Arnold Yasin Mol www.deenresearchcenter.

com

Maruf, Natural law and Islamic theological foundations

for human rights !
!
The prime concept of Natural Law (the law of justice and goodness inherent to creation which is
the basis of human rights) according to the Catholic theologian st.Aquinas (d. 1274) is 'to
command the good and avoid evil' [Summa Theologica 94:2], which is also found in several
Qur'an verses: "You are the gooddoing community brought forth for mankind: you command
with the naturally known good (bi-lMa'rūf) and forbid the naturally known evil (al-Munkar) and
you are safe with God [Q.3:110]". There has been a discussion among scholars if Aquinas'
formulation, being so similar to the Qur'an, came from the Islamic philosophers and theologians
which had inspired him (especially Ibn Sīnā, Ibn Rushd, and al-Ghazālī). The early Islamic
Hanafī theologian al-Māturīdī (d. 956) in his commentary on the above verse explains al-Ma'rūf
as that which is known by reason to be beautifully good (aesthetic ethics) and then makes
revelation equal to reason; what mankind experiences as good or evil is similar to what God
reveals through revelation, confirming one another. This Islamic Natural law theology adhered to
by the Mu'tazilī and Māturīdī school makes revelation confirming and assisting human reason
(an assisting Divine grace, Lutf) instead of overruling it as within Āsh'arite theology. And thus
can serve as a basis for an Islamic renewal and as an Islamic theological ground for human
rights as it acknowledges every human, whatever their religion, as a participant in true ethics:!
!
! ِ ‫ )تَأ ْ ُمرو َن ِبا َملْ ْعر‬:‫وقوله‬
،‫ الذي تستحسنه العقول‬:‫ أي‬،‫ هو املعروف في العقول‬:‫ املعروف‬:‫يتوجه إلى وجوه ثالثة‬
ّ :(‫وف َوتَن ْ َه ْو َن َع ِن ا ُملْن ْ َك ِر‬ ُ ُ
‫ ما عرف‬:‫ واملنكر‬،‫ هو الَّذي عرف باآليات والبراهني أنه حسن‬:‫ ويحتمل أن يكون املعروف‬.‫ هو الذي قبحته العقول وأنكرته‬:‫واملنكر‬
‫ هو الذي أنكروه ونهوا عنه‬،:‫ واملنكر‬،‫ هو الذي جاء على ألسن الرسل أنه حسن‬:‫ ويحتمل أن املعروف‬.‫ أنه قبيح‬:‫بالحجج؛ أي‬.!
!
"And His (God's) statement: ("You command with the naturally known good and forbid the
naturally known evil"): it turns towards three aspects: al-Ma'rūf is the commonly known through
the rational intellect (al-'Aqūl), namely: that which is commonly known and approved through
reason, and al-Munkar is which is ugly and evil through reason and is detested by it. And we
obtain by it that al-Ma'rūf is: that which is known through the natural/revelatory signs (al-Āyāt)
and proof that which is beautiful and good (husn), and al-Munkar is what is known through
argumented evidence; namely that it is ugly and evil (qabīh). And we obtain that al-Ma'rūf is that
which arrives on the tongues of the Messengers (ālsun al-Rusul) [i.e. revelations] that which is
beautiful and good, and al-Munkar is that which its detests and forbids."-[Ābū Mansūr al-
Māturīdī, Ta'wīlat Ahl al-Sunnah, (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ilmiyyah, 2005) vol. 2 p. 455]!
!
!
‫ والنهي‬،‫ هو األمر باإليمان‬:‫ ويحتمل األمر باملعروف‬.‫ وكل مستقبح فيه فهو منكر‬،‫ كل مستحسن في العقل فهو معروف‬:‫املعروف‬
‫ هو النهي عن الكفر‬:‫عن املنكر‬.!
!
"al-Ma'rūf: is everything declared good (mustahsan) by reason (fī al-'Aql) and is thus a known
good (ma'ruf), and everything declared evil (mustaqbih) by reason is thus detested (munkar).
And the obligating command (al-Amr) is obtained through al-Ma'ruf: it is the command through
faith, and the prohibited (al-Nahī) through al-Munkar: it is the prohibited through unbelief (al-
Kufr)."-[al-Māturīdī, ibid, p. 451]!
!
 Arnold Yasin Mol www.deenresearchcenter.com

