Can the market provide moral outcomes? Do atheists have morals? Do religious people have better morals? Where should young people get morals from? Are Islamic morals superior? These were the type of questions being fired at me as I sat in a TV studio recording a program for 4 Thought TV. In front of me to my left was a sound man, to his right was a camera man and behind them sat the producer asking the questions. As I answered a question, the producer sometimes wanted to explore the answer further so she asked further questions. At one point the camera man joined in the questioning and wondered if religious people have the morality issue easier because they believe their actions have consequences in the afterlife. We discussed last year’s London riots and the morality, or lack of it, of those who looted peoples shops, homes and businesses. We discussed what a Muslim in the West can or cannot do when we see inappropriate advertising or ‘immoral’ things.
VIDEO: Taji Mustafa – Where should our young people look for moral guidance?
It all started a few weeks earlier when I received a phone call inviting me to appear on channel 4’s television series called 4 Thought. The 2 minute slot deals with faith, religion, morals, and ethics. Each day after the main Channel 4 TV news, someone speaks for about two minutes on the theme adopted for that week. The theme I was invited to speak on was ‘From where should our young people get moral guidance?’. I was asked to speak from an Islamic perspective while others including atheists, humanists and Christians would address the same theme from their perspective. In preparing for the recording, I watched several previous episodes in order to get a feel of the format and to think of what I would want to get across in about two minutes.
The issue of ‘where should morals come from’ is one that is now a very polarised and heated debate in the West. An issue that exemplifies this is the current debate in the UK regarding allowing same-sex marriage. This is being opposed by some Christian groups who claim marriage is the preserve of men and women. Other voices oppose this and challenge the Churches right to define what is right and wrong. The child sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church has led many to say that this is proof of its hypocrisy since it preaches against such things and claims to uphold good morals. They say that the Church is therefore in no position to dictate morals in society. Added to this is a Muslim community with overt Islamic practices and a fairly consistent sense of right and wrong as defined by Islam. Interestingly, some Western commentators actually commend our ‘family values’. They praise the fact that many Muslim children respect their elders and parents, that Muslim families are generally close knit and supportive of each other and that we rarely put our elderly in old people’s homes. They say these are values which existed in Britain many years ago but which have been eroded in recent times. So they like our family values, but what about the other values and morals Islam teaches us? What about the prohibitions on homosexuality, relationships before marriage and such things which they have not only been embraced but are now actively promoted in the West? You will find that many of those who praise our ‘family values’ have a wider issue with Islam’s prescriptions in an age of what they regard as ‘evolution and advancement’.
As more and more people in the West become ‘non-religious’, when the issue of morality is discussed, many non-religious people are offended by the idea that only religions can be the source of morals. They would argue that ‘John is a kind and good man, yet he’s an atheist’. Indeed, if you go by one of the dictionary definitions of morals; Teaching or exhibiting goodness or correctness of character and behaviour – it is hard to argue against. So you cannot say that non-religious people do not have morals. What I would question is the evolving nature of those morals and the source that defines those morals. Is it an independent and competent source that is fully aware of man’s nature and situation and indeed knows what is good for man? Will these morals evolve so what was shunned as abhorrent yesterday is now praised as good tomorrow? If child abuse is universally shunned today, what will be the case tomorrow?
As I sat in the studio being questioned, these were some of the points I tried to make. I thank Allah سبحانه وتعالى for the opportunity to add a Muslim voice to the debate. Allah سبحانه وتعالى has saved us by defining a wholesome and consistent set of morals which enable the human being to fulfil his needs and desires in a wholesome way resulting in a harmonious society – something which the increasingly non-religious West is struggling with more and more.
Taji Mustafa
Media Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain
6 Jumada II, 1433
27 April 2012