QURANIC ETHICS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIETY
QURANIC ETHICS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIETY
Islamic ethical norms and the Islamic view of human rights and social justice are topics deeply misunderstood in the contemporary world. This is due, first, to the fact that discussions of these issues are scattered throughout the Quran, and a full understanding of the Quranic perspective can only be gained by considering the various Quranic statements on this topic as a whole and in relation to one another. Second, the Quran dictates clear rules and laws concerning certain social issues, but it establishes only ethical guidelines and principles of a more general nature regarding others. The impact, or at least the ideal impact, of these more general ethical principles on the character and functioning of Islamic society is often overlooked. Third, Quranic social norms are sometimes assumed to be adequately reflected in the current laws, customs, and practices found in widely differing Islamic countries; this is not always the case, and such an assumption sometimes tends to obscure the perspective of the Quran in its purest form on these issues. Finally and most important, Islamic ethics and social norms are often judged in relation to modern Western notions of ethics and human rights, which in recent centuries have been dominated philosophically by secular and individualistic perspectives and have come, in the last century, to be seen in the West as synonymous with “universal” ethical norms or “universal” standards of human rights. Although Islamic ethical norms have much in common with those of Christianity and other traditional cultures, they also differ profoundly in certain key aspects from the secular formulation of these norms in the contemporary West.
General Quranic Principles Governing Islamic Social Ethics
One can identify five interrelated principles governing Quranic social ethics: The first is the significance of the religious community, or ummah. The Quran envisions the ummah as a collective of individual believers and has nothing explicit to say about the governance of the community or who has the right to authority over it. Although the Quran enjoins believers to obey those in authority among them (4:59), it never specifies the criteria for such authority or the mechanisms by which such an authority should be chosen and exercise power. 1 These matters are discussed to some extent in the Ḥadīth literature. The Quran does, however, encourage believers to determine their affairs by consultation among themselves (42:38) and even directs the Prophet Muhammad to consult with his followers in certain matters (shāwirhum fi’l-amr; 3:159). Thus, the Quranic conception of the ummah is primarily that of a collective of believing individuals who have moral obligations to the community as a whole and to each of its members as well as to themselves. The good of the whole and the good of the individual are not seen as competing interests that need to be opposed to each other, but as mutually reinforcing concerns. The Quran explicitly states that all believing men and women are protectors (awliyāʾ) of one another (9:71) and thus bear substantial moral responsibility toward fellow believers. Importantly, according to 9:71, both men and women share in this moral responsibility toward fellow believers and the ummah.
Each individual has the duty to uphold the moral standards of the community, and the community has the collective responsibility to enforce these standards. Ideally, the moral health of individuals contributes to the moral health of society, while the moral integrity of society encourages and provides fertile ground for the proper moral and spiritual development of each of its members. This principle can be derived from the Quran’s charge to both individuals and the collective community that they enjoin right and forbid wrong (3:104, 110; 9:71). It is also apparent in the harsh punishments the Quran ordains for crimes considered to be particularly damaging to the spiritual integrity of the community as a whole, such as theft, which undermines respect for property and disregards Divinely ordained means of establishing economic justice (see 5:38), and flagrant sexual offenses that are openly witnessed and thereby undermine the sanctity of the marital bond and the family (see 4:15–16, 25; 24:2–3). That public and corporal punishments are ordained not for private “sins,” but for crimes that represent serious violations of community trust and integrity indicates the graver threat that such public crimes are considered to pose to the moral and physical well-being of the community as a whole.
The second important principle of Quranic social ethics is justice. Concern for the just treatment of all members of society and even other creatures—with an emphasis on justice toward those often disadvantaged in society, such as women, orphans, and slaves—is a recurrent theme of Quranic social and ethical statements. The administration of justice in the earthly realm rests largely upon truthful human testimony, which is the duty of each believer before God. The Quran enjoins believers:
O you who believe! Be steadfast maintainers of justice, witnesses for God, though it be against yourselves, or your parents and kinsfolk, and whether it be someone rich or poor, for God is nearer unto both. So follow not your caprice, that you may act justly. If you distort or turn away, truly God is Aware of whatsoever you do. (4:135)
The need for truthful testimony must override all personal concerns, including those for oneself and one’s family, something that seems to stand in contradiction to the right of individuals in the United States, for example, to refuse to testify against themselves or their spouses to avoid self-incrimination. In the Quran, the administration of justice in society outweighs the right to selfprotection. Both concealing testimony (2:283) and bearing false witness are considered serious sins, and the Quran specifies the harsh punishment of eighty lashes for all false or unsubstantiated accusations of sexual misconduct made against women in particular (24:4–5). In establishing this strong sanction, the Quran is concerned with several matters: (1) avoiding malicious and thoughtless slander that creates suspicion and weakens family and social trust; (2) limiting frivolous and/or disturbing public accusations by allowing only those that are supported by substantial evidence; and (3) protecting those members of society, namely women, who might be most unjustly vulnerable to such slander
Administering justice and upholding moral standards are fundamental obligations for the community, but so too is the maintenance of social harmony and peaceful relations among its members—the third important principle of Islamic social ethics. The Quranic concern with maintaining harmonious relations within the community and settling disputes as quickly and amicably as possible can be seen in a number of Quranic prescriptions. For example, married couples who are unable to resolve their disputes are encouraged to involve their respective family members in the attempt to reconcile their differences and avoid divorce (4:35); a man wishing to divorce his wife should attempt reconciliation twice, with periods of separation in between, before finalizing the divorce (2:226–29); and should a divorce occur, the couple is encouraged to separate with mutual respect and without hostility (2:231).
