The ethic of reciprocity - the Golden Rule
In my post about the meeting organized by the Maranatha Community in the House of Lords to discuss the diminution of genuine religious freedom resulting from the lack of reciprocity when a particular religion refuses to recognizes the right of people to leave their religion and choose another, I reported on a presentation in which Sam Solomon claimed that there was no equivalent of the Golden Rule in Islam and that this lack leads to deep rooted inequality in Muslim thinking between “believers” and “unbelievers”. Those who have been Muslims and convert to other religions are subject to particular obloquy as “apostates”.
Umm Yasmin (now a Muslim, formerly a Baha’i under the name of Rachel Woodlock) rightly says that I did not correct Sam Solomon’s claim. I should have done so. But before I do, I need to address the question of freedom to change one’s religion. If I seriously believe that my religion is truth given by God, then surely it is my duty to invite others to investigate this truth, since the seeker’s acceptance or otherwise of the truth will determine their fate through eternity. Baha’u'llah couches this as a statement of the Golden Rule:
The children of men are all brothers, and the prerequisites of brotherhood are manifold. Among them is that one should wish for one
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7 comments
Nice article Barney.
Certainly it’s a pity that there is a tendency among some Muslims to think first of their brothers and sisters in Islam and some Bahais to think first of their Bahai brothers and sisters and some Manchester United fans to think badly of City fans.
“My neighbour/brother/sister might even be - heaven forfend - an apostate!”
Indeed, or a….. covenant breaker!
Apostates are everywhere if you look, and nowhere if you overlook. I don’t see any and I’m reputedly married to one.
You may find the following article on the Liberal Islam Network interesting - Human Rights Are Above God
Hi Barney,
My compliments on your frankness in raising important issues of religious freedom.
I want to offer a perspective on the historic contributions of Islam to religious tolerance. It seems to me that moderate Muslims have a strong case when they say that true Islam is peace-loving.
Bearing in mind that the essence of the golden rule is justice, here are two quotations from the Qur’an that give expression to the golden rule:
“O ye who believe! stand steadfast to God as witnesses with justice; and let not ill-will towards people make you sin by not acting with equity. Act with equity, that is nearer to piety, and fear God; for God is aware of what ye do.”
(From Sura 5 - The Table)
“Verily, God bids you do justice and good, and give to kindred (their due), and He forbids you to sin, and do wrong, and oppress; He admonishes you, haply ye may be mindful!”
(From Sura 16 - The Bee)
A salient point about the Islamic revelation is that it introduced some very specific principles concerning justice. These gave practical expression to the golden rule in a very concrete manner. For instance, Muhammad put strict limits on polygamy, and instituted legal rights for women, that were a major advance on the prevailing customs of those times. Islam was especially innovative regarding religious tolerance. A description of the state of religious tolerance in Europe in the middle ages can be found in the Wikipedia article on “Religious pluralism”, which states: “The religion of the ruler was the official religion of the people and, again, any tolerance of foreigners or remnants of pagans was up to the present ruler. The unity of religion was generally seen as a prerequisite for any worldly state - a divergent religion was in the consequence not regarded just as a religious problem but also an action against state and ruler punishable by criminal law.” By contrast with this situation, Muhammad introduced a system of specific protections for Christians and Jews under Islamic rule. In the heydey of Islamic civilisation, many Muslim rulers were outstanding in their application of religious tolerance. Those Muslims today who uphold religious tolerance have a great tradition on their side.
Concerning “hate speech”, you are probably right that legislating against it has major pitfalls. But there is a form of discourse all too common these days that abandons all courtesy when making its point. By all means let ideas be discussed vigorously, but would that the participants refrain from insulting what is sacred to one another!
One last point about hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad). I understand that Muslims consider a reliable hadith to be as valid in its own way as the verses of the Qur’an. The Qur’an consists of the revelation given to Muhammad for recital . “Qur’an” means “recital”. But the hadith are also regarded by Muslims as guidance that God gave through Muhammad, albeit in the informal context of day to day exigencies. So the hadith you quoted, expressing the golden rule, I understand would be accepted by Muslims as divine guidance.
My apologies for the length of this “comment”.
Hi, John, I’m most grateful to you for your thoughtful comment. It is helpful at a number of levels:
1. Your reminder of the contribution historically made by Islam to the understanding of justice and to the practice of religious tolerance. (Not to mention many other aspects of civilization.)
