Humanism is a state and modality of thought based on human interests and desired perfection, instead of religious principles and theology which rely on rationalism and the scientific method by denying any supernatural.
Recently, in the West and westernized societies, when they saw that they had an emptiness in life, to satisfy their inner sense, they believed in a theory based on which they gave nobility to man and rejected theism so that they could, in their opinion, increase human dignity by that.
This article tries to prove by criticizing this thinking that humanism has not only failed in this way, but has also created a regressive course for human beings; On the other hand, looking at the religion of Islam tries to prove human dignity from the perspective of Imam Ali (PBUH). Let us now consider the following:
The root of humanism
The group in the West that sees theism in conflict with human nobility are the founders of humanism. Of course, the story stems from the fact that the West, after denying the natural worlds, felt strange spiritual poverty, because the denial of God and the interpretation of the world and man by the arid rules of nature, abolish whole emotion from society and man became similar to a machine. . This caused some Western thinkers to propose a principle called human nobility to compensate for the lack of spirituality and emotion in order to reduce the aridity and stagnation of life in their opinion; For this reason, a school called human nobility emerged, which gives noble origin to the creature and deprives it of the Creator.
While these two, are not across from each other so that there would be a contradiction between them to say: “either God or man”, but these two are along with each other, and man, by joining that infinite sea, seeks help from him and tries to get closer to the heart of perfection. In fact, human perfection is a drop from that sea, and if it joins, it is no longer a drop; but a drop of the sea.
The real function of religion with man
Sometimes, we talk about religion and adherence to divine laws, and sometimes about a secular society that does not adhere to divine laws and does not believe in religion. In the first case, some consider the observance of divine laws to be restrictive to human beings and consider it as a kind of deprivation of freedom for human beings. Whereas, man accepts religion by full freedom, naturally any kind of religious restriction is not contrary to expectation. Rather, opposition to this restriction is considered a form of opposition to human freedom and autonomy.
On the other hand, we have to see if religious restrictions can be called restrictions? Is accepting divine laws at all contrary to human nobility and dignity or not? If we look at the words of Imam Ali (PBUH) who said:
[1]«ان الله سبحانه جعل الطاعة غنیمة الاکیاس عند تفریط العجزة»
“Indeed, God Almighty made obedience the booty of the wise (people) when the helpless people failed.”
We see that the Imam considers worship and obedience to the divine laws as a sign of the penetration of individuals and considers it as a degree of high dignity, not restriction and anti-freedom. In the words of Imam Ali (PBUH), moving towards worship and servitude is considered to be overtaking toward happiness.
In a sermon, the Imam, referring to the verse “He will recompense the evildoers according to their deeds, and recompense those who have done well with the finest reward” (Najm (53), 31) He called the people:
«فاتقوالله عز ذکره و سارعوا الی رضوان الله و العمل بطاعته و التقرب الیه بکل ما فیه الرضا فانه قریب مجیب»[2]
“Have divine piety and hasten to the divine heaven and practice of his obedience and closeness to him by any means in which he is pleased.”
Can an athlete who runs on the field of victory within the framework of the rules of the game be considered a humble and limited person? Isn’t it true that in sports arenas, champions are becoming more popular and their social status is increasing day by day? Now, when someone moves towards victory in this arena, according to superhuman laws, can he be called a limited and worthless person? Of course, the Imam did not suffice for religiosity and worship in this way, and expressed another dignity for religious people, and considered the wisdom of religiosity more than before and addressed the unique God of the worlds:
«ما عبدتک خوفا من نارک و لاطمعاً فی جنتک، لکن وجدتک اهلا للعباده فعبدتک»[3]
“I do not worship you out of fear of fire, nor out of greed for heaven, because I saw you deserving of worship, I worshiped.”
It’s because we realize that the attraction of these people to God and their obedience is completely pleasurable and they never see it in conflict with their freedom.
