The Rights
I see that some people says that human rights should outweighs religious rights. This is wrong. Religion,by the meaning that is referring the revealed religion from the One true God, tells people,tell the humans the rights of human, and the the rights of everything in the world of creation. By saying human rights, it means it is their own right that is exclusive to human.
Then we ask,what is human? A being created by Allah s.w.t. The descendants of Adam a.s. And there is a time before we were created as human, we already made a covenant with Allah s.w.t, referring to surah 7,verse 172. We recognize Him as God.
And this same God, revealed a Religion to us,and when revelation ends with prophet Muhammad s.a.w with the advent of Islam as a universal religion,meaning suitable and relevant at all time and places.
This God,of course by using logic,we can arrive immediately at the right conclusion that He knew what is the rights of human. Besides that, human have an obligation to obey Him. Truly speaking,the human rights should also include knowing their own Creator,and also the one that creates everything in the world of creation. Do human deny or accept this? If they deny then,they don't truly know about why they were created and were given life to life in this world. How can such creature talks high and mighty about his human rights and neglecting,and some denying the task that have been given to them as the creature of Allah s.w.t?
When this is realized,and they obey and follow the teaching of islam, they will know for sure about all of the rights that is truly their right. Because some of them claim the rights, but it is actually not their rights afterall.
And this gives the impression that,when talking about human rights, it sends the messages concerning justice. And they want to be just,to do justice,give the humans their rights so that they may have and achieve what is called justice. Some say that justice is equality. Equality does not have the same meaning as justice.A prominent scholar of islam say, how can the act of bringing things of higher worth to the lower worth,an act of justice? Even as common sense,when the value of our possesion differ,we put them in different places.If we have gold bricks,we dont put them in the garage,we keep them at a safe and secure place.
For justice to be attained,we must put things in their proper places.And to put things in proper places,we need knowledge. With knowledge we can recognize the right and proper places of all things. When we put things in their places,the condition that results from that is called justice. So, justice, as Prof.Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas define it is the condition of things in their proper places. And to get this knowledge to know these places,of course we must learn from people who know about these things. Who? The scholars of islam, such as Hujjatul Islam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali.The scholars of the past,understand islam in great depth,and make great effort in writing books,so that all we can benefit from their great work.Go and learn from them,and learn through the scholar of present that understands their work.
Some say about the door of ijtihad.Some say why must the door of ijtihad closed?It should be opened. These statements can bring chaos if misunderstood,and those who say it,of course misunderstood the islamic tradition as well.
The door of ijtihad were never closed,in the first place. It is just that it is not open for public,for massses to make ijtihads,regarding religious matters. To make ijtihad,the person that is making it must be someone of great calibre and qualified to make it. If we use an example, can people that does not have firm medical background give opinion regarding the right treatment for certain disease? Of course not.Do we listen to them,or qualified and certified doctors? We know what is the answer. And do we,if we have a sickness that needs operation,do we handle the task of operation our own physical body to unqualified person? Only an idiot would do that.
The same goes with religion. Religion,that is including our understanding and practises,will determine our fate in the next world, how can then, we just listen to anybody? As this thing is a very serious matter concerning our ends,whether good or bad ending.
If we agree to the statement that anybody can make ijtihad,then chaos will happen. This statement come from those who fail to know their own self. That's why the most important thing is to know our self. Truly know own self and our capabilities. The capabilities of the aql,the intellect of human amongst us is different.Some may have more than the others.
To end this, i will say give the amanah to the people who is the true ahli. Don't be a transgressor,overstepping our own limit. Know our self.
May Allah s.w.t guide us in the path of seeking knowledge,so that we may be able to truly put our self in the proper places,and as the results of that,the condition of justice, arises.
Written by :
Mohd Arif Syafiq,
Class of X,
27 Jun 2015.
