A Moslem Seeker after God/His Ethics
VII
His Ethics
"The religion of Christ contains whole fields of morality and whole realms of thought which are all but outside the religion of Mohammed. It opens humility, purity of heart, forgiveness of injuries, sacrifice of self to man's moral nature; it gives scope for toleration, development, boundless progress to his mind; its motive power is stronger, even as a friend is better than a king and love higher than obedience. Its realized ideals in the various paths of human greatness have been more commanding, more many-sided, more holy, as Averroes is below Newton, Haroun below Alfred, and 'Ali below St. Paul. Finally, the ideal life of all is far more elevating, far more majestic, far more inspiring even as the life of the founder of Mohammedanism is below the life of the Founder of Christianity."
VII
His Ethics
Martensen defines Christian ethics as "the science of morals conditioned by Christianity." But the three fundamental concepts of Christian ethics are all of them challenged by the teaching of Islam. The Mohammedan idea of the Highest Good, of Virtue and of the Moral Law are not in accord with those of Christianity. This is evident both from the character of Mohammed himself and from his recorded sayings. Ideal virtue is to be found through imitation of Mohammed. And the moral law is practically abrogated because of loose views as to its real character, its teaching and finality. "The ethics of Islam bear the character of an outwardly and crudely conceived doctrine of righteousness; conscientiousness in the sphere of the social relations, faithfulness to conviction and to one's word, and the bringing of an action into relation to God, are its bright points; but there is a lack of heart-depth, of a basing of the moral in love. The highest good is the very outwardly and very sensuously conceived happiness of the individual."[1]
This statement needs no proof to those who know Islam from its original sources, the Koran and Tradition. Professor Margoliouth uses language which is strong but not unfair when he says in regard to the saints of the Moslem calendar—that is the companions and followers of Mohammed—"Those who recount the history of Islam have to lay aside all ordinary canons of morality, else the picture would have no lights; they could not write at all if they let themselves be shocked by perfidy or bloodthirstiness, by cruelty or lust, yet both the Koran and Tradition forbid the first three, and assign some limits to the fourth." A stream cannot rise higher than its source; a tower cannot be broader than its foundation. The measure of the moral stature of Mohammed is the source and foundation of all moral ideals in Islam. His conduct is the standard of character. We need not be surprised, therefore, that the ethical standard is so low even in Al-Ghazali, although he ofttimes rises high above the Koran and the Prophet.
In nearly every one of his books on morals the Prophet of Arabia is held up as the highest ideal of character. In his "Precious Pearl," however, there is a passage quoted from a tradition in which he pays this high tribute to Jesus Christ (page 24 Cairo Edition), "Go to Jesus, on Him be peace, for He is the truest of those who were sent as apostles, and who knew most of God, and the most ascetic in life of them all, and the most eloquent of all in
wisdom, perchance He will intercede for you."
The quotation, however, refers to the day of resur
rection when the various nations seek God’s favour
and forgiveness.
When we consider the age in which Al-Ghazali lived and his Moslem education in ethics, Macdonald says, 1 " the position of Al-Ghazali is a simple one. All our laws and theories upon the subject, the analysis of the qualities of the mind, good and bad, the tracing of hidden defects to their causes, and the methods of combating these causes, all these things [Al-Ghazali teaches] we owe to the saints of God to whom God Himself has revealed them. Of these there have been many at all times and in all countries, God has never left Himself without a witness, and without them and their labours and the light which God has vouchsafed to them we could never know ourselves. Here as everywhere, comes out clearly Al-Ghazali’s funda mental position that the ultimate source of all knowledge is revelation from God. It may be major revelation, through accredited prophets who come forward as teachers, divinely sent and sup ported by miracles and by the evident truth of their message appealing to the human heait; or it may be minor revelation subsidiary and explanatory through the vast body of saints of different grades to whom God has granted immediate knowledge of Himself. Where the saints leave off, the prophets 1 Macdonald, pp. 118-119.
begin; and, apart from such teaching, man, even in
physical science, would be groping in the dark."
But we must add to this clear statement of Al Ghazali’s theory of ethics, lest it be wholly misun derstood, that the revelation referred to is the Koran and that " the saints " were the Moslem saints of the early Caliphate, and their followers.