Similarly, the Quran recommends that when a dispute over some matter arises between believers, the community should attempt to reconcile the two parties. If the dispute devolves into violence, the community is urged to repel the aggressive party through force, but only until that party concedes, at which point efforts at reconciliation are to begin anew (49:9). Elsewhere the Quran encourages those entitled to compensation for injury or loss to forgo the payments, 3 in the interest of avoiding bitterness and resentment among various parties of believers and encouraging good and amicable relations, even in difficult situations. The importance of maintaining social harmony is reflected in Quranic passages that enjoin believers to repel evil by that which is better (23:96) as well as to resist engaging in ignorant or vain conversation and to respond to it merely with the greeting of Peace (25:63).
The fourth principle that undergirds Quranic social ethics is its notion of essential human equality before God and His laws, meaning that all human beings have the same opportunity to realize their moral and spiritual potential. The Quran is quite clear that those distinctions often given so much weight in human society—race, gender, wealth, social class—are meaningless with regard to a person’s spiritual worth and that it is only the latter that God takes into account. Some human beings will inevitably actualize more of their spiritual and intellectual potential than others, and the Quran states that those who have made substantial sacrifices for their faith (4:95; 9:20) as well as those who have achieved high levels of religious devotion or knowledge (39:9; 9:109) enjoy a higher standing than those who have not. But the Quran makes it clear that outward or superficial human differences, such as those of race or ethnicity, are the result of Divine Providence (49:13) and not a basis of nobility or superiority. All strictly religious responsibilities and opportunities—such as the possibility of achieving spiritual excellence or attaining Paradise—are identical across social boundaries and for both men and women; one passage goes to great lengths to emphasize this latter point:
For submitting men and submitting women, believing men and believing women, devout men and devout women, truthful men and truthful women, patient men and patient women, humble men and humble women, charitable men and charitable women, men who fast and women who fast, men who guard their private parts and women who guard [their private parts], men who remember God often and women who remember [God often], God has prepared forgiveness and a great reward. (33:35)
Differences in social or economic standing are also meaningless from the religious point of view in God’s Judgment, and the Quran is careful to enunciate the duty believers have toward all human life. The Quran chastises the Prophet Muhammad himself for being so concerned about persuading the rich and powerful Makkans of the truth of his message that he disregarded a poor, old blind man seeking his guidance (80:1–12). Orphans, who held relatively low status in pre-Islamic Makkan society, are presented in the Quran as individuals with rights that must be protected, and the Quran stresses the duty Muslims have toward the care and proper treatment of orphans. It is one’s status as a believer and as a person of piety that alone determines true worth. For example, the Quran enjoins Muslim men who cannot afford to take a free, believing woman as a wife to take a believing slave woman instead, insisting that the latter is a far better choice than a free woman who is a disbeliever. Moreover, should a man take a believing slave woman as a wife, he must marry her according to all the rights and obligations incumbent upon marriage to any free woman, including seeking the permission of her family and giving her her proper bridewealth, since she is a believer like himself (4:25).
The fifth principle of Islamic social ethics is the balancing of rights and responsibilities. Contemporary Western thought assumes the rights of all individuals to be identical and is primarily concerned with establishing and defending individual rights without an equal or corresponding concern for individual responsibilities; the Quranic perspective takes both into consideration. In Islam, the fulfillment of individual responsibilities can be said to precede and determine individual rights, insofar as rights and responsibilities are ideally proportionate to one another and, moreover, responsibilities come before rights. For example, the Quran stipulates, as mentioned above, that truthful witness is the responsibility of each believer toward the community and before God. Should an individual fail to live up to this responsibility by giving false testimony, he or she forfeits the right to offer testimony in the future (24:4–5). 4 Although everyone is equal before God insofar as they are held to the same moral and spiritual standards according to the Quran, differences in the fulfillment of individual responsibilities as well as differences in the nature of individual responsibilities as determined by social and economic position, age, and gender affect the nature and extent of one’s rights in society
The clearest example of this principle is in the case of marital rights and duties. Although men and women are spiritually equal before God, they do not bear identical social responsibilities or enjoy identical rights in marriage. Since the Quran and Islamic Law assert that a man is solely financially liable for his wife, children, and indeed his extended family, he is considered to bear a greater share of responsibility in the marriage and family affairs generally. Thus his rights over his family and his wife are understood to be proportionally greater than those his wife enjoys over him, although they are in no way absolute. Rather, the Quran makes it clear that women have rights over their husbands as their husbands do over them, but that the rights of the husband are a degree over them (2:228). Since the wife’s duties are considered to be less burdensome —being legally limited to providing sexual relations for the husband, although it is also understood that she will also care for any children born to the couple, and some schools of law also include managing the home among her responsibilities —her rights, for example, to divorce, are proportionally less extensive, but never denied altogether
Although the rights and responsibilities of men and women are not quantitatively equal, they are considered to be complementary. Thus there are some things both husbands and wives can expect or demand from one another— fidelity, intimacy, children, and the preservation of one another’s honor, for example—but they each also enjoy certain unilateral rights in relation to the other. The wife has the religious and legal right to demand of her husband adequate financial support for herself and her children—a right he does not have in relation to her, even if her own wealth exceeds his own; the husband may obtain a unilateral divorce without cause (although this is legally discouraged) 5 —a right that she does not enjoy in relation to him.
