Human beings exist in a world with which they must interact. To do this they have been given three faculties, for reception, processing and outputting of matter, energy and information. These three are inter-dependent. Corresponding to these we have three processing faculties, for thinking, motivation (feeling) and action.

Unlike other creatures which function mostly according to inherent instincts human beings also have in them a spark of the divine (32:9), a spirit which gives them consciousness. This gives them a dual nature - a material and a spiritual. The interaction between these produces a third bridging level of functioning, the mental. This gives them the ability to form concepts (2:31) and think consciously in universal and spiritual terms, but also the proneness to think in particular and material terms, conditioned by their physiology and experiences in a limited world. It appears to be an inbuilt fate of human beings that there should be a constant tension between these two functions, the Universal and the Particular. This tension has been symbolized in the past, long before Christianity, by the Cross, the entry of the vertical (from heaven) into the horizontal (the earthly). There seems to be a cosmic purpose for this tension - the injection of spiritual forces into, and the sublimation or spiritualisation of, gross materials through man. The evolution of this planet is facilitated or accelerated by the absorption of solar and cosmic energies and the transformation of materials by these. Man is a Vicegerent, an organ for the universal processes of involution and evolution (See 32:5, 34:2, 56:58, 57:4, 65:12, 70:3-4). But Allah knows best.

Because man is to be guided more by intelligence - consciousness, conscience and will- than by instinct as animals are, he has lost the latter to a large degree. Therefore, in so far as he does not use his intelligence and remains subconscious, he is prone to errors and reduced to a low state (95:4-6, 25:44). In order to live correctly, human beings must wake up (34:46) and they require correct facts, values and meanings corresponding to the three faculties - they require Knowledge, Values and Techniques. These three are interdependent. Facts refer to "what is", values to "what ought to be" and techniques to the link between these two. The Universe not only Is, but is also Becoming, and human being have a function in connection with this, at least on this planet (2:30). Though Morality refers mainly to values (motives and goals), interdependence obviously also creates the need for facts (knowledge) and for techniques.

It is believed by many people that the function of religion was to provide a moral structure for a society in days when society was less well organized and there were no police and law courts to enforce the rules upon which the existence of a well functioning society depends. Though social evolution was made possible by religion, once these social institutions were established, there was no further need for religion and it declined. This however is not the Islamic view. Nor can the idea be sustained in reason.

The first thing to notice is that there are three aspects to morality: -

Human beings interact and are inter-dependent with the physical environment (the world), with each other in societies, and with themselves psychologically or spiritually. These three aspects are also inter-dependent and affect each other. The whole of the system so formed is referred to as the relationship between man and God, and is the domain of Religion.

There is a difference between Law, Ethics and Righteousness (or virtue). Law is concerned with social order and this requires enforcement. Ethics is concerned with the mind and the justification of morality. There is an ethics of thought, of motives and of action. The first of these is not generally recognised as ethics at all, though the principles on which thinking is based can hardly be called facts, and are not always a technology. Righteousness is concerned with states of being and spiritual evolution.

Laws can only be enforced by human beings, and they are fallible. The criminal must be found out and caught, and this depends on resources, techniques and abilities of the police, and he does his best not to be caught. Cleverer ones get away. He must then be tried and this depends on the existence of evidence and the cleverness of lawyers. The rich can purchase the services of the cleverer ones. Bribery and corruption of witnesses, juries and judges also works, and their moods and self-interest intervenes. The laws themselves in Western Democracies arise through the whims or prejudices of legislators and the vagaries and expediencies of a power struggle between parties. Law work by fear and coercion and requires power. This is usually negative, preventing some actions, rather than enabling. Going before the Law is usually a gamble and results in much injustice. Some people are willing to take the gamble weighing up the gain against the chances of punishment. Indeed, it is the same kind of gamble as business, trade and industry takes and also explorers and adventurers.

Mental conditioning works better in that it creates an inner policeman, but conditioning disables a person's mental faculties. It may, however, be necessary to use it in order to create a social system that contains sufficient order to enable commerce, social institutions and education to flourish.

Ethical education could be used in the same way as scientific or literary education is done or even as technical skills are taught, but this works only for the few.

