God vs Man: Consistency of Justice and Morality

Muslims of today often hold man-made laws as a source of absolute morality, and it would come to no surprise that that will lead to an internal conflict with their Islamic beliefs. While on one side they know that Islam is Allah's religion, on the other, they have been accustomed to accepting man-made laws as the default.

But that shouldn't be the case. It is clear to a Muslim on which side of the fence they should fall into. While Islam is often attacked for having 'draconic', 'barbaric' and 'outdated' laws, Muslims should have confidence in their religion as we provide an objective view of morality - one given to us by God. Unfortunately, due to an inferiority complex, many Muslims have buckled under the pressure to accept that their religion is flawed. But what they do not realize is that man-made laws are subjective and are far from being perfect itself. No greater refutation can be seen than when we see civilian hospitals, schools and homes being intentionally blown up - all whilst a large portion of the world's peoples and governments refrain from labelling the perpetrators as immoral; some even attesting to their morality. Or, I could provide a classic historical example: Hitler. Far from acting as a "lone-wolf", he led his own political party and won ~1/3 of votes. Either way, he could not execute his goals without the help of countless others who supported and agreed with his moral compass.

In truth, man-made laws are at best just a popularity contest, where the upper-class gets the final say. They are created, selectively ignored, and later on even abrogated to fit the self-interests of the majority. It becomes worse still when you realize that the opinions of a population can be easily manipulated. Conveniently enough, actions and opinions sometimes turn 'moral' only when there is a personal, social, political and/or financial benefit to it. Well, nothing too great can be expected. After all, without agreeing on a higher power, man-made laws are mere conjecture.

Don't get me wrong, Muslims are only human too, and many of us would just wish for things such as alcohol, gambling and immodesty to be permissible. However, Allah has set the code of morality for us and we are commanded to abide by it. Our role model, Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings of Allah upon him, set an example for us in the following hadith:

Narrated by Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her):

The Quraysh had been anxious about a woman who had committed theft and they said, “Who will speak to the Messenger of Allah about her?” Some said, “Who would dare to but Usama, one beloved by the Messenger of Allah?” Thus, Usama spoke to him and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Do you intercede regarding a punishment prescribed by Allah?” The Prophet then stood up and addressed the people, saying, “O people, those who came before you were destroyed because if a person of high status committed theft among them, they would spare him, but if a person of lower status committed theft, they would apply the punishment upon him. By Allah, if Fatima the daughter of Muhammad were to steal, I would have cut off her hand.”

Sahih Muslim 1688

From this hadith, we can learn 2 lessons: Firstly, Prophet Muhammad upheld Allah's morality and accepted that punishment for blatant thievery is for a hand to be amputated. Secondly, Prophet Muhammad upheld Allah's justice, which is to be fair. Equal punishment should be meted out whether or not the perpetrator was rich or poor, and even if it is against one's own family. Prophet Muhammad swore that he would carry out the obligation of punishing his own beloved daughter if she committed a crime, even though no father would want to cut off their daughter's hand if they had a choice.

All that being said, Muslim themselves - by their own standards - are far from innocent from committing immoral acts or atrocities. But the difference is that the Muslims are consistent with their beliefs. They do not claim that their immoral acts are moral, but accept we them for what they are: for their own personal gain. Those that instead attempt to twist Islam's laws for their own gain are said to have deviated from it. They have created for themselves an extremist sect, away from the Prophetic path and they have earned for themselves condemnation from the entire Muslim ummah.

Note: Even though as Muslims we may claim a different code of morality, we do not to say that the whole world needs to accept Islam's point of view, or that we have a right to rebel against any man-made law we do not agree with. Islam is antithetical to anarchy. We are commanded to follow the (Islamically permitted) law of the land, whether its ruling class is Muslim or non-Muslim, honest or corrupt. Indeed, we should all have a level of trust to our politicians that the majority of laws they have created is for the good of the country. It is part of Allah's Mercy to instil in Mankind a natural sense of morality and justice.

However, we should always think twice when we take those laws by heart and make it a measuring stick to Islam's morals. As Muslims, we should have a greater faith in our scholars who interpret Islam's laws. Unlike man-made laws which might be short-sighted or hypocritical, Allah's Law have stood the test of time, and will continue to do so until the end of days. That is because Allah is the One who created us, therefore we should not try to make ourselves play God's role and think that we know better than Him.

May Allah strengthen us in obedience and forgive our shortcomings, amin.

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