The Family
The family constitutes the basis of social life in Islam, as it does in most traditional cultures. The basic social rights and obligations of individuals are defined according to their roles and positions within the family. Although Muslims are enjoined to care for and protect all members of the believing community to the extent they are able, they owe a special and primary duty to members of their family. Charitable donations, for example, should go first to one’s family members and then to other needy persons in society. 7 Within the family, both parents enjoy special and equal rights to kindness and respect from their children. The duty to care for one’s parents and to treat them well is repeated in multiple places throughout the Quran. In several instances, kindness toward parents is presented as a duty second in importance only to loyalty and obedience to God. 8 One passage, for example, states:
Thy Lord decrees that you worship none but Him, and be virtuous to parents. Whether one or both of them reaches old age, say not to them “Uff!” nor chide them, but speak unto them a noble word. Lower unto them the wing of humility out of mercy and say, “My Lord! Have mercy upon them, as they raised me when I was small.” (17:23–24)
The proper attitude toward parents, then, is gentleness, respect, humility, and mercy. It should also be noted that although Islamic society, like most traditional societies, envisions male leadership in family and society as normative (though not absolute), 9 the Quran never privileges fathers over mothers with regard to the respect and devotion due them from their children. For example, in 4:11, the Quran explicitly awards an equal share of inheritance to the mother and the father of a deceased 10—which is an exception to the general rule whereby men inherit twice as much as women of equal standing (e.g., sons inherit twice as much as daughters, brothers twice as much as sisters, etc.). The two-to-one ratio in these latter cases is considered justified from the Islamic point of view by the fact that men bear extensive financial responsibilities toward their wives, children, and female family members (daughters, sisters, etc.) that they must meet with these additional assets. But in the case of parents, the Quran stipulates the significant responsibilities both mothers and fathers bear toward their children (2:233), and they are accordingly awarded an equal share of the inheritance from them. In fact, although kindness and respect are the proper attitude toward both parents equally, the debt one owes to one’s mother is sometimes singled out for particular emphasis:
And We have enjoined man to be virtuous unto his parents. His mother carried him in travail and bore him in travail, and his gestation and weaning is thirty months, such that when he reaches maturity and reaches forty years he says, “My Lord inspire me to give thanks for Thy Blessing with which Thou hast blessed me and hast blessed my parents, and that I may work righteousness such that it pleases Thee; and make righteous my progeny for me. Truly I turn in repentance unto Thee, and truly I am among those who submit.” (46:15)
However, the duty to obey one’s parents is not absolute. One has no duty to obey disbelieving parents who command or attempt to influence their children toward disbelief (29:8; 31:15), and some verses warn against taking disbelieving relatives as protectors (9:23) or even seeking forgiveness for them, for which the prophet Abraham’s total dissociation from his idolatrous father is given as an example (9:113–14). Elsewhere, however, a certain degree of cordiality toward even idolatrous parents is recommended; the Quran instructs believers to consort with them in the world in a kindly manner (31:15).
The Quran also speaks of the responsibility that both parents have toward their children. Islamic Law permits the practice of family planning when it is a mutual decision between husband and wife, but the Quran asserts that both fathers and mothers must be open to accepting the children that result from their union. The Quran asserts repeatedly that parents do not possess the right of life or death over their children—something that was apparently assumed in preIslamic Arabian contexts. Parents are told not to kill their children for fear of poverty for God will provide (6:151; 17:31) and are warned that doing so constitutes a grave sin (17:31). Although female infanticide was reportedly widespread in pre-Islamic Makkah and in Arabia generally, the Quran asserts the inalienable rights of even the smallest of children when it reports that on the Last Day, the female infant buried alive is asked for what sin she was slain (81:8–9). No human life is meaningless or allowed to be obliterated; no unjust taking of human life, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, will go without account. The Quran emphasizes the responsibility that parents have toward their children and discourages seeing them as property about which they may boast (57:20). 12 It, moreover, asserts the separate but equivalent burden both parents share for the care of their children:
And let mothers nurse their children two full years, for such as desire to complete the suckling. It falls on the father to provide for them and clothe them honorably. No soul is tasked beyond its capacity. Let no mother be harmed on account of her child, nor father on account of his child. And the like shall fall upon the heir. If the couple desire to wean, by their mutual consent and consultation, there is no blame upon them. And if you wish to have your children wet-nursed, there is no blame upon you if you pay honorably that which you give. And reverence God, and know that God sees whatsoever you do. (2:233)
Perhaps because they share the responsibility of providing for their children, the Quran here enjoins mutual consultation between husband and wife regarding the care and feeding of their offspring. However, we should note that the duty to one’s children, like the duty to one’s parents, does not outweigh spiritual obligations and does not entail the right to religious compulsion. The Quran suggests that parents faced with disbelieving children have little option but to pray for God’s intervention in the matter and to continue to urge their children to believe in God and His Promise (46:17). Even Noah, in the Quranic account, was unable to save his disbelieving son or compel him onto the ark; he had to watch helplessly as he drowned with the others (11:42–45).
