Evolving Past Spiritual Capitalism

There are many theories out there about what's plaguing the Muslim world today. Dr Chandra Muzaffar has his theories about how our track record in treatment of women has something to do with the mentality of a defeated civilisation. Many also note the fact that we are too preoccupied with pointing out the differences in the way we express our faith while having to defend our right to practice in light of 2 major influences - one that's pulling towards a more secular practice and one that's pushing towards a stricter method of embracing the religion.

I've blogged earlier about how we Muslims tend to focus on reward and punishment in our approach to this life. Hishamuddin Rais expressed this point very eloquently in his article in Malaysiakini. I came across this article that came out a couple of months ago in this website, which has stimulated a very interesting debate about how Muslims today approach Morality.

The article's author received one of those forwarded emails on what I would call the Muslim "Rewards and Redemptions" scheme. What she noted was true - calculating based on what's written in the email, some of us may not have to do many things anymore to prove our faith to God.

The discussions that followed was eloquent and insightful. Of course, there were two stands to the issue - one that finds the carrot-stick approach to religion acceptable and necessary, and one that prefers having 'the law imprinted in our hearts'. It's also interesting that as one reader noted, this debate between "intention to please God vs moral good will" is not new - theological schools of Islam 1,000 years ago were caught in the same discussion.

Perhaps the essence of the faith is not in the literal meanings of verses, but the verses and implied principles. A reader noted the following:

"Of course, if one wants to do something just to please Allah and does not want to specifically tie the reward/punishment to that action they have the beautiful example of the Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu alayhe wa sallaam) who, when asked by 'Aisha why he would pray for hours on end in the night when Allaah (swt) had already informed him that he was forgiven for anything he (saw) might have done, responded, 'Should I not be a grateful slave?' "

True, we are not prophet-material, nonetheless, there is something to be said about aspiring to achieve excellence - including in the area of how we approach ethics and morality.

As one commentor pointed out in the said article:

Erik Erikson, psychologist, defined three levels of ethical evolution: the person who does what he or she wants regardless of consequences to self or others; the person who does right out of fear of consequence or hope of reward and the most evolved--the person who does right for the sole reason that it is right.

Faith is different things to different people. Some of us need the promise of reward before we get off our cushy sofas and do something. We need the threat of Hellfire to avoid doing bad things. Then, there are others who have evolved past 'spiritual capitalism' and are capable of doing things with a clear motivation - one that is 'imprinted in their hearts'.

To each their own, I say. It all depends on how we look at things, and to a certain extent, our ability to explore and reason. But it's pointless to argue on the merits of the methodology, because faith is, after all, a personal matter. Take what we can relate to and make it work. Instead of focusing our energy on disproving another (especially in this matter), we should let go of our egos and honestly recognise where we are, and then sincerely strive to be better.

Quick Links:
1. The Moral Maturity of Two-Year-Olds: The Reward and Punishment Mentality Among Muslims by Pamela Taylor
2. Between Hope and Fear by Mr Bin Gregory.

Posted by Najah Nasseri at 2003年12月19日 13:56 | TrackBack