Freedom in secularist societies
In the second case, the societies that removed religion from human life in order to paint and glaze human dignity, it should be said that although they do not accept religious restrictions, they must observe social restrictions that are born of the majority government, and this restriction also passes through the human autonomy and attaches to his hands.
Therefore, no religious or atheistic society can enjoy absolute freedom. But you have to think, in these two limited societies, in which one is human dignity preserved? Can it be said that in Western societies, tyranny and force have completely disappeared and human dignity has increased with democratic governments? Isn’t it that today, after the unification of societies and the expansion of industry, other coercive factors have emerged, robbing people of their authority and perhaps thinking that they have acted, but unaware that factors beyond their control, such as the media and propaganda creates misleading thought in his brain.
This is quite obvious in the Western elections. The big capitalists use a variety of tools, even movie stars, to elect their preferred representatives, preparing the society to vote for their chosen ones so that even the voters themselves are unaware of the coercive determinants.
In these societies, man is seemingly free and noble, while he has been enslaved by capitalists and politicians. Imam Ali (as) has said in a firm statement in this regard: “Do not be a slave to anyone, indeed, God has created you free.” With this word, the Imam wants man to not belong to others and to always maintain his dignity and glory.
It can now be seen how in so-called humanistic societies man has lost his nobility and even been deprived of the right to vote, and so much propaganda has been carried out in their minds that their opinion and participation in an election are based on actors or athletes’ ideas. Considering the peak of dignity and honor for human beings, Imam Ali (as) values the man as priceless: “Verily, nothing worths you but paradise so do not sell yourselves to the less.”
Human generosity and dignity
One of the teachings of Islam is generosity, which has been emphasized a lot. We know generosity as not turning someone down, whereas Imam Ali (as) does not consider generosity that way. Because in his view, asking others for something is contrary to human dignity. In this regard, he says:
«مَاءُ وَجْهِكَ جَامِدٌ يُقْطِرُهُ السُّؤَالُ، فَانْظُرْ عِنْدَ مَنْ تُقْطِرُهُ»[4]
“Your reputation is like solid ice that the request melts drop by drop, so look to whom you are melting it.”
And since values human dignity and reputation, he intends people to preserve it and individuals not to be diminished. For people who want to be generous, generosity is defined as:
« السخاء ما کان ابتداء »
“Generosity is that you start.”
That means you don’t let the needy come to your door, and you meet the need before he asks. The important point is that the Imam, with all his emphasis and order on generosity, prefers justice to the generosity and considers it more honorable than generosity because justice is valuable for all human beings and it includes the public while donating includes a special group. And he (as) was asked: Which is better: justice or generosity? He (as) said: Justice puts things in their positions, and generosity leads them out of their position, and the Justice preserves all the people but generosity is offered to a special group, so that, the justice is nobler and more honorable.
The dignity of all human beings
The best dignity Imam Ali (as) has bestowed on human beings is the rejection of racist thoughts. Instructing Malik Ashtar to be kind to everyone Imam Ali states: “People are of two groups: A group of your religious brother and the other group, like you, are same in creation”. That is, people are respected no matter how they are, and being black or white never gives them privilege, and whatever their religion are such as Judaism or Christianity or … because they are human they have dignity. The Imam interpreted the verse “Certainly, We have honored the Children of Adam …” (Al Isra (17): 70) and extended this respect to everyone.
From the words of Imam Ali (as), some of which were briefly mentioned, we find that today, even in the most progressive schools of thought and philosophy in the world, such a basis of value for human beings has not been proposed. Although it may have a theoretically elevated man to the position he deserves, according to the statements, writings, and articles that have been published, in practice and in the realm of social approaches, man has been humiliated and insulted and in some views, compared to science and technology, have fallen sharply.
NOTES:
[1] Nahj al-Balagha, sermon 322
[2] Al-Kafi,V8,P174
[3] Tafsir Al-Mizan,V11,P221
[4] Nahj al-Balagha, P 369 sermon 346
By Benyamin Hamrahi
