Islamic Intellectual Theology

Lesson 11
Divine Justice
Intellectual Decency and
Indecency

ELAHIYAAT [Summary] of Sh. Jaf’ar Subhani pg.156-162

Edited: Jan. 17, 2010 - BHD

Justice of God
 God, by default, has to be perfect
otherwise He is not God.
 Since justice is a sign of perfection,
then God has to be just.
 All of creation indicates that God is
well balanced in everything.
 Theory of equilibrium:
Balance in nutrients, chemicals, pressure,
temperature in the living creature.
Challenging God’s Justice
If God is just, then
1. Why does He allow innocent civilians to die in wars?
2. Why does He allow natural disasters like tsunamis and
earthquakes?
3. Why do some people have defects or handicaps like
blindness, etc?
4. Why do most of God’s servants live in a worse condition
than those who disbelieve?
5. Why do His punishments seem unjust? Is it just to cut the
hand just for a crime of seconds? Or death for adultery?
6. Why God is testing me? I did not choose to be tested!
All these and more will be answered in our coming
sessions.
Topics discussed
1. Intellectual decency and indecency
2. Justice of God
3. Purpose-driven actions of God
4. Afflictions and wisdom of God
5. Human compulsion and human free will
(Jabr & Tafweedh)
6. Knowledge of God and change of His
decision (Badaa)
7. Decree and destiny (Qadha & Qadr)
8. Discussion on some of the attributes of God
Intellectual Decency and Indecency
 Adl or the justice of God is that He refrains from the
indecent acts and what ever is not suitable on Him,
and that is one of the meanings of wisdom as well.
He never does evil and bad.
 The moderate ones (Adliyah) consider that there
are acts which can be intellectually labeled decent
and indecent without consulting religious resources.
 Ashaaerah denied such intellectual comprehension
of the decency and indecency and claimed such
can only be comprehended by the religion.
Therefore whatever its resources considers decent
is decent and whatever is considered by it indecent
is indecent.
Meanings of Decency (Hosn) and
Indecendy (Qobh)
Hosn literally means beauty, and Qobh ugliness , but the first
will be indicated as decent and the second as indecent.
There are two ways to interpret hosn and qobh:
 Whatever repels human nature, such as fearful scene
which repels a human, is indecent or ugly. A beautiful
voice or tasty food, by this definition, is beautiful or
decent.
 Something’s decency is determined by how agreeable
and disagreeable it is with the purpose and benefits. This
can be specific (shakhsi) or general (nowee). For
example, killing is generally viewed as bad (nowee), but
if someone has killed your entire family, killing him would
be seen as good (shakhsi).
Meanings of Decency (Hosn) and
Indecendy (Qobh)
3. Complete and incomplete characteristic of
human. Knowledge or bravery completes a
human therefore it is decent, and ignorance or
being cowardly fragments a human, therefore it
is indecent.
4. Intellectual praise and condemnation. An act
which garners intellectual praise is decent,
while an act prohibited by the intellect is
indecent.
Point of Dispute: The first three criteria are
indisputable, but the fourth point is disputed, as some
reject the idea that the intellect is able to distinguish
decency or indecency by itself.
 Evidence of the Fourth Criterion
Argument: If distinguishing the decency and indecency were
intellectual, then morality, too, could be decided by intellect.
Yet some things are morally ambiguous, while intellectual
facts, such as 1+1=2 are indisputable.
Response: Even some apparently “indisputable” things are
subject to perception. For example, a blind person might not
agree that sun has risen, yet he has intellect. Similarly, a
person whose heart and soul are blocked by doing evil will
not comprehend the ugliness of his crimes; perhaps he will
enjoy it. Another example can be in math itself: a person
who does not know any thing about mathematics might not
understand that the one is half of the two, like a child who
has not studied the concept of half or fractions. In short,
everything is subject to perception unless one has complete
knowledge. Only then can decency be decided by intellect.
 Can Intellectual Concepts Convert?
Argument: If decency (HOSN) and indecency (QOBH) were
