Recently, the term "solid values" has been used in contrast to "fluid values." Values are usually associated with ethics and behaviour in society, and individuals and groups are judged based on them. The moral and behavioural nature of Arab societies has changed in recent decades for various reasons, leading to a civilizational and ethical regression in most aspects of life and humanity instead of progressing forward.
Values such as work, truth, honesty, justice, fairness, chivalry, and nobility have declined, giving way to values like unemployment, falsehood, lying, injustice, unfairness, baseness, and deceit, among others. This shift has prompted many concerned scholars to address the issue of values, examining it from various perspectives, particularly the educational, scientific, and cognitive aspects.
Values in the Islamic Perspective: A Crucial Foundation for Individual and Societal Development, Shaping Choices and Directions
There are numerous valuable studies and research that have addressed this topic, especially in the educational aspect. Some of these include:
- Abdul Latif Khalifa, Irtaqa' al-Qiyam (The Rise of Values), National Council for Culture, Aalam al-Ma'rifah Series, Kuwait, 1992.
- Saif Al-Din Abdel Fattah Ismail, Madkhal al-Qiyam (An Introduction to Values), International Relations Project in Islam Series, Higher Institute of Islamic Thought, Cairo, 1996.
- Majid Al-Zyoud, al-Shabab wa al-Qiyam fi 'Alam Mutaghayyir (Youth and Values in a Changing World), Dar Al-Shorouk, Amman, 2006.
- Mohammed Jamil Khayyat, al-Mabadi' wa al-Qiyam fi al-Tarbiyah al-Islamiyah (Principles and Values in Islamic Education), Al-Faisaliah Library, Mecca, 1425 AH.
- Fathi Hassan Malkawi, Manzumat al-Qiyam al-Maqsadiyya wa Tajalliyatuha al-Tarbawiyah (The System of Objective Values and Its Educational Manifestations), International Institute of Islamic Thought, Amman, 2020.
A Crucial Foundation
Values in the Islamic perspective represent a crucial foundation for building the individual and society, shaping choices and directions, and subsequently judging success and failure in the application and practice of values.
The Holy Quran describes the true religion as "the upright religion" (al-din al-qayyim); that is, the straight path without deviation. This description appears in six verses in different Surahs (At-Tawbah: 36, Yusuf: 40, Ar-Rum: 30, Ar-Rum: 43, Al-Kahf: 2). Additionally, the terms " qiyaman " and " qiyyimah " appear in two other Surahs (Al-An'am: 161, Al-Bayyina: 3, 5), emphasizing the importance of uprightness and moderation in the lives of Muslims: "That is the correct religion" (Ar-Rum: 30).
As we can see, the linguistic meaning of the terms "qiyymah" (value), "qiyam" (values), and "al-tariq al-qayyim" (the upright path) revolves around uprightness, moderation, balance, stability, and constancy, as consistently agreed upon by language dictionaries (Ibn Manzur, 12/498, Al-Qamus Al-Muhit, 1152, Al-Misbah Al-Munir, 714).
Values with Islamic Reference are Derived from the Quran and Sunnah and Steadily Illuminate the Path of Humanity Towards Goodness
The terminological concept does not differ much from the linguistic one. It revolves around the standards related to moral levels absorbed by individuals from their social environment, using these standards to highlight their actions. It also refers to the standards and judgments that form within individuals through their interaction with individual and social experiences, helping them choose goals and directions, and utilize their abilities and potentials. Furthermore, it encompasses the firm beliefs and cognitive, emotional, and behavioural perceptions freely chosen by individuals, forming a system of standards by which things are judged and regular behaviour is issued (Khamis Hamid Abdul Hamid Waza, "The Effectiveness of a Training Program for Teachers in Teaching Values and Its Impact on Imparting Them to Their Students," published in the Journal of the Faculty of Education, Al-Azhar University, Issue 176/1, December 2017).
If values have three dimensions—cognitive, applicative, and emotional—then the first dimension (cognitive) is what concerns us in this context. It is linked to the vital field of education for acquiring positive values that help reform society by building individuals, ensuring their uprightness, and absorbing the goals and aspirations of society.
If education fails to disseminate upright values, know that society is on the path to collapse. Conversely, if it succeeds, it ascends to levels of progress and civilization. Here, the importance of distinguishing between upright values and those that are not becomes apparent.