Moslem doctors of jurisprudence, including Al Ghazali, define sin as " a conscious act of a respon sible being against known law." Therefore sins of ignorance and of childhood are not reckoned as real sin. They divide sin into " great " and " lit tle " sins. Some say there are seven great sins: idolatry, murder, false charge of adultery, wasting the substance of orphans, taking interest on money, desertion from Jihad and disobedience to parents. Others say there are seventeen, and include wine drinking, witchcraft and perjury among them. The lack of all distinction between the ceremonial and the moral law is very evident in the traditional sayings of Mohammed, which are, of course, at the basis of ethics. Take one example: " The Prophet, upon him be prayers and peace, said, One dirhem of usury which a man takes knowing it to be so is more grievous than thirty-six fornications, and whosoever has done so is worthy of hell fire."
Orthodox Moslems divide sins into greater and lesser. Al-Ghazali quotes one who said, " There are no greater and lesser sins, but everythi ng which
is contrary to God’s will is a great sin," but gives Koran passages contradicting this and then escapes the moral difficulty by showing that the smaller sins may become great if we continue in them: " like the dropping of water wearing away a stone "; and " when the servant of God reckons his sin great, God reckons it small, and when he reckons it small, then God reckons it great."
He divides the sins which overcome the heart into four classes: egoistic, satanic, brutal and cruel. Under the first he puts pride, conceit, boasting, selfishness, etc.; envy, hatred, deceit, malice, cor ruption and unbelief, belong to the second; while greed, gluttony, lust, adultery, sodomy, theft, and the robbing of orphans are classed as brutal sins; and anger, passion, abuse, cursing, murder, rob bery, etc., are cruel.
Yet in all of Al-Ghazali’s works on ethics and many of his smaller treatises are on this subject, there is no clear distinction made between the ritual and the moral law. In fact one word used for ethics in Arabic (adab) refers to propriety of con duct, etiquette, politeness, and decency in outward behaviour, reverence in the presence of superiors, rather than to the keeping of the ten command ments or of the principles that are fundamental to noble character. This becomes very clear when we study the contents, for example, of one of his shorter books entitled Al-Adab fi Din (Ethics in Religion) .
The book begins by giving the basis of ethical teaching in these words: " Praise be to God who created us and perfected our creation, and taught us morals and beautified our morals, and honoured us by sending His Prophet Mohammed (upon whom may God’s blessing rest), and hath taught us how to honour him. Truly the most perfect ele ment in character and the most elevated, and the best of good works, and the most glorious, is cor rect behaviour as regards religion, which teaches what a true believer should know of the work of the Lord of the worlds and the Creator of the prophets and apostles; and God hath taught us and clearly enlightened us concerning this in the Koran, and hath given us the example of conduct in his Prophet Mohammed according to his Traditions. He is our example, and likewise are his companions and immediate followers. These have shown us what it is necessary for us to follow in their con duct, which we have here recorded for all those who would follow."
The paragraphs or sections of this handbook are entitled: Ethics of the believer in the presence of God; of the teacher; of the pupil; of those who hear the Koran read; of the reader; of the school teacher; of those who seek to understand Tradi tion; of the scribe; of the preacher; of the ascetic; of the nobleman; ethics of sleeping; of night watching; of fulfilling a call of nature; of the bath; of washing; of entering the mosque; of the call to
prayer; of prayer; of intercession; of the Friday
sermon; of the feast-days; of conduct during an
eclipse; of conduct during drought; of sickness; of
funerals; of almsgiving; of the rich and the poor;
of fasting; of pilgrimage; of the merchant; of the
money-changer; of eating and drinking; of mar
riage (this has several subdivisions); of sitting by
the wayside; of the child with its parents; of the
parent with the child; of brothers; of neighbours;
of the master with the servant; of the Sultan with
his subjects; of the Judge; of the witness; of the
prisoner. The final chapter of this interesting
treatise deals with miscellaneous maxims on polite
behaviour under all circumstances.
A translation of the section on eating, which is about the same length as the other paragraphs, will give a clear idea of the contents: "One should wash one’s hands before partaking of food and after, and pronounce the name of God before be ginning to eat, and eat with the right hand. Take small portions from the dish, chew the food thor oughly, and do not look into the faces of the other guests while you are eating; nor should you recline nor eat to excess beyond the demands of hunger; and you should ask to be excused as soon as you have had enough, so that your guest may not be embarrassed or any one who has greater need. And one should eat from the edge of the platter and not from the middle, and wipe his fingers after the meal, and return praise to God. Nor should one
mention death at dinner for fear of bringing bad
luck upon those who are present."