intellectual they could not be interchangeable. For
example, if lying would save a life of a prophet from a
tyrant and telling truth would cause his perish, a lie
becomes decent and beautiful and truth becomes ugly and
indecent. Does the intellect reflect these changes?
Response: In this case the intellect perceives that saving a life
is more decent than truth, and such does not require a
religious approval to lie. A lie in general remains indecent
and ugly, and truth remains decent and beautiful, but the
intellect observes and comprehends the priority and the
preference of the beauty of saving a life over the beauty of
saying truth and commands to give up one beauty for the
sake of more important beauty. In other words, there is an
intellectual decision between the conflict in two decent
acts, with the most decent prevailing.
 Evidence of those who Support
 If the decency were dependant on only on
learning, then perceiving the truth of the Prophets
(AS) would've been a difficult task, because who
can tell that a prophet lied or not? If lying can be
decent and good, the conclusion is that God
supports a liar with miracle. Since that is not
acceptable by intuition, then truth and falsehood
must be distinguished not by learning, but by the
innate intellect.
 ROOZBAHAAN: A miracle did not support a liar
not because lying is indecent intellectually and
God never supports an intellectually indecent act,
but He is not used to doing such.
The Question of the People of Adam
and Nuh
1. How does one know what God usually
does or does not usually do?
2. Knowing what God is used to requires
history of God. Then what about the
followers of the early Prophets (AS)
Adam and Nuh? They never got an
opportunity to learn what God’s usual
traits are. How were they to infer
whether their prophets spoke the
truth?
Decent and indecent in the Quraan
Justice and goodness exist before the command of God.
ْ
‫ان َوإِي َتاء ِذي ْالقُرْ َبى َو َي ْن َهى‬ ِ ‫هّللا َ َيأ ُم ُر ِب ْال َع ْد ِل َو‬
ِ ‫اإلحْ َس‬
ُ ‫َع ِن ْال َفحْ َشاء َو ْالمُن َكر َو ْال َب ْغي َي ِع‬
َ ‫ظ ُك ْم َل َعلَّ ُك ْم َت َذ َّكر‬
‫ُون‬ ِ ِ
[Shakir 16:90] Surely Allah enjoins the doing of justice
and the doing of good (to others) and the giving to the
kindred, and He forbids indecency and evil and rebellion;
He admonishes you that you may be mindful.
The indecent acts are known to be indecent before God.
‫اإل ْث َم َو ْال َب ْغ َي ِب َغي ِْر ْال َح ِّق َوأَن‬
ِ ‫ِش َما َظ َه َر ِم ْن َها َو َما َب َط َن َو‬ َ ‫قُ ْل إِ َّن َما َحرَّ َم َرب َِّي ْال َف َواح‬
َ ‫ُت ْش ِر ُكو ْا ِباهّلل ِ َما َل ْم ُي َن ِّز ْل ِب ِه س ُْل َطا ًنا َوأَن َتقُولُو ْا َع َلى هّللا ِ َما الَ َتعْ َلم‬
‫ُون‬
 [Shakir 7:33] Say: My Lord has only prohibited indecencies,
those of them that are apparent as well as those that are
concealed, and sin and rebellion without justice, and that
you associate with Allah that for which He has not sent
down any authority, and that you say against Allah what you
do not know
 Command Towards Known
Commands to what ever is known to be good (marouf)
and prohibits from what ever is know to be denied by the
intellectuals (munkar).
ُ
‫ج ُدو َن ُه َم ْك ُتوبًا عِ ن َد ُه ْم فِي‬ ِ ‫ُون الرَّ سُو َل ال َّن ِبيَّ األمِّيَّ الَّذِي َي‬ َ ‫الَّذ‬
َ ‫ِين َي َّت ِبع‬
‫ت َوي َُحرِّ ُم‬ َّ ‫يل َيأْمُرُ هُم ِب ْال َمعْ رُوفِ َو َي ْن َها ُه ْم َع ِن ْالمُن َكر َو ُي ِح ُّل َل ُه ُم‬
ِ ‫الط ِّي َبا‬ ِ ‫ج‬ ِ ‫ال َّت ْو َرا ِة َواإلِ ْن‬
ِ
َ ‫ت َع َلي ِْه ْم َفالَّذ‬
‫ِين آ َم ُنو ْا‬ َ ‫ض ُع َع ْن ُه ْم إِصْ َر ُه ْم َواألَ ْغ‬
ْ ‫ال َل الَّتِي َكا َن‬ َ ‫ِث َو َي‬ َ ‫َع َلي ِْه ُم ْال َخ َبآئ‬
‫ُون‬َ ‫ك ُه ُم ْال ُم ْفلِح‬ َ ‫نز َل َم َع ُه أ ُ ْو َلـ ِئ‬ ُ َ ‫ور الَّذ‬
ِ ‫ِي أ‬ َ ‫صرُوهُ َوا َّت َبعُو ْا ال ُّن‬
َ ‫ِب ِه َو َع َّزرُوهُ َو َن‬
[Shakir 7:157] Those who follow the Messenger-Prophet, the Ummi,
whom they find written down with them in the Taurat and the
Injeel (who) enjoins them good and forbids them evil, and makes
lawful to them the good things and makes unlawful to them impure
things, and removes from them their burden and the shackles
which were upon them; so (as for) those who believe in him and
honor him and help him, and follow the light which has been sent
down with him, these it is that are the successful.