According to Islam, man is God’s most noble creation. This fact is symbolized in the Quran by the prostration of angels before Adam upon the divine command. There are numerous verses in the Quran and also sayings of the Prophet, which praise the perfect mould and proportions in which man has been created as well as the beauty of the human form.
Man is a creature of many levels and facts. He is body, soul, and spirit. But Islam, faithful to its fundamental doctrine of Unity, views man as a unified whole in which all the parts are interdependent. The idea of man as the microcosm constitutes one of the most fundamental principles of the sciences cultivated by Islam, particularly the biomedical sciences. These Islamic views of man have important consequences upon the spirit in which Muslims seek to study and treat the human body.
At the level of the law, Islam conceives of the human body mainly in terms of its rights and duties. Islam attaches great importance to the overall health, welfare, and well-being of the body, not for its own sake, but for the sake of the spiritual soul which constitutes the real essence of man. A body that is normal and healthy may serve as a perfect instrument for either virtues or vices. Islam insists that all activities of the body must be for the sake of the health and felicity of the soul. In Islam, the idea of having a perfectly healthy body is so that it may act as a perfect instrument of the soul to realize the very purpose for which it has been created.
Al-Ghazzali, describes the body as the vehicle or riding-animal of the soul and the latter as a traveler who visits a foreign country, which is this world, for the sake of merchandise and will soon return to his native land. The vehicle should be taken care of and well looked after but not to the point of forgetting or neglecting the final destination of his journey.
Islam enjoins the complete fulfillment of all the legitimate needs of the body as defined and determined by the Divine Law of Islam. It takes into account both the strengths and weaknesses inherent in human nature.
The general aim of Islamic legislation on such basic needs of the body as food, sex, and dress is to ensure not only man’s physical health but also his psychological and spiritual health. For Muslims, it is by observing the religious law that man’s physical, psychological, and spiritual needs are harmoniously fulfilled.
In a number of his sayings, the Prophet speaks of the rights of the body which every Muslim is required to respect and safeguard. The Prophet was unhappy when he learned that several of his Companions had vowed to fast every day, to pray all night, and to abstain from sexual relations. He reminded them that his own life and practices provide the best examples for Muslims to follow. Those who deviate from his way are not of his community. Thus Islam is against the denial to the body of its basic rights or needs even in the name of the spirit
Source: Rachida El Diwani
Professor of Comparative Literature, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
Fulbright Visiting Specialist, Oct 22 – Nov 12, 2005
Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, MI 49783