Marriage
Since the family is the foundation of Islamic society, marriage is the foundation of family life. In Islam, marriage is considered the appropriate and natural state for adult men and women, and intentional and voluntary celibacy is not endorsed as a desirable spiritual or social practice (24:32), even if it is not explicitly forbidden. Indeed, the goal of many Quranic provisions regarding marriage often appears to be ensuring the greatest number of marriage opportunities for both Muslim men and Muslim women. For example, the Quranic provision for polygamy (4:3) is often viewed as a means of ensuring that it is possible for all women to marry, even in social situations where the number of women exceeds that of men. This would have been especially important in earlier times, when women were largely dependent upon men for their protection and material provision, and when the number of marriageable men was regularly reduced due to the dangers of warfare and itinerant mercantile activity. Moreover, the Quran does not forbid or in any way discourage remarriage for men and women after divorce or the death of a spouse, thereby affirming the desirability of the marital state whenever possible and increasing the marriage prospects for both genders.
Marriage is considered the desirable state for all adult believers, because it serves as a reflection of the duality and complementarity inherent in all of the created universe. The Quran states that God created all things in pairs (16:72; 43:12; 51:49) and that for each being God has made a “mate” or “spouse” (zawj) 13—only God is One. In 16:72, marriage and children are said to be among the “good things” God has bestowed on humanity. Elsewhere reference is made to spouses as a source of comfort and rest for one another (7:189; 25:74), and in 30:21 affection and mercy are ordained between married couples. In a beautiful passage, the Quran suggests that husband and wife should serve as mutual protectors and comforters of one another when it says to men of their wives, They are a garment for you, and you are a garment for them (2:187). In addition to the symbolic nature of the marital union and the psychological and physical comforts it ideally provides, the institution of marriage is also a foundational element of the Islamic social order and serves the good of the community as a whole. As such, marriage is a matter of public and not only private concern, and, from the point of view of the Quran and Islamic Law, its legal basis takes the form of a social contract between the man and the woman that entails the complementary, but not quantitatively equal or identical rights and responsibilities discussed previously
As noted above, the Quran endorses what today might be called a “patriarchal” social order, at least insofar as it affirms the normative nature of male authority over the family and especially the marital unit. 14 Although such a characterization needs to be qualified, since men certainly do not enjoy absolute, complete, or unconditional rights in relation to their wives or children, a Quranic basis for male authority in the family is the passage:
Men are the upholders and maintainers of women by virtue of that in which God has favored some of them above others and by virtue of their spending from their wealth. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [their husbands’] absence what God has guarded. As for those from whom you fear discord and animosity, admonish them, then leave them in their beds, then strike them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Truly God is Exalted, Great. (4:34)
This verse has been one of the most controversial verses for contemporary non-Muslim thinkers—and a particularly difficult one for some modern Muslims. It appears to endorse a man’s authority over his wife and to establish his right to her obedience—ideas incompatible with modern Western notions of gender equality. Perhaps most controversially, the verse grants men the right, in certain circumstances, to physically discipline their wives, which is considered by many today to be an unacceptable violation of a woman’s human rights and dignity. Although many contemporary Muslim thinkers have attempted to reinterpret this verse in ways more acceptable to modern conceptions of women’s rights, the fact remains that the verse is clearly at odds with contemporary Western views of appropriate spousal relations in marriage. That being said, it is worth stepping back to take a careful look at the verse and consider its full implications, for doing so sheds much light on other aspects of Quranic social ethics and the underlying principles involved in Islamic marriage.
In the first line, this passage establishes a man’s right to authority on the basis of his financial support of his wife. In other words, his position in the family is conditioned upon the fulfillment of his unique financial responsibility in the marriage, in keeping with the principle of balancing social rights and responsibilities. In fact, one contemporary Muslim expert on Islamic Law has posed the question of where the balance of domestic authority lies in cases where a husband is not the sole provider in the family, 15 a question brought to the fore by considering the principle of balancing rights and responsibilities in light of modern realities.