Since morality is mainly about feelings and motives it is the upbringing which counts. A well structured, stable and loving family is usually necessary in order to inculcate the love, faith and hope on which moral behaviour depends. Islam places great stress on the family - it is regarded as half of religion. The social structure is designed to offer maximum protection to the family against external destabilizing factors and increasing opportunities within it. This is reinforced by the religious practices known as the five pillars - Remembrance, Prayer, Charity, Fasting and Pilgrimage - and Quranic education which cultivates spiritual awareness and intelligence. These three must go together.

(1) Good and evil are connected with benefit or harm to our own souls.

In other words, we are inherently our own judges. Evil lies not so much in the injury done to others but in the injury done to oneself. It is necessary to realise that injury to others IS injury to oneself. This is because we are parts of a single soul and all souls are derived from God :-

(2) Allah, the Lord of the Worlds is the Final and conclusive Judge.(95:8)

The soul derives from the Spirit of God (32:9), therefore, it is connected with awareness of God and our own conscience.

In other words to say that Allah is the final judge is to say that Reality itself (22:62) is the judge and through the very laws of the universe. Here success and failure are objectively defined. Since the Quran is a revelation from Allah who also made the Laws of the Universe, then the instructions or guidance in the Quran constitute an objective value system.

(3) We cannot alter our external condition until we alter what is within us.

The outer conditions are produced by inner ones :- we do this by

(a) Altering and re-arranging things in our environment according to desire.

(b) Inventions through knowledge and technologies

(c) Bringing things from elsewhere into our environment e.g. imports or by choosing friends and the books, magazines and newspapers we read or television programs we watch.

(d) Touring, visiting or migrating to places which we like.

(e) Selecting facts and experiences and interpreting them according to our likes and dislikes.

(f) Eliciting reactions according to our actions both from the things in our environment and from ourselves by the efforts we make. Every effort modifies us.

(g) More directly by our excretions, radiations etc. It is likely that we have direct effects on the electromagnetic or quantum field, and that they then also affects us. There is a law of Reciprocity.

Evil is spoken of in the Quran as "errors" (2:256, 7:30, 15:39 etc.) or "missing the mark or target" (2:286) , or "straying from the Straight Path" (1:7, 2:108, 3:8, 5:12 etc.). All refer to a purpose.

It is also called a disease (2:10, 5:52, 8:49, 9:125, 24:50, 74:31). This implies a malfunction, a departure from correct functioning. Thus religion which brings a man back to his inherent purpose and functioning is a healing (16:69, 17:82, 41:44, 5:110, 9:14). No distinction is made between physical, mental and spiritual diseases or between these and social diseases and environmental malfunctions. - they are all inter-connected and interdependent.

Morality is connected with Unity and harmony. The following notions are used in the Quran:-

Gunah - Everything has a proper place in the scheme of things. When something is out of its proper place, we have Gunah.

Zanb - Everything has a perfect or ideal order and is correctly equipped for its proper function. If there is some abnormal growth, a disease, we have Zanb. A desire that goes beyond actual need or a perversion is such a growth. There must be neither more nor less in size and quantity. Both excess and insufficiency are evils. A balance is required. Greed is a psychological disease, a desire beyond need, a cancer is physical disease consisting of an abnormal growth and Criminality is like cancer in the social body. These three are equivalent and may even be connected with each other.

Jurm - Everything is part of some greater whole. When the part is cut off from the whole or functions as if it were independent, or if the means become the ends, then we have Jurm. There must also be sufficient diversity, flexibility and cooperation. The function of the part must not be obstructed by some other part.

These three apply to the Universe, the planet, the Ecological system, human societies, as well as human physiology and psychology. They are obviously connected with organization, order and equilibrium, with the adjustment of an entity as part of a greater whole, and ultimately to Allah.

The Quran and Hadith describe several levels of morality :-

(1) Etiquette - the inculcation of politeness, salutation, respect for privacy and sensibilities etc. in order to facilitate smooth social relationships.

(2) Lesser sins but having far reaching consequences :- The prevention of lying, deception, backbiting, quarreling, dishonesty, secrecy, intrigue, defamation.

(3) The greater sins - prevention of murder, injury, theft, rape, adultery, persecution.