2. I have to say that I am in two minds about “hate speech” legislation. It is the classic double-edge sword: it can be used to protect people against insult and verbal injurty; but it could also be used to stifle freedom of expression.
3. The point about hadith is well taken.
4. The two quotations from the Qur’an certainly give the lie to the claim that there is no version of the Golden Rule.
The Baha’i sacred texts are replete with quotations from and allusions to the Qu’ran and hadith. Baha’u'llah acknowledges Muhammad as God’s prophet in the most beautiful terms. At the same time, Baha’u'llah is explicit about the decay of the Islamic institutions and the venality of the Shi’i clerics of Iran and Iraq, at whose hands He suffered most grievously.
Needless to say, Islam is not the only religious whose institutions have decayed. Baha’ullah’s doctrine we know as progressive revelation applies an organic metaphor of seeding, growth, flourishing and decay to explain the successive revelations of God through the world’s great traditions of faith.
I found my way to your blog via Dan Jones at pizza.sandwich and am delighted. For one thing, I begin to believe that there are Baha’is who are also poets and whose passion for the word and the Word are creating their own particular vibrations. Thank you for sharing the Beauty of the world.
Greetings, Heather
http://www.heatherpoet.blogspot.com
Heather, thank you so much for your very kind comments. The word and the Word are very definitely things about which I am passionate. It’s great to have the opportunity to share that passion.
Warmest greetings
Barney
While your writers are entitled to their opinions, they are not entitled to make up their own facts. In actual fact, Islam’s “brotherhood” rule only applies to “brother” Muslims.
Nowhere in the Koran is there an expression of the Golden Rule… therefore, it is of no importance in Islam and Muslims have no reason to observe it. Since Islam’s most important message to humanity (the Noble Koran) does not contain the Golden Rule, it is logical that it was unimportant to Allah. This explains why he entirely omitted it from the Koran. The Golden Rule is held to be central by all religions except Islam. Muslims are surprised to learn their faith does not teach it.
There is however, a very restricted version of the principle of reciprocity found in the Hadiths. The Hadiths are a non-binding collection of sayings and acts of Mohammed and his companions. They have much less authority than the Koran, but contain a version of the Golden Rule which applies only among “brother” Muslims. This Islamic “brotherhood rule” is not universal and does not apply to non-Muslims.
Islamic reciprocity is restricted to interactions between Muslim “brothers”. (An infidel is not to be addressed as “brother” by a Muslim.)
The Hadith quotes Mohammed as saying: “None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” (Number 13 of Imam al-Nawawi’s “Forty Hadiths.)
Other Hadiths clarify the limitation of reciprocity to relations between Muslim brothers:
Bukhari 9,85,83 Mohammed said: “A Muslim is a brother to other Muslims. He should never oppress them nor should he facilitate their oppression.” (Note: but he may oppress infidels)
Bukhari 8,73,70 Mohammed said: “Harming a Muslim is an evil act; killing a Muslim means rejecting Allah.” (Note: but harming or killing an infidel is a mere misdemeanour.)
Finally, the Koran itself makes it clear that brotherhood applies only towards other Muslims: (Koran 48:29) : “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; and those who are with him are harsh against Unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other.”
Such a standard is no higher than that of the mafia or another similar “crime family”. Islam does teach this, and there is the proof of it.
Islam divides the entire world into Islam and the Kafirs (unbelievers) and has two separate sets of ethics for each sphere.
The basis of the Golden Rule is the universal equality of all humankind, regardless of their religion, race or origin. It does not say: Do unto some persons, as you would have them do unto you, but do unto all persons as you would have them do unto you.
Islam denies the universality of the Golden Rule because Islam starts with the division of all humanity, into two different groups: Islamic and non-Islamic. Every aspect of Islamic ethics is based upon this separation, thus Islam has two different ethical codes. Said another way, Islam has dualistic ethics. Thus, in Islam, “Good” is whatever advances Islam; “Evil” is whatever resists Islam.
In the Koran, the main concern is that of forcing the peoples of the earth to submit to Islam and then keeping them in it, as if in a mental prison. Thus, Allah did not forget to include 164 verses commanding Muslims to go on jihaad (holy wars of conquest) and many verses commanding Muslims to murder renegades from Islam. Such verses are opposed to and irreconcilable with the Golden Rule. All Islamic countries refrained from accepting the UDHR, but instead they created their own human rights code in which discrimination against non-Muslims is fully legal.
This is perhaps the strongest argument against Islam: The Golden Rule is completely missing from the Koran.
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