In considering the second line of the passage, which discusses the wife’s obedience, we should note that it describes righteous women as devoutly obedient (qānitāt), rather than unconditionally obedient, and that it enjoins wives to guard in their husband’s absence what God has guarded. This suggests that the wife’s duty of obedience and loyalty is something for which she is responsible before God; it must be done with religious and spiritual principles in mind and is not an unthinking and slavish obedience to her husband. It is clear in the Quran that, just as children are not obligated to obey their parents when they bid them to religious error, so too are wives not obligated to render obedience to their husbands that would contradict obedience to God. By way of Quranic example, we might cite the case of the wife of Pharaoh, who, though married to one of religious history’s most evil figures, nevertheless takes in the infant Moses, thwarting her husband’s intention to kill him (28:8–9), and in doing so becomes, according to a well-known ḥadīth, one of the greatest spiritual women of all time.
Finally, with regard to the third line of the verse, a woman who shows profound discord and animosity (nushūz) toward her husband may be sanctioned by her husband in three ascending degrees: he may verbally correct her; he may refuse her his company; and, finally, he may strike her. As offensive as this may seem to Western ears, in light of the West’s criminalization of all physical forms of domestic violence, the Quran’s intentions in this assertion should be fully examined. In addressing this issue, the Quran is reflecting the historical realities of human society by assuming the proclivity of men (in particular) to use physical force in response to anger and seeking to limit and reduce its manifestation as much as possible, even while legitimating it in certain circumstances. According to this Quranic passage, a man facing the disloyalty of his wife must restrain his anger and follow a procedure for changing her behavior through means other than physical force. Only if these means are unsuccessful is the Quran understood to grant him the warrant to strike her.
One must also consider the kind of “striking” that is intended here. Many see striking one’s wife in any form or degree as unacceptable, but it is important to remember that Islamic Law, following the clear dictates of the Prophet, forbids a husband to strike his wife in the face or with any degree of force that would “leave a mark,” let alone leave her truly injured. Such behavior constitutes a woman’s grounds for legal divorce from her husband and may in some cases entitle her to restitution. We can say, then, that the “striking” permitted here is not impulsive hitting in response to anger, nor is it a “beating” or any form of injurious action against the wife. Even the earliest traditional Islamic commentators read this passage as a limit rather than a license, unanimously stating that this striking must be done without violence or intensity and without leaving any kind of mark. 17 Furthermore, some contemporary Muslim scholars and authorities have argued that the Arabic word usually translated “hit” or “strike” should be interpreted differently and that it perhaps means simply to go away from one’s wife.
If the Quran lays out what some would identify as a “patriarchal” model for marriage, it also takes significant steps—almost unheard of in its time—to alleviate some of patriarchy’s common abuses and to ameliorate the position of women in the family and society. For example, although Islam allowed polygamy, already a widespread practice in pre-Islamic Arabia and the ancient world in general, it imposed new limits on its exercise. In the first place, it is worth noting that the one passage of the Quran that endorses polygamy does so explicitly as a means of alleviating the potential abuse of orphan girls:
Give orphans their property, and exchange not the bad for the good, nor consume their property with your own. Truly that would be a great sin. If you fear that you will not deal fairly with the orphans, 19 then marry such women as seem good to you, two, three, or four; but if you fear that you will not deal justly, then only one, or those whom your right hands possess. 20 Thus it is more likely that you will not commit injustice. (4:2–3)
It is clear that the Quran’s explicit and primary concern here is not the gratification of male desires or providing a solution other than divorce for men already married to an incapacitated or infertile wife (reasons cited elsewhere as practical justifications for polygamy), but rather the just treatment of orphan women and girls in particular. Even after citing this reason, the passage goes on to state that, should a man feel he may be “unable to deal justly” with more than one wife, he should remain monogamous, for that is “more likely to prevent” injustice. It is thus the principles of justice and concern for the weaker members of society (here, orphan girls) that are explicitly cited in this verse as the rationale for the Quranic endorsement of polygamy. Both the limit of four placed upon the number of wives a man could marry and the injunction to treat them equally (a principle that became actionable under Islamic Law) represent important restrictions and conditions placed upon the practice as it had previously been known.
Perhaps the most revolutionary social principle introduced by the Quran was the notion of women’s right to property—that is, their right, upon legal maturity, to own and to dispose of property independently of either their husbands or their male relatives. The Quran establishes women’s right to property through the institutions of both marital dowry and inheritance. 21 The Quran specifies in numerous places that a man must pay his wife a mandatory bridal gift upon the contraction of their marriage and that this must be a free gift that cannot be alienated from her against her will (4:4); nor can it be taken from her after a divorce or after she has been widowed, except in cases where she has criminally violated her marital obligations through adultery (4:19). The passage continues:
If you desire to take one wife in place of another, even if you have given to one of them a great sum, take back nothing from it. Would you take it by way of calumny and manifest sin? And how can you take it back, when you have lain with one another and they have made with you a solemn covenant? (4:20–21)
Even in cases where a marriage is called off before a contract has been established, the Quran enjoins men to provide something for the women they had intended to marry (2:236). The dowry therefore functions in the Quranic context quite differently than it does in other religious cultures, such as the Hindu and the medieval Christian, in which it was the woman’s family who had to pay a dowry to the groom on behalf of their daughter. Some have dismissed the Islamic institution of the dowry as a “bride price,” with the demeaning suggestion that women themselves are “purchased,” but it is clear that the dowry was meant to function as an important economic protection for a woman in the event of either widowhood or divorce—circumstances to which and in which women were more vulnerable than men. Not only might the dowry, if large enough, provide the woman with an independent source of wealth—the Quran indicates that she may leverage this wealth as a means of securing a divorce from her husband, should he be otherwise unwilling to grant her one (2:229; 4:128).