Islamic Reference
In our view, upright values are those with Islamic reference, derived from the Quran and Sunnah. These are stable values that illuminate humanity's path toward goodness and righteousness, achieving societal cohesion, prosperity, and strength. Their broadest scope is in the cognitive field: education, culture, awareness, creativity, and arts. Their applications reflect on society and its prominence in life sciences, as noted by leading thinkers and opinion leaders in the Islamic world, such as Muhammad Iqbal, Malek Bennabi, and Sheikh Muhammad Al-Ghazali (1917–1996), who believed that Muslims' shortcoming in life sciences is the most heinous crime that can be committed against Islam.
Colonial Western Values Utilize Knowledge, Science, and Invention for Aggression Against Others, Weakening Them, and Stealing Their Resources
If, in this world, they become backward due to these shortcomings, then they will be even more backward and have a worse outcome with Allah and His Messenger!
Al-Ghazali's perspective challenges other values that we might call utilitarian, commercial, or opportunistic. These values, rooted in the lives of those who support invasion, oppression, plunder, and the subjugation of others, are the values of colonialism in the West. They employ the values of knowledge, science, and invention to aggress against others, weaken them, and steal their wealth and possessions, compelling them into subordination or erasing their existence if possible. They spare no means in achieving this through unethical values, utilizing wars, internal strife, and enticing a form of education that aligns with hostile perceptions of the weak nation, its culture, and beliefs.
Moreover, they do not hesitate to use commerce and the language of the market to promote their values, ethics, and visions. This subjects the Muslim citizen or the victimized citizen to what they desire, spreading values of consumption, deception, superficiality, cunning, cheating, appearance, laxity, and lack of seriousness, among others. These values do not build; instead, they destroy, and they do not produce; instead, they squander.
Islam has prioritized the values of knowledge and learning. Quranic verses have linked knowledge with worship, making scholars the foremost in knowing and fearing God “Only those fear Allah, from among His servants, who have knowledge.” (Quran, 35:28). Therefore, Islamic scholars have been concerned with the values of knowledge and learning, or the field of knowledge, since early times. One of the most prominent figures who contributed significantly to this was Imam Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali (450-505 AH/1058–1111 CE) in his famous book Ihya Ulum al-Din (Revival of the Religious Sciences), especially in the fifth chapter. His focus was not only on knowledge related to Sharia but on everything that serves humanity in the field of knowledge. He also addressed the etiquettes of knowledge and learners, and the respect for scholars. He set himself as a role model for the Muslim scholar who seeks knowledge with great effort and firm seriousness.
Transformations of Nations
When Islamic values in the realm of knowledge transition from a solid and cohesive state to a fluid and loose state, society trembles, fluctuates, and regresses. There remains no opportunity for the nation to overcome its difficulties and challenges. Nations and political entities have transitioned from a state of weakness and oblivion to a world of power and material progress when they adopted solid values of seriousness and effort, making them productive and more influential in the field of knowledge. Examples include Japan and Germany after World War II, the occupying Zionist entity in Palestine, as well as China, South Korea, Malaysia, India, Turkey, South Africa, and Brazil.
In our Arab countries, or most of them, the field of knowledge takes on a state of unserious formalities. There are officials concerned, for instance, with banning the niqab in schools and universities, while classrooms and lecture halls remain empty because students flock to private tutoring centres or homes for private lessons. At the same time, these officials pay no attention to foreign schools and universities established on Islamic soil, teaching at elementary and university levels what is known as sexual deviance, namely homosexuality and lesbianism!
The spread of cheating further reinforces the formalities of education in our Arab and Islamic countries. In the past, we felt ashamed when someone was caught cheating in a traditional manner, using scraps of paper with tiny, handwritten notes of the curriculum. Today, students no longer feel ashamed of cheating. They enter classrooms and halls and write down the materials on chairs, desks, tables, walls, and any place where exam material can be written, even on parts of their bodies. Not to mention what happens in remote areas, where exam questions are leaked to those who will answer them, and through loudspeakers, the answers are read from atop a car, beyond the reach of the police!
Can a nation and its educated children rise when they are cheaters? Can we trust a cheating doctor performing surgery on a patient? Or trust a cheating engineer constructing a building that might collapse on its inhabitants? Or trust a cheating pharmacist dispensing unwanted medication? Or trust a cheating writer who does not write the facts, but legitimizes lies and propagates falsehoods?!
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