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What It The Islamic View of Humanism?

08 April, 2017
Q As-salaamu Alaikum, What is the attitude of the Muslim scholars towards humanism? Can humanism be viewed favorably from the Islamic point of view? Thanks.

Answer

Salam Friend, 

Thank you very much for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam. 

The philosophy of humanism began as a reaction to the predominance of religion in Europe during the Middle Ages.

It was no wonder that some free thinkers of those days thought that religion curtailed the freedom of Man and neglected his concerns. 

This criticism of religion led to the extreme view that “Man is the measure of all things”; which in its turn involved an attempt to substitute human interests for divine commands. The proponents of this view came to be known as humanists. 

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Though often we hear of religious humanism and secular humanism, the major trend of this philosophy has always been anti-religious, so much so that humanism is often used as a cover for atheism.

The Renaissance humanists mostly had a leaning towards the rational heritage of ancient Greece, and thus were secularists who opposed religion. 

Their world view is summarized by R.G. Ingersoll:

When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world, not even in infinite space […]

The freedom of humans so strongly expressed in the above quote is shared by Islam, only to the extent of not denying the Master of infinite space. That is to say; while Islam opposes all the oppressors of history in the world, it upholds man’s whole-hearted surrender to the Lord of the universe. 

It must be clearly understood that Islam does not oppose any human values, or human rights; and what it objects to is the negation of God to emphasize the authority of Man in the universe, which is the underlying philosophy of secular humanism; and this Islam rejects. 

According to Islam, for man to be really free, he should be true to his origin and his basic nature. This is possible only when he consciously acknowledges his true Creator, the source of all essence and existence. 

Only by being subservient to his True God can Man be truly free. In other words, only by being a slave and servant to His Creator can he/she be free. If he/she rebels against his/her Creator, Who is Infinite, he/she becomes a slave of some finite god. 

Through its arrogant assertion that human beings have full potential to achieve whatever they wish without the need of any help from God, secular humanism actually implies that human beings are gods.

Islam stands on its own as a self-sufficient philosophy and world view without needing an extraneous philosophy. Besides it cannot be used as a frame for a world view that is not compatible with it either. 

And Allah knows best. 

I hope this helps answer your question and please keep in touch.

Salam.

Please continue feeding your curiosity, and find more info in the following links:

https://aboutislam.net/multimedia/videos/answers-parents-early-marriage-dinosaurs/

https://aboutislam.net/reading-islam/my-journey-to-islam/not-gone-shopping-new-religion/

About Professor Shahul Hameed
Professor Shahul Hameed is an Islamic consultant. He also held the position of the President of the Kerala Islamic Mission, Calicut, India. He is the author of three books on Islam published in the Malayalam language. His books are on comparative religion, the status of women, and science and human values.