so great that even when a tiger, a carnivorous animal, takes ill, he eats grass to cure himself. So God has granted us double blessings in the form of plants. They serve both as food and as medicine.

The Qur’an repeatedly mentions vegetation/plants as a special blessings of God. Here are some verses in this regard:

Mentioning the initial stage of creation the Qur’an states that "after creating the earth God drew out therefrom its water and its pasture" (79:31). Water and vegetation are closely related to one another without water vegetation cannot come into existence. This precious vegetation is available nowhere in the vast expanses of the universe but on earth. That is why the existence of the living things too exist only on earth, because the existence of life is not possible without vegetation. A verse in the Qur’an is as follows:

"Then let man look at his foot (and how we provide it) for that we pour forth water in abundance. And we split the earth in fragments. And produce therein grain, and grapes and the fresh vegetation, and olives and data,and enclosed gardens, dense with lofty trees, and fruits and fodder, a provision for you and your cattle" (80:24-23).

This shows that God has made the vegetation as special food for both men and animals. Through vegetation human body receives all its necessary requirements/elements which are essential for biological existence. Along with it such elements too are placed in vegetation as produce resistance to various ailments. Furthermore God has also added varied tastes to these vegetation so that these serve not only as simple food but also as tasty food. Here is a verse in the Qur’an:

"It is He who produced gardens with trellises and without, and dates, and tilt with produce of all kinds, and olives and pomegranates, similar (in kind) and different (in variety). Eat of their fruit in their season, but render the dues that are proper on the day that the harvest is gathered. But waste not by excess. For God loves not the wasters" (6:142)

This verse mentions vegetables, fruits and dry-fruits. We are told that God has made all these things to serve as food for man. God desires that man should achieve these food products by farming and gardening. Then along with eating them himself he should also feed others and thank God for His blessings.

According to the Qur’an, from various aspects, farming and gardening are means of human existence, these provide both spiritual as well as physical food for man.

The Prophet of Islam observed: when a person plants a tree and the tree grows and yields fruit, then human beings and birds eat its fruit, this will be an act of charity on the part of the planter of the tree.In a similar vein there is another hadith. The Prophet once observed: "If you have a plant in your hand and you can see the Doomsday approaching, even then, without any further delay, you should sow/put the plant in the earth.

Such traditions show how great importance is attached to vegetation in Islam. In this way Islam produces the spirit in man that he should make earth a green, verdant to the extent that even if there is fear that after his plantation an earthquake was to come and the earth were going to be destroyed in its way. This is the education of plantation for the sake of plantation.

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