The second fundamental way in which the Quran establishes a woman’s right to property is through the inheritance laws set out clearly in Sūrah 4 of the Quran. The idea that women necessarily inherit from their deceased relatives, along with men—even if they inherit half the share of male relatives who enjoy an equal degree of relationship to the deceased—was radical. One passage of the Quran suggests that in the pre-Islamic Arabian context, women were themselves sometimes “inherited,” rather than being heirs themselves (4:19). If this were so, it would be similar to “levirate” marriage practiced historically in other tribal or clan-based cultures, including that of the ancient Israelites, whereby a woman’s brother-in-law would “inherit” the wife of his deceased brother as a means of retaining the woman, her reproductive capacity, and perhaps also her wealth, within her deceased husband’s extended family. 22 The Quran, however, forbids explicitly the practice of “inheriting women against their will” and makes it unlawful for a man or for the heirs of a deceased man to hinder his wife from remarrying after she is divorced or widowed in an effort to prevent the wealth she possesses through dowry or inheritance from becoming separated from her husband’s extended family (4:19).
In all of the Quranic stipulations about family and marital relations, it is clear that the Quran is concerned about upholding the traditionally hierarchical, but reciprocal, relationships of rights and responsibilities between parents and children and between husbands and wives, but also prohibiting unjust abuses of those relationships of authority and attempting to curtail the hardships that those relationships sometimes entail—especially for those most vulnerable, such as women and young children. Although it lays upon men both greater responsibilities and greater rights in certain aspects of family life, the Quran does not permit either the absolute control of a father over his child or that of a husband over his wife, as earlier, pre-Islamic forms of patriarchy found in Arabia and many other cultures had done, and insists repeatedly that relations between family members must be carried out with the utmost respect and concern for all members.
Economic Justice
When we move outside the family unit to examine the Quranic teachings on social relations among the ummah at large, we see that chief among its ethical concerns is the principle of economic justice. The Quran does not mandate economic equality or the forced division of wealth equally among all—the existence of rich and poor within society is presented as a matter of Divine Providence (16:71), and the respect for individual property and mercantile activity is found throughout the Quran—but it does ordain economic justice. The Quran is concerned that all members of society be provided for and granted justice regardless of their socioeconomic status, that there be a distribution of wealth throughout society via various religious taxes and forms of charity, and that the wealth that is obtained in varying degrees by individuals be earned through legitimate and fair rather than predatory or exploitative means
The provision for the poorer and weaker members of society is one of the central themes of the earliest verses of the Quran—the verses that Muhammad received in Makkah. In these verses, caring for orphans, widows, and the needy is established as a religious obligation for which all Muslims are responsible before God; the neglect of this obligation is considered a prideful sin that will have harsh consequences on the Day of Judgment. 24 Numerous Quranic verses establish the zakāh, or alms, as a mandatory form of charity incumbent on each believer as one of the pillars of religious practice—in fact, it is second only to prayer as one of the most important ritual acts Muslims must perform.
The word zakāh comes from a root in Arabic that means both “to purify” and “to increase.” Islamic Law considers the payment of zakāh to “purify” one’s wealth as a whole, thereby rendering the balance legitimate for the expenditure and enjoyment of its owner. In addition to the mandatory zakāh, voluntary charity in a variety of forms is continuously enjoined in the Quran, which repeatedly encourages believers to spend in the way of God the good things they have been given (see, e.g., 2:265; 3:134). 26 It is not simply the act of charity, but also the intention and attitude toward charity that determines its spiritual merit. Believers are encouraged to give for the sake of God, rather than to be seen of men (2:265; 4:38; 76:8–10), and to give of the good things that they hold dear (3:92). The Quran criticizes those who give begrudgingly or regard their charitable donations as a loss (9:98; see also 9:53–54).
Orphans are a matter of particular concern for the Quran, and caring for orphans is presented as an important mode of charity. The Quran instructs believers to make use of their own wealth to provide for the orphans in their care, while holding in trust and not pilfering whatever inheritance the orphaned children may possess. Furthermore, the Quran stipulates that Muhammad’s (and, later, the Islamic government’s) share of all gains acquired in warfare should go in part to providing for the needy members of society (8:41)—thereby making provision for the poor an obligation upon the Islamic state as an institution as well as upon each individual believer
The Quran is also insistent upon the virtuous management and use of wealth. As in so many things, believers are instructed to handle their wealth with moderation, neither hoarding it greedily and anxiously, nor squandering it with prodigality. Wealth spent wisely and virtuously for charity and the good of others is described as bringing one true “profit” in this world and the next; it is the commerce that will never perish (35:29) and a source of spiritual growth (92:17–21).
