Precious Human Life

Allah Almighty made humans the best of creations and created everything for their benefit. Allah Most High Says: �It is He, who has created for you all things that are on earth.� (Surah al-Baqarah, 2.29).

We are fortunate to have been born as Human Beings; being put together this way round - able to stand walk do everything stood on just two legs. Our bodies are equipped to undertake any reasonable task that we may ask of it. The level of skilfulnes that it accomplishes depends almost entirely upon our minds.

We are fortunate to be born as human beings and even more fortunate to have evolved so far and in such a manner. All other creatures exist quite literally in another dimension - horizontally as opposed to vertically! For those 'unfortunates' all of their internal organs are suspended within a body with what we call "a back" pointing upwards. Most are somewhat limited in their abilities. Some are unable even to stand up again if they fall down! For all of them apart from the "domesticated" the name of the game is simply survival. We are scientifically farmore skilful than any other species on the planet. Why is it then I wonder that it is only this species, our species that seems to exist in near permanent turmoil and conflict? No other species does - apart from the turmoil and conflict that we give them. This of course providing that we (human beings) have at some point deemed them worthy or useful enough to continue their existence at all.

Whenever I see a physically or mentally challenged person, I start thinking the Almighty. At this point I recall an apt event that highlights how blissful it is to be born as a man or a woman without any deformity. A great poet, Auvaiyar, who had composed a poem on how precious it is to be born as a perfect human being.

English Translation Of Auvaiyar Tamil Poem

If you asketh what is rare -

It is rare to be born as human

Even if one is born as a human,

It is rarer to be born without deformities

Even if one is born without deformities,

It is rare to acquire knowledge of self and the world and expertise in arts

Even if one is endowed with these qualities, it is rare to

acquire the habit of giving to the needy and do penance

If one does so, the gates of Heaven will surely open to that soul

In the entire world, we witness the mystery in Almighty creation. There is happiness, there is sorrow, there is wealth, there is poverty, there is flood, there is drought, there is peace, and there is war. With all these dualities, the humanity seeks peace and amity. I am also seeking where is the peace? When the peace will come? When will I see happy faces in the whole world? That occasion will bring peace to me. The important factors which contribute to happiness are peace and prosperity. Peace comes through spirituality whereas prosperity comes through development for which science and technology are essential.

Human Beings must understand properly and fully his own nature, his mission and ultimately his responsibility in this world, in order to continue to progress. This is the basic understanding a human being must have for the betterment of his life and for the good of the entire society.

In the Quran, Allah says: "He began the creation of man with (nothing more than) clay, and made his progeny from a quintessence of the nature of a fluid despised: But He fashioned him in due proportion, and breathed into him something of His spirit. And He gave you (the faculties of) hearing and sight and feeling (and understanding): Little thanks do ye give." (As-Sajdah 7-9).

In these verses Allah insisted that man contemplate his own humble beginning. Man's material body (apart from life) is a piece of earth or clay, which is another term for primeval matter. Matter is, therefore, the first stage. But even matter was not self-created. It was created by Allah. The verses also explain human life and the reproduction of life. Human reproduction is through the sperm or semen, which is the quintessence of every part of the body of man.

After fertilisation of an ovum by the sperm, an individual life comes into existence and it is gradually fashioned into shape, its limbs are formed, its animal life begins to function, all the beautiful adaptations come into play and, finally, a distinctive man, into whom God's spirit is breathed comes into being.

In verses 7-10 of Surah Shams, Allah says: "By the soul and the proportion and order given to it, and its enlightment as to its wrong and its right; truly he succeeds that purifies it. And he fails that corrupts it." These verses explain that Allah makes the soul, and gives it order, proportion, and relative perfection in order to adapt it for the particular circumstances in which it has to live its life.

God breathes into human life an understanding of what is sin, impiety, wrong-doing and what is piety and right conduct, in the special circumstances in which it may be placed. This is indeed the most precious gift of all to man by Allah. Through this gift of Allah, man should learn that his success, his prosperity and his salvation depend on himself--on his keeping his soul pure as God made it; and his failure, his decline, his perdition depend on his soiling his soul by choosing evil.

This special nature of human creations goes with its mission and responsibilities--Allah tells the angels that He wants to create His representative on earth. Allah says: "Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: I will create a vicegerent on earth." (Quran 2:30).

At that moment, man's mission began--the mission to be God's representative. Strangely enough, when Allah called on all the creatures and said: "I have something to present to all of you--the earth, sky, mountains, seas and animals--to hold as a trust" (Quran 33:72), everyone refused to accept his offer except man.

So it became evident that man was endowed with a higher quality. He accepted the role of being Allah's trustee whereby he would care for what the Almighty presented to the whole world. It is only man who can resist his wished and physiological needs, who can pursue the good or bad way, who can follow or disobey his wisdom and who can descend into mud or ascend towards God.

This mission of man entrusted by Allah is with full responsibility to initiate his own betterment and to contribute and play a positive role towards developing a stable and progressive society. This initiative has to be taken by the individual man and by working together with the other members of the society.

This, in trun, makes him responsible for his fate and future--as an individual and member of society. Allah says: "The fate of the old civilisation is what they themselves gained; your fate depends on what you gain." (Quran 2:141).

The modern man has to understand his own nature and responsibility so that he will continuously have a sense of mission with full responsibility to undertake all positive steps in the spectrum of his life. This responsibility, from the Islamic point of view, is the religious responsibility which will be accountable to Allah in the hereafter.

This Islamic way of looking at man in this life is relevant and dynamic. It motivates man to be more contributive and not to be a parasite of the society. Along this line of thought, Islam explains very lucidly the nature and position of man in this world.

This Islamic view of man is opposed to the secular homoeconomicus (economic man) view which is not true and which creates problems for man to lead his individual and collective life. By adopting this secular view, man is only considered a material being and his spiritual requirement is insignificant.

This contributes to man being very materialistic and arrogant. His life is always seen in the realm of his material need and development. Surprisingly, this philosophy of looking at human nature cannot sustain man's ability to progress economically in the long-run.

Failure to follow the spiritual content of human nature will only lead to man propagating the philosophy of individualism in organising human society.

Out of all the bounties Almighty has bestowed upon human beings, the most precious is the gift of life. HUMAN LIFE IS PRECIOUS in every stage of development and no one has the right to end another's life or his / her life under any circumstances. Each one of us should remember that this life Almighty has granted us, is not our personal possession or our personal property. In-fact it is a trust from Almighty, making us merely trustees. Because we are trustees we should utilise each and every moment of our lives in the paths that please Almighty.