Why is it in the Quran, in the words of Allah SWT, human are told not to do this or that, and told not to eat what is classified as Haram?
And why is it in the month of Ramadhan, Allah dictates what is normally Halal for Muslim to be Haram during the day? Allah the Eternal Intelligence talked about Haram more than Halal in the Quran. Let us see what is the philosophy and wisdom behind mentioning Haram more than Halal.
On a spiritual level, the Quran teaches us about the existence of master and slave, the creator and the creation, thus increasing our faith by showing our obedience in choosing Halal instead of Haram, and not to eat what is Halal during the day of Ramadhan since Allah has made it Haram for us.
We obey to The Obeyed, which is good enough since we know our purpose and our relation to Allah. But what about our purpose on an intellectual level? As the only creation that is capable of thinking and being curious, we ask questions: Why do Haram exists in the first place? Why can’t everything be Halal for all mankind? This is similar to asking the question why sorrow exists instead of just happiness? Or why there is darkness instead of just light?
"Had your Master willed, shadow will be made Constant" - Qu'ran
Notice there are pairs in all of the above. Pain and joy, darkness and light, negative and positive, Haram and Halal, and so on and so forth. All these, as taught in the Quran, must exist, as educational devices for humankind. Each have its own values, for without each of the pairs, we as humans will remain stupid forever since there will be no observation, no creativity, and no sense of intellect.
If Allah SWT willed, there will be no darkness and no shadow in the universe, that it becomes part of the law of nature that we live in daylight everyday. If He willed, we could never experience night time or darkness, even in rooms or caves, and there is no shadow; light is everywhere for everyone, just like in the Heavens.
But in such situations, there will never be any need for candles or light bulbs or those beautiful chandeliers; in other words, man will never learn how to create light-bearing instruments. In fact, we wont have any idea whatsoever regarding light – where does it come from, how it comes into being, what is it’s function – since there is no darkness to compare it with. In short, we will never value the existence of light ever.
But because of The Almighty’s Intelligent Love, He created darkness, the color black, the shadow, the shades, and appointed the sun as the origin of light. This is a situation where everything that can increase our intelligence is put into place (i.e. darkness, light, sun, shadow, night, day etc).
Only then will humans ponder and wonder about light itself, what is its value in relation to darkness. We began to value light as a source of guidance. Light is a true joy in total darkness, either dim or full bright. We are also certain that light is a source of guidance, making clear to us what is not.
Innately we also value darkness, since it increases our understanding of creation. Within a dark background, scientist made experiments to learn about sub-atomic particles, to understand the light wave and make use of it. Hence, with our creative intelligence, we began creating lamp, torch light, traffic light, TV, camera, etc. All these observation and intelligent material design can happen because darkness exists.
“Have you not observed how your Master made shadow Lengthen?
Had your Master willed, shadow will be made Constant,
Subsequently We made the sun it’s Captain.”
- Ayat 45, Surah Al-Furqan
If darkness is necessary, so too is Haram. The existence of darkness is similar to the existence of Haram. If Allah had willed, there will be no Haram but only Halal. But then this situation of all Halal without the Haram will make us stay dumb forever as we will not be able to distinguish and value the real meaning of Halal, since there is no Haram to compare it with.
From the perspective of the Creator, what is the point of creating humans if they are dumb? If they cannot make distinctions between what is good and what is dangerous for their health? If they cannot value high quality food (Halal food) and high quality lifestyle (Halal lifestyle) since there is no Haram to compare it with?
Hence Allah SWT created what is Haram as assistance to our intelligence in giving tangible value to Halal, and it helps us to create intelligent alternatives of Haram – the Halal food and products and services. If we find that our tortilla and lipstick contains Haram chemical compound, we should use our creative intelligence to create alternative chemical compounds.
If we find that our banking and finance system have Haram elements, we automatically create a Halal alternative as the best solution for our own use. Since pigs and dogs are Najis (Haram to touch), we have created clay soap to cleanse the Haram elements, and to stay clean. In other words, we are able to create Halal solutions because of the existence of Haram.
Among the Harams, we have also created alternative ways to live Halal. Among the Haram values, we find values for Halal. And since the Halal values are fulling, why not share it with the world so that all mankind can benefit from it? As how Al-Haytam shared his scientific discovery of the property of light and the mechanic of the eyes with the world.
So how do we share Halal values? We value the Haram as how we value the darkness. These are the creations of Allah, out of Love, to assist us in increasing our intellectual capacity and our observational skill. If humans can converse with Allah SWT directly – like the angels, the nature or the universe – humans will always ask questions and be fed with answers by Allah SWT, thus the thinking ability and capacity will be lost, ergo not able to ponder and think.
But Allah SWT had decided not to communicate directly with humans; instead He created everything in pairs as signs to self-educate and instigate our thinking and evaluation. Allah SWT talks about Haram more in the Quran (in that sense, you may even consider the Quran as the Book of Haram as guidance for what is Halal), so that we may ponder and value the pairs (Haram and Halal).
We then would find ways to avoid what is Haram, and work our brains to create what is Halal for the benefit of mankind. This is our value as human beings, the only being with intellect and a whole lot of questions within the entire universe.
This is the wisdom behind mentioning Haram more than Halal. Imagine a husband and his wife, namely Adam and Eve, who are left on an island with only the guidebook of Haram as their only guide. It will surely help them live a healthy lifestyle by avoiding the Harams. And more so for us living on this gigantic island, the planet Earth, with more resources and more people with thinking capacity within society.
Once we know what is Haram, by reading the Quran or by reading books about Haram, such as ‘The Halal Index – Pig Based Pharmaceuticals’, it will be easier for us to choose what is Halal and together we can create alternatives that are of higher quality, Halal and Thoyib for the benefit of all mankind.
Let us share this Haram and Halal values without anger or hatred, but with knowledge and love for mankind, for reasons that Allah SWT has created the Book of Haram (and the existential pairs) as guidance for mankind, out of His Intellectual Love for us. With this, all Muslims have a purpose, in various intelligent ways, to act on behalf of all mankind.
June 22nd, 2011 → 4:26 am @ HalalMedia Admin
0