Dessert Island Discs- My Choice

If you were stranded, alone and on a dessert island with little to no hope of rescue, would you be concerned with questions of what is moral, and what not?

More pertinent to the question that I want to bring to your attention, "if you had never known the society of men, would you ever have the capacity to know what is moral and what is not?"

Succinctly, "Is morality a social construct?"

In the first case having known the society of men, you would have been versed in that type of morality which is a social construct and could therefore choose to ignore it, by virtue of your having known it. So your choice of ignoring it, is part answer to the question that I posed above. For choosing to ignore it, is proof enough that you had, even if ever so remotely, considered it.

In the second case, each person is born to this World, weak, vulnerable and alone, without exception. And if it is not the society of men that is to raise them to maturity then it must be another society or agency that must perform the same duty. And all societies, and agencies, harbour within them order, and order is maintained by rules of acceptable behaviour and sanction for breaches. It is these rules of behaviour that many consider to be moral.

But what is most tantalising in the whole deliberation is the persistence of the question of morality. That it is the kernel about which so much turns. 

That people in general want to lead a moral life, and by this they do not understand that which is socially acceptable, but that which is virtuous.

So many treatises have been written about this from Marcus Aurelius's "Meditations" to the famous Greek Philosophers and their works, and indeed it the central theme of the whole of Philosophy- "what is the best way to live life?"

And it is God's speech which, first off, directly answers this defining, very human, need and dilemma with in the first instance a method that points to each our aspiritations-

“For this is the book. Without doubt a guide to the Muttaqqun.”

Before following it with a sure method. 

We do not get to the defining verses of who the Muttaqun are until much later at verse 177:

It is not righteousness the you turn your (plural) faces to the East and the West. 

Is this not a clear indictment of socially constructed morality?

Notice the plural possessive form of “your”, which symbolises a collective decision. 

And then the conjunction between East and West, here it is not said East or West. East and West looks again like a procedural form without any basis, that you cannot choose or have no compass through which to choose your direction. 

So it is as if here the one being addressed is the one seeking a virtuous, moral and upright life and they are being told that do not follow these man made conventions that will have you turning this way and then that way, rather …

The virtuous one is the one who believes in Allah, in the Day to come, in the Angels and the verse continues and ends with 

These are the Muttaqun. 

Belief is first profession and then action. 

And the Quran is our guide. 

Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation. Not lectures, nor this above. 

The Persistence of Errors

Errors permeate the story of humanity. 

From Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, to the many miscarriages of justice that destroy peoples’ lives. 

*1

And thus a thoughtful understanding of the nature of errors is something that everyone should undertake. 

For whilst we might think that errors occur randomly on every timeline, when we examine them then we would realise that their occurrence  rather than occasioning us to reign in actually makes it more likely than not to cause yet more errors. 

These are of two types 

1- Compounding errors, which occur when we do not hold ourselves to a higher account, as in when we allow our allegiance to a “family” to determine our outlook and our choice of ignorance, over scrutiny. 

2- Concomitant errors. These occur when our attention to all other factors waivers in the anxious search for the cause of the first. 

The first type of error is the more pernicious, causing the greater harm because we are unwilling to cast aspersions against those on whose loyalty we likewise rely, just as they rely on us. 

The worst of these occur behind a black impenetrable box of obfuscation and obscuration that is our Criminal Justice System, where no one except the most foolhardy can call our Police to question. 

For it is clear to many of our public that they rather than keeping the Law are above it, and furthermore are above common human decency, and the moral behaviour of what we should expect from our model citizens. 

The second type of concomitant errors occur when our mind’s eye is distracted in the anxious search to avoid the first, and we fall prey to yet another. 

Worryingly when we “find” the source of the first error, even when it is not the real cause, this second type of error diminishes giving us the wrongful impression that our presumption was correct. 

In normal life the impact of concomitant errors may be small. But in policing the impact of this confirmation bias can be devastating. 