In his commentary on verse 3:108, precluding the above verse, he also displays a natural law
approach to creation: God only does good thus everything created contains right and truth,
fusing nature and value. In the above commentary he promotes universal objective ethics to
which all humans have access to; every human, whatever their religion, background or gender,
can know good and evil through their reason. And according to al-Māturīdī and the Mu'tazilah,
every human is urged and assisted by God's grace (Lutf Allah) through reason, revelation, or
both, in finding the good as God, being ultimate good and mercy, is always intent on guiding
everybody towards the greatest benefit and goodness. Thus every sane human is capable and
responsible (taklīf) and Divinely guided to "command the good and avoid evil", and is thus
obligated to participate in and cooperate towards a better society (which is acknowledged in
Qur'an verse 5:48 which says God has provided all nations with their own religion and culture
and thus has made mankind with an inherent plurality and because of this only obligates
mankind to "race towards the common good"). Thus objective ethics demand a democratic
society of equal ethical agents while allowing the ethical agents to have a pluralistic
background. In the commentary below Māturīdī sees goodness as inherent to nature, fusing
ethical value in nature and the natural order itself, and thus providing an objective source of
ethics apart from revelation: i.e. ethical Natural law. As our understanding of nature and the
natural order deepens, so does our hermeneutical understanding of objective ethics, widening
and shifting with our knowledge base. In this way Natural law is both a universal, but also a
dynamic, source of ethics. Natural law theologians as al-Māturīdī (in which he followed the
Mu'tazilah) had a optimistic view of both human capability and the make-up of the world
(optimistic anthropology and cosmology), and although using it primarly to prove the universality
and rationality of the Qur'an and the fairness of universal eschatological judgement, it also
provides a clear foundation for an Islamic theology of evolutionary universal human rights and
pluralistic democracy. A consequence of Natural law theology which al-Māturīdī in his context
couldn't have seen its totality as we do today, but he certainly did apply it at key moments in his
Qur'an commentary and theological work that show his radical humanistic theological stance. !
! َِ ْ ِ ْ ُ
،‫ فإذا كان ما في السماوات وما في األرض كله له‬،‫ هو وضع الشيء في غير موضعه‬:‫ والظلم‬:(‫امل َني‬ ‫ ) َو َما اهللَُّ يُ ِري ُد ظل ًما لل َع‬:‫وقوله‬
‫ فاهللَّ يتعالى عن‬،‫ ويمنع حق بعض؛ فيجعل لغير املحق‬،‫ومن وصف في الخلق بالظلم إنما وصف؛ ألنه يضع حق بعض في بعض‬
‫ذلك‬.!
!
"And His statement: ("And God does not desire/wills injustice for the worlds/creations"): and the
misplacement/injustice (al-Thzulm): this is the placing of something in its wrong place, so
therefore for all what is in the heavens and what is in the earth [there is no misplacement], and
whoever describes in the creation with injustice/misplacement that is no description because it
places right/truth/justice (haqq) divided in division/some in some [i.e. the false ascription that
God hasn't placed truth/right in all creation] and it is forbidden to divide justice/truth [keep it to
some creation and not all]; thus that He has made without righteousness (li-ghayr al-Muhaqq),
and God is to exalted for that."!
! َِ ْ ِ ْ ُ
‫امل َني‬ ‫ ) َو َما اهللَُّ ُي ِري ُد ظل ًما لل َع‬:‫!)وقوله‬
‫ وكيف يظلم؟! وإن ََّما يظلم‬،‫ ال يظلمهم‬:‫ قلت اإلرادة صفة لكل فاعل في الحقيقة؛ فكأنه قال‬:‫ وإن شئت قلت‬،‫ ال يريد أن يظلمهم‬:‫أي‬
‫ فالغني بذاته متعال عن ذلك‬،‫ أو ضرر يدفع به‬،‫تسره إليه النفس‬ ّ ‫بنفع‬.!
!
"And His statement: ("And God does not desire/wills injustice for the worlds/creations")
meaning: He does not will that He is unjust to/misplaces them (yuthilmihum), and that you
desire (shi'ta): you say the (Divine) will (al-irādah) ascribes to all doers/agents in reality; and so
 Arnold Yasin Mol www.deenresearchcenter.com

it is said: He is not unjust to them [as all humans have free will], and how can He be unjust?!
Rather only doing misplacing with benefit (bi-nafa')) would be pleasing to His being, or repelling
harm through it (dharar yudafa' bihi) [i.e. if God would misplace/be unjust it would only be to
bring out something benefit or to repel greater harm], and the most rich in His essence is to
exalted for that [i.e. God is to great to need evil to do good]." -[al-Māturīdī, ibid, p. 454]! !
!
Copyright ©2014 AY Mol !
!
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