IDEA 22
Demand Ethic versus Service Ethic
The first sentence in the Qur’ān (Q1:2) begins with Praise be to GOD, or, to be more precise, Giving praise is owed to GOD. This spirit of worship and service, of giving of one’s best unstintingly, without thought of return, to the One Who most deserves that worship and service, is what distinguishes the angels above all other rational beings. It explains why they were willing to prostrate themselves upon command, without hesitation or doubt, and why their diligence and devotion are frequently mentioned as examples for mankind to follow. (IIQ, page 357)
Islam arose from a world-view that is radically at odds with that of modern Western civilization.
Here in the West during the past four or more decades, we have been neglecting our productive economy, our capacity for supply, which has fled abroad to low-wage countries and industrial powerhouses like Japan, South Korea, India, and especially China. But our demand remains unslaked, and is constantly stimulated and reawakened by advertisers, marketers, and the promotion of consumer values. We demand our freedom, our rights, and our privacy. We demand the lowest possible price, the best service, and the fastest internet speed. We demand answers, however half-baked, we demand respect from lesser nations, however insincere, and we demand a better world for ourselves and our descendants. And we demand it all now.
Our entire media space is soaked through to the bone with this narcissistic language and perspective. Like fish in water, we never see it because we swim, feed, live, and die in it. When we are jerked up into the atmosphere of another culture, such as that of Islam, we can only struggle and stare, unseeing, gasping like fish thrown onto dry land.
That is because the Qur’an is permeated with a completely different ethic that we can read for years on end and yet fail to absorb. The ethic of service begins with Only You we serve (Q1:5) and constantly asks, not ‘Have You given us enough?’, but ‘Have we given You enough?’ or ‘How can we serve You even more?’
The notion of social position in Islam is tightly bound up with the concept of being responsible, in Arabic mas’ul — literally ‘being asked’. To have power is questionable, i.e., subject to demands from GOD and man. In a hadith from Sahihil-Bukhari, the Messenger of AL-LAH (may GOD bless him and give him peace) is reported as saying “Everyone of you is a guardian and is responsible for his charges. The ruler who has authority over people is a guardian and is responsible for them; a man is a guardian of his family and is responsible for them; a woman is a guardian of her husband’s house and children and is responsible for them; a slave is a guardian of his master’s property and is responsible for it; so all of you are guardians and are responsible for your charges.”
In other words, whatever power you have will be in turn demanded of you. The higher your position, such as that of an angel, the greater your service must be. By asking the angels to prostrate themselves to Adam, AL-LAH was confirming for them how much He valued them.
Download the PDF version for free at Ideas Inspired by the Qur’ān – Mont Redmond complete version, or purchase a hard copy at Ideas Inspired by the Qur’an: Redmond, Mont: 9781738842506: Books – Amazon.ca.Photo by Damon Hall on Pexels.com
