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Islam is the light which shone from the dawn of humanity. To bring humanity into the right guidance. To know what is right and what is wrong - Yusuf Islam          The Muslims Have got Islam as a legacy; hence they fail to recognize its value - Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall          We need spirited, energetic and strong young people whose hearts are filled with life, enthusiasm, zeal and dynamism; whose souls are full of ambition, aspiration and vigour and have great goals, rising and aspiring to reach them until they eventually arrive at their destination - Hasan al-Banna          Love cannot fully express itself without hatred for its enemy and our hatred of falsehood must be proportionate to our love for the truth - Maryam Jameelah           We must begin looking at each other as brothers and sisters…..and not walking brochures. We must see each other’s strengths and encourage those strengths…..We must see each other’s weaknesses and be patient with those weaknesses…..sometimes even look beyond what we see as weaknesses and move on with compassion and love and respect. That takes true faith - Dawud Wharnsby Ali          Those who know they do not know, know that, to know is to know what they do not know - Ibn Sina          Education is our Passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today - Malcolm X          I looked at all friends, but did not find a better friend than safeguarding the tongue. I thought about all dresses, but did not find a better dress than piety. I thought of all types of wealth, but did not find a better wealth than contentment in little. I thought of all types of good deeds, but did not find a better deed than offering good advice. I looked at all types of sustenance, but did not find a better sustenance than patience - Umar bin Khattab (R)        

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

According to Freakly and Burgh, why cannot ethics be founded in religion?

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is similar to the problem of ethics in Psychology. I'll try to determine whether Freaky and Burgh are absolutists or relativists. It sounds as though they're relativists, but I have to think a bit more. I'll get back to you.

10:40 am, June 02, 2005  
Blogger »|m|u|n|i|r|a|« said...

they sound relitivist to me as well, if not nihilistic.

12:16 pm, June 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Existentialists, relativists and nihilists...how depressing. It reminds me of King Lear...a whole lot of text about NOTHING, literally!
I suppose you're right...they don't fit the absolutist criteria. Doesn't this mean that arguing with them would be futile? Presenting logic to them is not going to work because they'll simply manipulate logic and reason to suite their own agendas.

12:28 pm, June 02, 2005  
Blogger »|m|u|n|i|r|a|« said...

I'll let you in on a lil secret. My philosophy lecturer said that the biggest weakness of the relativist theory (any form of relativism) is they their absolute convition that things are relative. *lol* Think about it...if you believe nothing in this world is absoloute, you must also believe the theory of relitivism may or may not be true...accurate...only in the eye of the beholder...

12:32 pm, June 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The same point was raised in my Psych tute. Funny thing is, intellectuals still seem to prefer it. Isn't there a half-way, in-between kind of ethical ideology?

12:44 pm, June 02, 2005  
Blogger »|m|u|n|i|r|a|« said...

well many ppl seemed to think there is. I'll call it the 'Opportunist stand' or the 'Convinient stand' for all those wavering, two-faced...no... multi-faced ppl who can't make up their mind about where they stand!

12:55 pm, June 02, 2005  
Blogger Aaisha said...

Can some1 please explain these terminology to me? I am not a student of psychology!

1:56 pm, June 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ethical relativism holds that all potentially "moral" decisions (ie- what is right or wrong) in any given situation depends on what the actual situation. Absolitists, on the other hand, hold the view that there are fixed rules that apply, no matter what the situation or the circumstance...no matter who is involved. The root word, "absolute" gives a hint: there is only and absolute right or wrong for any given moral dilemma.

I'm not sure if this clarifies for you, Ishi. Help me out here, M. Apu...I'm not quite sure if my definitions are comprehensive, or even correct fot that matter.

10:48 pm, June 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Please ignore the typos...there are far too many for me to be sitting here and correcting them all...apologies if it is a tad illegible.

10:50 pm, June 02, 2005  
Blogger »|m|u|n|i|r|a|« said...

flynn, you definition are quite close to what i'd say. I don't want to supplement or elaborate for fear of confusing our poor lay*woman* i.e. iishii. Just do a word search in yahoo to get some easy definitions.

These theories are all concocted by humans. So, I guess there is not need to find a fit with Islam for any of it, but you can screen it from an Islamic perspective, yes, in-fact you should! As Muslims and conscious human-beings we must question everything we learn at uni and anywhere. The only...and I repreat...the only thing we should never question is Gods' word (and interpretations of thereof in which we do not hold expertise). Everything else must be critically analysed.

11:57 pm, June 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whilst its true that we must not question God's words- I should point out that it is our DUTY to question those who are passing off their words as those of God's (this happens too often!). So questioning is vital to the future of our religion-we must seek answers!

8:05 pm, June 03, 2005  
Blogger »|m|u|n|i|r|a|« said...

Yeah, I didnt say we shouldn't question things in religion! Esp in regard to those who pass off their words as God's own.

However, its important for us to realise that we cannot question the opinions of a scholar unless we hold a similar level of knoweldge and expertise. Many Muslims (as we live in a time of democracy, liberty, equality where every human being is seen as a rational, logical being) question and disagree with scholars when they do not hold expertise in that area! If I'm an ordinary person and I'm making a judgement regarding a fatwa, that would be a gross misconduct and certainly punished by Allah.

I know of a person who teaches his son that we should say "Salamun Alaika" and NOT "assalamu alaikum" because Allah greeted Prophets like that in the Qur'an! Obviously in exercising his own judgement, this person has completely ignored the tradition of our noble Prophet (S). Many Muslims combine the Asr and Duhr prayer for reasons/circumstances vastly different from that shown by our Prophet. It's not ok for us to make that decision, however, if there's a scholar who fatwed it ok, then we can do it.

Then again, we must question the integrity of scholars in so far as we're able. As a layman, another thing we can do is to compare the opinions of several scholars on a issue and follow one that which we think is most right. In that case we're not making a judgment and therefore not doing wrong.

9:15 pm, June 03, 2005  

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