In addition to the “spiritual investment” of wealth in the form of charity, the Quran also endorses the use of wealth in worldly commerce, but insists repeatedly on the maintenance of fair trade practices. Muslim merchants are instructed to be scrupulous in their “weights and measurements” (26:181–83; 55:7–9; 83:1–3), so that no injustice is done to any buyer or seller, and to write down and enlist witnesses to all financial contracts and agreements (2:282–83) in order to prevent both fraudulent activity and bad relations between business associates. Believers are warned against consuming the wealth of others “wrongfully” or using wealth for fraudulent purposes (4:29), such as bribery (2:188).
Perhaps most important, the Quran forbids the practice of usury, that is, the predatory taking of interest by individuals on loans without risk of loss, which in effect makes the wealthy members of society wealthier on account of their wealth and the poor poorer on account of their poverty. The Quran rejects out of hand those who would argue that usury is a legitimate means of acquiring wealth (2:275–76). It is charitable spending (zakāh), not usury, that brings true profit (30:38–39). Muslims are encouraged to lend their money freely to those in need, granting them ample time to repay the debt or else forgiving it as a means of charity (2:278–80). By prohibiting predatory economic practices, especially usury, the Quran ensures that although rich and poor will always exist in society, the economic divide between the two never becomes excessive and unbreachable. At the same time, the mandatory alms it ordains and the voluntary charity it strongly encourages are meant to ensure that wealth circulates within the community and that no one is left without some provision
The Quran also provides for the redistribution of wealth through the regulation of inheritance and provides detailed and explicit instructions about the proper disposal of wealth upon death. As noted above, the Quran mandates that both men and women related to the deceased be included among the heirs, and that the amounts received be both proportional to their relationship to the deceased and proportionally equal among those enjoying an equal degree of kinship. Parents, spouses, children, and in some cases siblings all receive a stipulated share, and Muslims may not favor in matters of inheritance any particular relative, child, or sibling over others (4:11–12). Aside from preventing potentially bitter disputes among heirs, the system of inheritance laid out in the Quran also serves the function of dividing an individual’s amassed wealth —which in some cases might be considerable—into many smaller shares, thereby preventing the excessive accumulation of wealth in a few hands over many generations, a frequent result of the alternate system of primogeniture.
From a spiritual rather than a purely social perspective, the fact that a deceased Muslim’s wealth must be disposed of according to Divine mandate, rather than only according to the will of the deceased, reinforces the notion that all wealth belongs to God, as emphasized in 47:38: God is the Rich, and you are the poor. By submitting one’s wealth to Divinely mandated laws of inheritance, one acknowledges, in effect, that God merely “takes back” the wealth He has granted an individual in life and redistributes it according to His Will—for as the Quran states in multiple places, all possession (mulk) belongs ultimately to God, and so to Him all things rightfully return (57:5).
Proper Social Behavior
As a community of believers, the ummah is enjoined by the Quran to engage in and promote a range of behaviors designed to reflect and facilitate the moral and spiritual integrity of its members as well as the harmony of the community as a whole. We have already mentioned the Quranic instruction to “enjoin right and forbid wrong” and the Quranic exhortation to respectful behavior and peacemaking among the believers. There are, moreover, other general behaviors ordained or encouraged by the Quran that should be mentioned as contributing to these larger goals.
MODESTY
One stipulation concerns modesty of behavior and dress. As noted above, the integrity of family life and the sanctity of marriage are essential to the Quranic conception of the believing and righteous society. Sexual relations and even sexual temptation outside the boundaries of legitimate marriage or domestic arrangements are considered destabilizing to society and dangerous to the morality of individuals. For this reason, the Quran requires modest behavior and dress for both men and women in their encounters with those outside their immediate family, although the requirements for women are more detailed and extensive:
Tell the believing men to lower their eyes and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Surely God is Aware of whatsoever they do. And tell the believing women to lower their eyes and to guard their private parts, and to not display their adornment except that which is visible thereof. And let them draw their kerchiefs over their breasts, and not display their adornment except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands’ fathers, or their sons, or their husbands’sons, or their brothers, or their brothers’sons, or their sisters’sons, or their women, or those whom their right hands possess, or male attendants free of desire, or children who are innocent of the private areas of women. Nor let them stamp their feet such that the ornaments they conceal become known. (24:30–31)
Both men and women are told to lower their eyes to avoid breaching the modesty of others, on the one hand, and to guard their private parts to preserve their own modesty, on the other. 36 Although the requirements of modesty for women involve more explicit restrictions, the description of female modesty provided here is broad enough to have permitted a variety of interpretations of appropriate female dress in different geographical and climatic regions and cultural zones as well as over time. In another passage, believing women are told to draw their cloaks over themselves. Thus is it likelier that they will be known and not be disturbed (33:59). Here the particular concern of the Quran in commanding modest dress for women is their own protection, comfort, and freedom from unwanted male attention. 37 At the same time, adornment within the confines of modesty is not prohibited for Muslims and is indeed presented as one of the blessings of God to humanity (7:26). Yet the Quran reminds its readers that the metaphorical garment of pious behavior is the best adornment and that in dress, as in all things (25:67), they should be neither overly ascetic nor excessive and wasteful (7:31–32).