All this is interesting and important, for the Moslem child, as table etiquette. Obedience, hu mility in outward behaviour, reverence in the mosque, respect " to those above us in age or sta tion," and many other social virtues are likewise commended. But the omissions of the Book sur prise us. There is nothing on truth, heart-purity, moral courage or the . nobility of chivalry the things that make a man.
One section of the Ihya (Vol. Ill, p. 96 ff.) deals with the question as to when lies are justifi able, and clearly shows that according to Al-Gha zali, in the realm of truth at least, the end justifies the means. " Know," he says, " that a lie is not haram (wrong) in itself, but only because of the evil conclusions to which it leads the hearer, mak ing him believe something that is not really the case. Ignorance sometimes is an advantage, and if a lie causes this kind of ignorance it may be al lowed. It is sometimes a duty to lie. Maimun Ibn Muhran said, A lie is sometimes better than truth: for instance, if you see a man seeking for another in order to kill him, what do you reply to the question as to where he is? Of course you will reply thus, for such a lie is lawful. We say that the end justifies the means/
"If lying and truth both lead to a good result, you must tell the truth, for a lie is forbidden in this
case. If a lie is the only way to reach a good re
sult, it is allowable (hallal). A lie is lawful when
it is the only path to duty. For example, if a Mos
lem flees from an unjust one and you are asked
about him, you are obliged to lie in order to save
him. If the outcome of war, reconciliation be
tween two separated friends, or the safety of an
oppressed depends on a lie, then a lie is allowed.
In all cases we must be careful not to lie when there
is no necessity for it, lest it be haram (wrong). If
a wicked person asks a man about his wealth he
has to deny having any; and so if a sultan asks a
man about a crime he has committed, he has to
deny it and say, I have not stolen/ when he did
steal; nor done any vice/ when he has done. The
Prophet said, He who has done a shameful deed
must conceal it, for revealing one disgrace is an
other disgrace/ A person must deny the sins of
others as well. Making peace between wives is a
duty, even by pretending to each of them that she
is loved the most, and by making promises to please
her.
" We must lie when truth leads to unpleasant re sults, but tell the truth when it leads to good re sults. Lying for one’s pleasure, or for increase of wealth, or for fame is forbidden. One wife must not lie for her husband to tease another wife. Ly ing is allowed in persuading children to go to school; also false promises and false threats."
We get another view of Al-Ghazali’s ethics in his
teaching regarding education. There is a special section in the Ihya (Vol. Ill, p. 53) which deals with the education of boys and the improvement of their morals. It is not surprising that nothing is said as regards the education of girls, for even now many Moslem authorities consider it inadvisable that they should be taught to read and write. The chapter referred to begins as follows:
" It is most important to know how to bring up a boy, for a boy is a trust in the hands of his father, and his pure heart is a precious jewel like a tablet without inscription. It is therefore ready to re ceive whatever impression is applied. If he learns to do good and is taught it, he grows up accord ingly, and is happy in this world and the next and his parents and teachers will have the reward for their action. But if he learns evil and grows up in neglect like the dumb cattle, he will turn away from the truth and perish, and his sin will be on the neck of his guardian. Allah has said, O ye who believe, guard yourselves and your family from the fire; and even as the father would guard his son from the fire of this world, by how much the more should he guard him from the fire of the world to come? He will guard him from it by chastising him and educating him and teaching him the best virtues. To this end he will only give his boy to be nursed by a good, pious woman who eats the proper food, for the milk from forbidden food has no blessing in it."
He then goes on to show that the education of a
child consists in teaching him table manners, the
avoidance of unclean food, gluttony and impolite
ness. He advises parents to dress their children
simply and not in costly clothing. To quote once
more:
"After teaching him these things it is wise to send him to school where he shall learn the Koran and the pious traditions, and the tales of the righteous and their lives, in order that a love of the pious may be imprinted in his heart; and he should be kept from reading erotic poetry and pre vented from mixing with those people of education who think that this sort of reading is profitable and elevating, because, on the contrary, it produces in the hearts of children the seeds of corruption. Whenever the boy shows a good character or an act which is praiseworthy, he must be honoured for it and rewarded, so that he will be happy; and this should especially be done in the presence of others. If, on the contrary, he should act otherwise once and again, it is necessary to take no notice of it, nor to lay bare his fault, as though you imagine no one would dare to do such a thing, especially if the boy himself conceals it, and has determined to hide it; for exposing would only make him more bold in the future. If he should repeat the fault, he can be punished in secret."
