Religious and Secular Values

Somewhere, I have read that Islam puts paramount emphasis on social justice, equivalent to the stress that Christianity puts on love and peace; but that in the past century, Islamic societies have seen very little social justice, and Christian communities have had nothing but world wars and carnage! If, then, I talk about the concept of social justice in Islam, don’t immediately jump up to ask me why some countries act differently from what they profess – that also is universal.

The difficulties of the question of social justice are shared across religions: Judaism and Christianity, for example, as well as Islam. Christian societies have in a sense put aside their Christianity to emerge with a new idea of secular society. It is argued that there is no contradiction between this secular society and Christian values; but if we go to the root of Christianity, there are many difficult points and questions arising from this argument. For Muslims who do not wish to put their Islamic beliefs aside, no one should expect to have overnight answers to these difficult questions.

There is a verse in the Koran, ‘God orders you to justice and magnanimity.’ The prophet of Islam had a friend before he was given his mission, who admitted that when the Prophet started claiming to have his revelations from God he did not really believe in them. It took two or three years, until the Prophet told him this message, which he had also received as a revelation from God. The moment his friend heard those words, he knew that the Prophet spoke the truth, because the words contained all the values that had ever mattered to his friend, and subsequent disciple.

There is no definition of justice in Islam. You are simply told that you have to be just in your actions. Even in relation to your enemies, some verses in the Koran urge you to do justice. Justice is deemed to be a universal value, a kind of intrinsic calling in the human conscience, which cannot be defined. It certainly cannot be defined by one religion against another. So, how do we approach principles of human rights that create contradictions and disagreements? Why will two different courts in two different societies pass different rulings? How do these disagreements come about? Having accepted the idea of universal values, the main cause of disagreement in our judgements is that we come from different backgrounds, with different perspectives.

If we are to answer Samuel Huntington’s ‘Clash of Civilizations’, we will each have to try to extend our understanding of justice to encompass different societies. Perhaps we, as intellectuals and as people who want to make decisions over great issues such as peace and war, have to use our imaginations to understand and empathise with different ways of thinking.

But it is dangerous and evasive to say to others, ‘Whatever your opinion is, keep it to yourself. This is the only way of justice and you must follow it.’ The arguments between Muslim and secular societies – I don’t say Christian, because I think Christian values have been scrapped in your secular societies – stem from the Muslim unwillingness to put aside Islamic values. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but for the time being, Muslims do not wish to put aside religious values to create a secular society.

The West talks about the existence of social justice in Britain and the United States, but denies that such justice exists in Iran or Saudi Arabia. But look at the system of nation states in international relations. There, it is recognised that every nation is seeking its own interest, against those of others. Seeking one’s own interest is surely always in contradiction with a wider social justice. Yet this is the foundation of the international system.

It is not just in Islam that you find injustice, bribery, authoritarian rule. In order to create and promote justice, especially in poorer countries, we need resources, institutions, and expertise. But if there is an unjust international system, how can poor countries ever attain the resources for good political institutions, the right courts of justice, an effective police force? Not all the blame for a country’s shortcomings can be other’s responsibility. But in this international system, it is very difficult for nations that have dropped behind in their development to progress without the help and encouragement, and above all the understanding, of more developed ones.

The United States and comparable countries make this mistake when they look at Muslim lands. Their attitude is: ‘Leave everything behind that you once believed in and jump on board this bandwagon.’ Most people can’t or won’t do that. Americans satisfy themselves with statistical evidence that many young people in Islamic countries look up to America and its secular values. Of course, young people might envy the standard of living and want nice things. But the West should think about what happens when you violate the values of societies that cannot provide their young people with these goodies. In its own way, isn’t it precisely this violation of values, this ignoring of a different concept of justice, which has created hatred and animosity over recent years, and even the terrorism and the events of 11 September?