Many atheists argue that we do not need God in order to live decent, moral lives. In so doing, they become judges over God and try to declare a moral ground higher than God Himself. Consequently, those who are doubting religion are also impacted by the apparent beauty of such an argument.
What all such people fail to see is the internal inconsistency and contradiction within such a belief. Once God is removed from the picture, the basis and foundation for morality vanishes as well. A moral compass ceases to exist and any attempt to define morality becomes a completely meaningless exercise.
What most people are usually arguing when they say that morality can exist without God is the utilitarian model for morality. This model states that any action that brings about happiness is moral, and any action that brings about suffering is immoral. Sounds good? Well, there are weaknesses with this theory. Dr. Austin explains:
A standard objection to utilitarianism is that it could require us to violate the standards of justice. For example, imagine that you are a judge in a small town. Someone has committed a crime, and there has been some social unrest resulting in injuries, violent conflict, and some rioting. As the judge, you know that if you sentence an innocent man to death, the town will be calmed and peace restored. If you set him free, even more unrest will erupt, with more harm coming to the town and its people. Utilitarianism seems to require punishing the innocent in certain circumstances, such as these.[i]
Since punishing the innocent person would reduce the suffering of many, and also increase their happiness, utilitarianism would require that the innocent person be punished in such a scenario.
Another scenario that scholars bring up is that of gang rape. While rape by a single individual brings immense suffering to the victim and pleasure to the rapist such that utilitarianism would call this action immoral, the situation is very different when there is more than one rapist. The greater the number of people committing this heinous crime, the greater their pleasure. Since the utilitarian model of morality sees everything as a utility and not from the lens of justice, it would see gang rape as less evil compared to rape by a single individual. This puts us in a moral conundrum that is impossible to get out of.
Another example that illustrates this is that of a mother preventing her child from holding a glowing piece of charcoal. The child sees it as a bright toy that she desires earnestly to hold, while the mother knows that if she gives it to the child, it will cause injury. However, the utilitarian model would have much difficulty resolving this moral dilemma, because the longer the child waits, the greater her suffering and the lesser her happiness. The mother obviously knows what is best for the child and makes her suffer—albeit temporarily—to save her from greater harm in the future. In this case, at least the present suffering cannot be seen as a utility that must be avoided.
What is essentially absent from the utilitarian model is justice. In Islam, on the other hand, morality comes from God. God is the ultimate source of all moral qualities. We learn to be gracious, because God is Gracious. We learn to be merciful, by emulating God’s Mercy, in our own spheres and at our own level. We learn beautiful, undeniable moral principles to follow in our lives that are unlike any other, as God says:
اِنَّ اللّٰہَ یَاۡمُرُ بِالۡعَدۡلِ وَ الۡاِحۡسَانِ وَ اِیۡتَآیِٔ ذِی الۡقُرۡبٰی وَ یَنۡہٰی عَنِ الۡفَحۡشَآءِ وَ الۡمُنۡکَرِ وَ الۡبَغۡیِ ۚ یَعِظُکُمۡ لَعَلَّکُمۡ تَذَکَّرُوۡنَ ﴿۹۱﴾
That is, God enjoins equity, beneficence and treatment like that between relatives; and forbids evils which concern the individual alone and are not manifest, and those that are manifest and offend the feelings of others, and those that injure others. He admonishes you, so that you may be rightfully guided (Holy Quran, 16:91).[ii]
Explaining this verse, Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad(ra) writes that there are three stages of virtue. The first stage is ‘Adal or justice, which basically means that human beings should reciprocate the treatment of others to the same extent as they would themselves wish to be treated. The second stage is that of Ihsaan or beneficence. At this stage, a person tries to repay others by doing good to them in a much greater proportion than their goodness. The third stage is described as Eetaa’izil Qurbaa, where a person does good to others regardless of whether someone has done good to him or not.[iii]
This is just one example, among many, of the beautiful, well-defined virtues that God lays down for human beings to follow. It further proves that morality really, truly comes to us from God, and human beings cannot invent it for themselves.
References:
[i]. https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/ethics-everyone/201506/whats-wrong-utilitarianism, Retrieved May 23, 2019
[ii]. Translation taken from Ahmadiyyat or the True Islam, p. 197
[iii]. Ahmadiyyat or the True Islam, p. 197-200