Such is the strange ethical teaching a mingling of good and bad advice on the part of one who
has always been considered as the pillar of ortho doxy and one of the great authorities on Moslem morals.
The ethics of marriage holds a large place in Moslem literature, and also in the works of Al Ghazali. Marriage is enjoined upon every Moslem, and celibacy is discouraged. " Marriage," said Mohammed the Prophet, " is my custom, and he who dislikes it does not belong to my people." And in another tradition: " Marriage is one-half of true religion." Even the members of the ascetic orders in Islam are generally married. The vow of celibacy was therefore not known among the mystics. Marriage is denned by Moslem jurists as " a contract by which the husband obtains posses sion of the wife and is allowed to enjoy her, if there be no legal impediment preventing the same." " Marriage," says Al-Ghazali himself, " is a kind of slavery, for the wife becomes the slave of her husband and it is her duty to obey him absolutely in everything he requires of her, except in what is contrary to the laws of Islam."
In the selection of a wife, Al-Ghazali advises his disciples to look for the following qualifications: (1) piety, (2) good character, (3) beauty, (4) a moderate dowry, (5) ability to bear children, (6) that she be a virgin, (7) of a good family, (8) that she be not of near relation. The duties of the husband to the wife and the duties of the wife to her husband are given in detail by Al-G hazali in
his Ihya and in some of his other works. The hus band, according to this teaching, ought to main tain a golden mean in dealing with his wife in twelve points, that is, he means that there should be no excess of kindness or excess of harshness in any of these particulars: (1) the marriage feast; (2) behaviour; (3) playfulness or caressing; (4) maintaining his dignity; (5) jealousy; (6) pecuniary allowance; (7) teaching; (8) granting every wife her rights (in the Moslem sense); (9) chastisement; (10) the rules of cohabitation; (11) childbirth; (12) divorce. In one place he says if the wife be disobedient and obstinate, the husband has the right to punish her and force her to obey him, but he must proceed gradually, ex hort, admonish, threaten, abstain from intercourse with her for three days, beat her so as to let her feel the pain, but be careful not to wound her in the face, make her blood flow abundantly or break a bone! The teaching of Al-Ghazali on divorce and slavery is so thoroughly Moslem that much of it is untranslatable. Suffice it to say that he agrees with other doctors of Moslem law in excusing onanism and other sins under certain circum stances, and even indicates that it may become a duty if practiced in order to escape from greater sins. 1
In spite of his Islamic conception of the sexual
1 " Ihya," Vol. II, pp. 32-33, " Mizan al Amal," pp. 126-128, etc.
relation, Al-Ghazali certainly inspires our respect by what he says on the kindly treatment of the wife and the evil of divorce. Only one would like to know whether he himself had more than one wife and whether she was a worthy helpmeet to her husband and he to her. His biographers are silent.
"A man should remain on good terms with his wife. This does not mean that he should never cause her pain, but that he should bear any annoy ance she causes him, whether by her unreasonable ness or ingratitude, patiently. Woman is created weak, arid requiring concealment; she should there fore be borne with patiently, and kept secluded. The Prophet said, He who bears the ill-humour of his wife patiently will earn as much merit as Job did by the patient endurance of his trials/ On his deathbed also he was heard to say, Continue in prayer and treat your wives well, for they are your prisoners.