(4) The Laws connected with the establishment of an economic, social, educational and spiritual system in which the stimulus to evil is reduced and the development of good characteristics is facilitated. There are instructions regarding the environment, treatment of animals, usage and wastage of resources, usury, and so on.

(5) The basis of good and evil - removal of greed, lust, hate, fear, aggression, and establishment of generosity, love, compassion, etc.

(6) The basis of the above - the uncovering or development of consciousness, conscience, will

(7) Inner integration - through awareness of, and obedience to, God and the acquisition of the attributes of God through surrender. 

From this it will be seen that Islamic morality covers the whole of life in all its aspects. Life is a single whole and cannot be compartmentalized into areas where morality does not apply. Such compartmentalization causes disintegration of the psyche. It is this disintegration which also prevents the victim, i.e. most people in the modern compartmentalized world, from having an experience, faith or belief of God since He is the ultimate Unity.

As Allah is the creator of the Universe, all things in it including human beings, then Allah is the fundamental, self-existing Objectivity. We can define the objective world as "That which exists apart from the experience and interpretation of human observer or any other creature with limited awareness." Or "That which Allah has created" Or "That which Allah knows."

Islam, Surrender to Allah, means objective behaviour. To seek Allah is to seek and abide by objective Truth, Goodness, Usefulness, and Beauty. It refers to objectivity in perception, thought, motivation and action. In the West much is made of the notion of "civilized". But this tends to be a meaningless slogan that people attribute to themselves in order to congratulate themselves while condemning others as inferiors by calling them barbarians or primitives. But on examination "civilized" is usually equated with wealthy, militarily powerful, or technologically advanced. In Islam, on the other hand Allah judges by conduct based on faith which is based correct doctrines - that is, on obedience to Allah.

We may, therefore, define objective virtue as spiritual development rather than "civilization". It can be variously defined as the direction of development towards increasing establishment "of the Ideals that are formulated or understood as the attributes of God"; Or "of consciousness, conscience and will (autonomy or self-control) and inner integration". Or "of Unity, Truth, Goodness, Utility and Beauty." Or "of Truth, Love and Justice". Or "of Wisdom, Compassion and Capability". Or as "The establishment of The Straight Way".

Spiritual development implies increasing autonomy and self-regulation, no spiritual development can be done by external coercion. Islam places the responsibility strictly on the person for his own soul.

This Principle of Responsibility implies that:-

(1) Muslims owe their primary service, allegiance and loyalty to Allah, their creator and the creator of the Universe on which they also depend.

(2) Muslims must acquire the knowledge, motives and ability to fulfill this function which may be defined as to do good and avoid and counteract evil.

(3) They have the duty to set up the conditions of life where they can fulfill their religious obligations.

(4) If they cannot do this in one place then they have the duty to migrate to a place where they can fulfill these religious obligations.

(5) They must honour the means by which they acquire their autonomy and those who acquire them i.e. those who have knowledge, virtue and ability.

(6) They are responsible to do what is good or oppose what is evil within the sphere of their influence. This also means that they ought to help others develop and acquire the means of increasing autonomy or provide them.

(7) But they are not responsible for the consequences of their actions, as long as proper, adequate and reasonable precautions are taken. This is because consequences are affected by other factors, ultimately by God.

(8) Muslims have a duty and loyalty to the community of Muslims, i.e. all those who have allegiance to Allah. They must form united co-operative communities on the basis of the objective ideal of service and Surrender to Allah.

(9) As the primary loyalty is to Allah, obedience to His commands takes precedence over any loyalty to the community. That is, the values Truth, Justice and Goodness have a greater claim on the responsibilities of the Muslim.

(10) Muslims must respect the autonomy of others. They must control their affairs not by forcing each other but by mutual consultation and agreement.

(11) If others want to coerce Muslims then Muslims must defend themselves and retaliate.

(12) The principle of personal responsibility also means that Muslims are not responsible for what someone might call terrorism or regard as evil - those who act that way are responsible for their own action and conscience, and that may depend on their circumstances.

The autonomy or self-determination of the individual and community must be respected and all affairs should be run on the basis of "mutual consultation". This goes much further than that which in the West is understood as "Democracy". Any thing less than this independence is mental conditioning, coercion or oppression and will inevitably bring opposition and conflict or some other evil or obstruction to progress.