When both types come together we have what happens most of the time within our Criminal Justice System:

A Police Force that reigns in its investigation in order to secure a conviction. Solicitors and Judges that do not demand any proofs but rely on sentiment as judge, jury and executioner. 

And then a Police Force that rewards itself for securing a conviction no matter how convenient, or flawed. 

And a society that continues to think that the mantra “hard on crime” rings true, whilst pumping more money into a failed concept of Policing does nothing except increase crime, whilst securing yet more unsafe convictions. 

Like occurrences do also happen within our Medical Fraternity, but at the very least there each Clinician is at pains to take their each own patient histories, and draw each their own salient points from that. 

But once a treatment regime begins then these types of errors do still occur the more, and confirmation bias rules. 

These errors compound within our institutions, and are natural within them unless they each make conscious efforts to avoid them. And every institution is made up of people, just like you and me. 

The problem is the more insidious when human prejudice is added into the mixture, for then once the “culprit” is found confirmation bias proves their “guilt” irrespective of evidence, sometimes missing but more often then not just simply ignored.  

The first type can be solved by us each holding ourselves to a higher account, and not allowing ourselves to be cowed by the flavour of the day or other peoples sentiments. 

The second when we recognise that errors will occur, and then take them in our stride and do not cast around for blame. “Yes it has happened, but let that not stop us part stride”. 

*1 How can a person be convicted of the heinous crime of murder based upon purely circumstantial evidence. To me this irks full of errors that the CJS plainly encourages. 

 

Modus Operandi

The modus operandi of the Christian is to evangelise. 

But the Muslim knows that it is God, the Most Gracious, that guides whom He will. And God, the Most Gracious, who favours whom He will with true belief. 

And when he reads the story of Musa (as) in his book, he realises that his first mission was not to be a Messenger to the Children of Israel. 

The fire on the mountain top was a beacon that drew him close and brought him near. And then God spoke with him. *1

And sent him onward to Pharaoh. 

That his first mission was to confront Pharoah’s tyranny with kind, and wise, words. 

And indeed even before that, in the same conversation, we learn that God regarded him as an enemy and placed Musa (as) within his household for that very reason.  

So for the Muslim from the portent of each and every story of every Messenger that the Most Gracious sent to mankind, he knows his duty, his calling and his end. 

That we are to confront tyranny and oppression in all its forms. 

From the Political Hypocrisy of the Western Nations, that brands whole people as being undeserved of justice and peace. 

To their disfigured morality which equates every discernment with discrimination. 

To the oppression of their own people by their taxing the poor to give to the rich. 

To their Criminal Justice System hell bent on destroying people’s souls, and the Nations’ families. 

That belief in the Most Merciful God comes after we have freed people from the fetters of one tyrannising another. 

Where they are both the losers. 

And once free who cannot recognise that a universal and true justice amongst all Nations, that a morality based upon man’s natural order, that a just society can only be conceived and maintained with a true and complete submission to the Lord, Sustainer of all of the Worlds. 

That is our Islam. 

Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation. Not lectures and talks. Nor this above. 

*1 read the discourse in S Taha 

Musa (as) is here commanded first to worship Allah t’ala and then go to Pharoah. 

Not Forgot

I hope I’m not of those, so soon forgot 

What would let me know that I’m not?

Not forgot 

For what I have given 

My heart bleeds, and is shriven

The feeling is raw. 

And yet it keeps giving more. 

For hope never dies 

When belief is by its side 

And this anxiety 

Is but a prelude for certainty

The certainty of what 

Is that which galls me to know. 

The self made vulnerable man, 

who calls to prayer 

In the depths of the cold lonely dessert. 

For that is my part I shall never forget 

The warm friendship kindled within me

The medley smiles, and the banter of a friendship that will never meant to rot 

That day I asked you for eternity 

But never would I have ventured  

What then didst enfold.  

A trial of mammoth proportions 

Separation and heartaches

But never any doubt 

My heart crashes a thousand times 

Would I venture that again?

If it proves my truth, 

And yours too, to boot. 

Then I would, 

Most definitely would. 

again and again.