" Wise men have said, Consult women, and act the contrary to what they advise/ In truth there is something perverse in women, and if they are allowed even a little license, they get out of control altogether, and it is difficult to reduce them to order again. In dealing with them one should endeavour to use a mixture of severity and tenderness, with a greater proportion of the latter. The Prophet said, Woman was formed of a crooked rib; if you try to bend her, you will break her; if you leave her
alone, she will grow more and more crooked; there fore treat her tenderly. *
"The greatest care should be taken to avoid divorce, for, though divorce is permitted, yet God disapproves of it, because the very utterance of the word divorce causes a woman pain, and how can it be right to pain any one? When divorce is abso lutely necessary, the formula for it should not be repeated thrice all at once, but on three different occasions. A woman should be divorced kindly, not through anger and contempt, and not without a reason. After divorce a man should give his for mer wife a present, and not tell others that she has been divorced for such and such a fault. Of a certain man who was instituting divorce proceed ings against his wife it is related that people asked him, Why are you divorcing her? He answered, I do not reveal my wife’s secrets/ When he had actually divorced her, he was asked again, and said, She is a stranger to me now; I have nothing to do with her private affairs/
All the relations of life, its pleasures and duties pass under review in books on Adab. Every de tail of outward conduct is regulated by what is said to have been the practice of the Prophet. How to eat a pomegranate correctly, how to take a bath, how to use the Misivak, or tooth-brush, how to behave towards Jews and Christians, and what ornaments are allowed all this comes under the "Alchemy of Happiness," pp. 94-96.
head of Moslem Ethics. We give the reader one
striking example.
In his work, " The Alchemy of Happiness," there is a chapter concerning " Music and Dancing as Aids to the Religious Life/ The question of musical instruments was discussed as earnestly in the days of Al-Ghazali as it has been more recently among Christians who dread the desecration of God’s house by the " cist of whistles." There was much dispute among theologians as to the lawful ness of music and dancing as religious exercises. The Sufis had already introduced the practice. The following paragraphs show Al-Ghazali’s com mon sense, keen humour, and at the same time his rather doubtful conclusion; for he even justifies erotic poetry if sung for the glory of God:
" The heart of man has been so constituted by the Almighty that, like a flint, it contains a hidden fire which is evoked by music and harmony, and renders man beside himself with ecstasy. These harmonies are echoes of that higher world of beauty which we call the world of spirits; they remind man of his relationship to that world, and produce in him an emotion so deep and strange that he himself is powerless to explain it. The effect of music and dancing is deeper in proportion as the nature on which they act are simple and prone to emotion; they fan into a flame whatever love is al ready dormant in the heart, whether it be earthly and sensual, or divine and spiritual. . . .
" Passing over the cases where music and danc ing rouse into a flame evil desires already dormant in the heart, we come to those cases where they are quite lawful. Such are those of the pilgrims who celebrate the glories of the House of God at Mecca in song, and thus incite others to go on pilgrimage, and of minstrels whose music and songs stir up martial ardour in the breasts of their auditors and incite them to fight against the infidels. Similarly, mournful music which excites sorrow for sin and failure in the religious life is lawful; of this nature was the music of David. But dirges which in crease sorrow for the dead are not lawful, for it is written in the Koran, Despair not over what you have lost/ On the other hand, joyful music at weddings and feasts and on such occasions as a circumcision or the return from a journey is law ful. . . .
" The states of ecstasy into which the Sufis fall vary according to the emotions which predominate in them love, fear, desire, repentance, etc. These states, as we have mentioned above, are often the result not only of hearing verses of the Koran, but erotic poetry. Some have objected to the reciting of poetry, as well as of the Koran, on these occa sions; but it should be remembered that all the verses of the Koran are not adapted to stir the emotions such, for instance, as that which com mands that a man should leave his mother the sixth part of his property and his sister the h alf, or that
which orders that a widow must wait four months after the death of her husband before becoming espoused to another man. The natures which can be thrown into religious ecstasy by the recital of such verses are peculiarly sensitive and very rare. * They certainly are!
The inconsistencies and contradictions in Al Ghazali’s theory of conduct surprise us when we peruse his works. Sometimes he leads us to high mountain ranges whose summits are gilded with the light of heaven, the great truths of Theism, the ideals of eternity; and again he plunges us into the sloughs of sensuous and worldly discussion themes unworthy of his pen.