TEMPERANCE
As is well known, the Quran also bans the consumption of alcoholic beverages and gambling from Islamic social life. Although an early verse of the Quran extols the drink made from the date palm and the vine as a goodly provision from God (16:67), the Quran gradually, over the course of its revelation, eliminated the drinking of wine (and Muslims understand this to mean all intoxicating substances) from the lives of believers. Muslims are advised that they must not engage in prayer while they are intoxicated (4:43)—an injunction that would by itself significantly limit alcohol consumption, considering that prayer is performed five times a day. A later verse (2:219) states that although both wine and gambling may bring people some benefits, their sin is greater than their benefit. Finally, both the drinking of wine and gambling are identified as a means of defilement of Satan’s doing designed to sow enmity and hatred among the believers and to turn them away from the remembrance of God, and from prayer (5:90–91); so they must be avoided completely. Thus the final and absolute prohibition on drinking and gambling is enjoined for the dual purpose of maintaining harmony within the community and promoting the spiritual development of individual believers.
ETIQUETTE OF SPEECH AND SOCIAL INTERACTION
As a final point, we should note that although direct Quranic mandates concerning social and family life, economic practices, dress, and other issues often receive the most attention, the Quran has influenced basic conceptions of ethics and social behavior in ways that are more subtle, but certainly just as profound, if not more so. If one visits an Islamic country, one may be struck by the frequency with which the Name of God and an articulated recognition of His Presence can be heard—not only in mosques and religious gatherings, but in the marketplace, on the street, in informal social gatherings, and in everyday language. Quranic phrases such as al-ḥamdu li’Llāh (“Thanks be to God”), mā shāʾa’Llāh (“As God has willed”), and in shāʾa’Llāh (“If God wills”)—which acknowledge God’s Volition in past, present, and future occurrences, respectively—are heard repeatedly in every form of social interaction. The Quran praises those who, upon learning of a death or disaster, say, innā li’Llāh wainnā ilayhi rājiʿūn (Truly we are God’s, and unto Him we return, 2:156); this formula, which provides both comfort and spiritual awareness in the face of life’s most painful circumstances, is widely used throughout all segments of Islamic society. The frequent and sometimes casual repetition of these phrases in Islamic society may seem merely conventional in some cases, but they nonetheless reflect a collective sense of God’s constant Presence—not just in prayer, but in everyday settings.
In addition to recognizing God’s Presence and Volition in daily life, Muslims are also encouraged to speak and behave in ways that acknowledge the spiritual and human dignity of others. For example, the greeting Peace be upon you (6:54) is recommended among believers, and they are told that whenever they are offered a greeting, they should respond with a greeting that is better (4:86) —that is, one that expresses even more respect or goodwill than the one they had been given. They are instructed in multiple places not only to guard their own privacy, but to respect that of others (2:189; 24:27–29, 58–59; 33:53), to behave humbly (25:63; 31:17–19; 58:11), to speak softly and with modesty (31:19), to abstain from all vain talk (23:3; 25:72), and to avoid, specifically, defamation, insult, suspicion, gossip, and “secret” talk with ill intent (49:11–12; 58:9–10). All of these behaviors described above fall into a category Muslims usually refer to as adab (proper comportment and manners in relation to others). They constitute an essential part of Islamic social ethics and can be summarized in the general notion that Muslims are required to preserve both their own honor and dignity and those of fellow believers and in fact others in general.
Conclusion
As we have aimed to demonstrate, all social ethics, rights, and responsibilities mandated or recommended in the Quran can be related to the five general principles laid out at the beginning of this essay: the significance of the religious community, the concern for justice, the maintenance of social harmony, human equality before God, and the balancing of rights and responsibilities. Although many Westerners may disagree with either these founding principles or their application in specific Quranic injunctions, it is important to understand Islamic social ethics in the context of the Quran’s own spiritual perspective and with an appreciation for the larger spiritual and moral goals that are the Quran’s primary concern. In the Quran, and therefore in Islamic ethics generally, society does not exist merely to serve the individual or as a necessary evil needed to provide for human survival in a harsh and dangerous world. Rather, Islamic society is viewed as a “community of believers” who not only aid and support one another in spiritual growth, but who should also reflect and remind the believers of the paradisal community of saved souls described in the Quran—a community near to God, among which one hears only greetings of peace and gentle conversation (19:62), and where the delights and comforts of the paradisal Garden are enjoyed with a constant awareness of their spiritual source.
(Source: Maria massi dakake)
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