violates his brother's right is not a believer in the Unity of God. It is to his Maker that man is actually responsible in all cases. But in another sense, every duty of man is either a duty towards self or a duty towards fellow-beings, and God is over and over again stated to be Ghaní, i.e. Self-sufficient, above any need of the worlds. If the whole world is engaged in praying to Him, it does not add one whit to His transcendental glory, and if the whole world disbelieves in Him and is ungrateful to Him, it does not detract from His dignity in the least. Hence, what are generally called duties towards God are in fact duties towards self, or duties which do not affect one’s fellow-beings but affect oneself. These are, in fact, the means of man’s moral advancement and spiritual betterment, and the principal duties under this head are the keeping up of prayer, fasting for one month, and performing a pilgrimage to Mecca. The most important duty of man towards man, which is one of the fundamental principles of the practical code of Islam, is zakát, or the paying of the poor-rate, a tax levied on the rich for the benefit of the poor, and this, together with the three principal duties towards self, form as it were the four pillars of the Islamic faith on its practical side. These four are therefore considered further on more fully, though briefly. As regards man’s duties towards man in general, a few remarks will be sufficient.
Scope of moral teachings.
The Holy Qur-án was not meant for one people or one age, and accordingly the scope of its moral teachings is as wide as humanity itself. It is the Book which offers guidance to all men in all conditions of life, to the ignorant savage as well as to the wise philosopher, to the man of business as well as to the recluse, to the rich as well as to the poor. Accordingly, while giving varied rules of life, it appeals to the individual to follow the best rules which are applicable to the circumstances under which he lives. If, on the one hand, it contains directions which are calculated to raise men in the lowest grades of civilization and to teach them the crude manners of society, it also, on the other, furnishes rules of guidance to men in the highest stages of moral and spiritual progress. High and ideal moral teachings are no doubt necessary for the progress of man, but only those will be able to benefit by them who can realize those high ideals. But to this class do not belong the vast masses in any nation or community, however high its standard of civilization may be. Hence the Qur-án contains rules of guidance for all the stages through which man has to pass in the onward march from the condition of the savage to that of the highly spiritual man. They cover all the branches of human activity and require the development of all the faculties of man. Islam requires the display of every quality that has been placed in man, and makes only one limitation—viz. that it should be displayed on the proper occasion. It requires a man to show meekness as well as courage, but each on its proper occasion. It teaches forgiveness, but at the same time it requires that when the nature of an offence demands punishment, it should be administered in proportion to the crime. It says: Forgive when you see that forgiveness would be conducive to good. Again, it teaches men to display high morals under the most adverse circumstances, to be honest even when honesty is likely to lead one into complications, to speak truth even when one’s truthful statement is against those nearest and dearest to one, to show sympathy even at the sacrifice of one’s own interest, to be patient under the hardest afflictions, to be good even to those who have done evil. At the same time it teaches the middle path: it teaches men to exercise the noble qualities which have been placed in their nature by God while transacting their own affairs. It does not inculcate severance from one’s worldly