Let us get back to the mountain tops where the air is healthier. Al-Ghazali, whatever may have been his failure in other respects, had high ideals for the attainment of morals from the Moslem standpoint. In his " The Alchemy of Happiness " he says, " When in the crucible of abstinence the soul is purged from carnal passions it attains to the highest, and in place of being a slave to lust and anger becomes endued with angelic qualities. At taining that state, man finds his heaven in the con templation of Eternal Beauty, and no longer in fleshly delights. The spiritual alchemy which operates this change in him, like that which trans mutes base metals into gold, is not easily dis covered, nor to be found in the house of every old
And in the attainment of this ideal he is sure
that there must be a fight for character. The
goal is not to be reached by easy stages. The war
fare against passion is real and costs sacrifice. He
gives us a picture of this Holy War almost in the
language of John Bunyan. " For the carrying on
of this spiritual warfare by which the knowledge
of oneself and of God is to be obtained, the body
may be figured as a kingdom, the soul as its king
and the different senses and faculties as constitut
ing an army. Reason may be called the vizier, or
prime minister, passion the revenue-collector, and
anger the police-officer. Under the guise of col
lecting revenue, passion is continually prone to
plunder on its own account, while resentment is
always inclined to harshness and extreme severity.
Both of these, the revenue-collector and the police
officer, have to be kept in due subordination to the
king, but not killed or expelled, as they have their
own proper functions to fulfil. But if passion and
resentment master reason, the ruin of the soul in
fallibly ensues. A soul which allows its lower
faculties to dominate the higher is as one who
should hand over an angel to the power of a dog
or a Mussalman to the tyranny of an unbeliever."
The struggle is, therefore, between the flesh and the spirit. Like St. Paul, Al-Ghazali must have experienced that which he describes: "The good that I would I do not, and the evil that I would not, that I do." He is conscious of the inner,
struggle between the higher and the lower natures
in man. Again and again he contrasts the body
and the soul as to their eternal value in their
struggle for supremacy. Both are of God, His
gift to us; both show His wisdom and His power;
but there is no comparison when we try to estimate
their real values.
"The body, so to speak, is simply the riding animal of the soul, and perishes while the soul tn dures. The soul should take care of the body, just as a pilgrim on his way to Mecca takes care of his camel; but if the pilgrim spends his whole time in feeding and adorning his camel, the caravan will leave him behind, and he will perish in the desert."
The four leading virtues the mothers of all other good qualities Al-Ghazali says are " Wis dom, temperance, bravery, and modetation (or the golden mean of conduct)."! This classification he has borrowed from Plato with so much else on the theory of conduct. He explains all these virtues in terms of the Koran and illustrates them from the lives of Mohammed and the early saints of Islam as well as the later mystics.
He is at his best when he speaks of vices and their opposite virtues. No one can read his chap ter against pride and boasting without seeing that he gives us again a page from his own experience. He begins by quoting the saying of the Prophet, " No one shall enter paradise in whose heart there
a " Alchemy of Happiness."‘s " Mizan al Amal."
is the weight of a grain of mustard seed of pride."
And another saying, " Said God Most High,
Pride is my mantle and majesty is my cloak, and
whosoever takes away one of them from me I will
cast him into hell, and I care not/ " Another say
ing attributed to Mohammed is evidently taken
from the Gospel, " Whoso humbleth himself be
fore God, God will exalt him, and whosoever is
proud God will bring him low." His definition of
humility is beautiful: " True humility is to be sub
ject to the truth and to be corrected by it even
though thou shouldst hear it from a mere boy on
the street." In this connection he quotes also a
saying of Jesus: "Said the Messiah (upon Him
be peace), Blessed is he to whom God has taught
His book. He shall never die in his pride/
Pride is shown in different ways. Al-Ghazali enumerates pride of knowledge, of worship, of race and blood, of beauty and dress, of wealth, of bodily strength, of leadership. He quotes Mo hammed as an example of humility, and also Abl Saeed el Khudri, who said, " Oh, my son, eat unto God and drink unto God and dress unto God. But whatsoever thou doest of all of these and there enters into them pride or hypocrisy it is disobedi ence. Whatever you do in your house do it your self as did the Apostle of God, for he used to milk the goats and patch his sandals and sew his cloak and eat with the servants and buy in the bazaar, nor did his pride forbid him carrying his own pack-* ages home; and he was friendly to the rich and to the poor and he gave greetings himself first to every one whom he met, etc."
It is noteworthy that when he rises to the highest ethical teaching he bases his remarks on the sayings (mostly apocryphal) of Christ, which we collate in our final chapter. Al-Ghazali tried hard but failed to find in Mohammed the ideals of his own heart. This is the tragedy of Islam.
- ↑ Adolf Wuttke, "Christian Ethics," Vol. I, p. 172.