The Challenge of Being Human

Friday is the day that takes us right back to our roots. It is the sixth day of creation, the day of the creation of the human species, Adam. It is Yawm al-Jumu'ah, the Day of Assembley when human beings assemble in order to remember, in gratitude and joy, the favours that God bestowed on them, the sustenance and guidance He provides for them and their responsibility to Him for their fellow human beings and the rest of creation.

What does it mean to be human?

The Qur'an takes us back to a scene before the creation of Adam. God introduces the new project to the angels: "I am about to put a khalîfah on earth."

Let us stop here for a minute to reflect. The word khalîfah is where the English word caliph comes from. But the verse certainly does not refer to the head of a traditional Muslim state before the caliphate was abolished. It rather refers to the human species as such and has been translated and explained in various ways: a successor, representative, trustee, custodian or governor. Some commentators point out the high ontological status of Man and his special power, for the better or worse, over other created beings or his task to preserve creation and build a just and peaceful society. Others, afraid of human megalomania, insist that Man is no more than a successor of other created species, be it the animals that are by nature unable to perform more complex acts of service, be it the jinn, mysterious invisible forces that were banished into the wilderness for their insurrection, thus giving Man a chance to do a better job.

All these are aspects of the same word and facettes of the Qur'anic concept of Man. Man, man and woman, has been created with a vast potential to understand, utilize and even make changes in the rest of creation and has been given the freedom to make use of it. At the same time, this does not take him outside the realm of created beings but is rather linked with a special responsibility to use these powerful tools in ways beneficial for himself and others with the perspective of being accountable to the Creator.

A similar concept is outlined in the Biblical narrative of creation. Man was created "in the image of God," male amd female. This was obviously written before a specific experience with pictures in some monotheist traditions and is by no means meant to suggest that man or woman looks like God but rather alludes to the potential that makes human beings special within creation and as a consequence of which they are set to "rule over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moves on earth" and to "preserve and cultivate the garden".

Going back to the Qur'anic narrative, we find that the angels are anything but enthusiastic about the project and promptly express their concern that it may go wrong, that Man, instead of being a responsible khalîfah, considers himself a ruler in his own right, misusing his potential to "make mischief on it and shed blood."

In our time and age, we might feel inclined to sympathise with the angels, living in an atmosphere of fear of what human hands produced, looking back to the experience of two world wars, countless examples of genocide, the annihilation of numerous cultures, and terrible crimes even in the name of religion, and being confronted with weapons of mass destruction, terror and counterterror, economical injustice and oppression, the extermination of many species of animals and plants as well as severe damage to the natural environment. Did creation go wrong, after all? Were the angels right? Doesn't human behaviour, on the whole, seem like a slap in the Creator's face, an insult to all that is holy?

God's answer leaves us wondering. "I know what you do not know." What does God know?

While it is true that no human mind can ever fathom God's infinite knowledge, we can be sure about things that we witnessed in the past and that we keep experiencing in the present. Only a few points:

• God certainly knew His own intention to provide guidance both through intellectual and intuitive insight and by awakening inspired prophetic teachers.
• God certainly knows that, just as human destructive nastiness is based on selfish, irresponsible misuse of power, true human greatness comes about by unfolding the good potential and using it in the service of the Creator for the benefit of all. The condition, however, is freedom. Only free beings are able to develop love not only for their nearest relatives and friends but for the Creator and for what He has taken great care to create.
• God certainly knows that we can make a difference. Our life is an opportunity to learn, to make choices and amendments, to keep on the straight path, to get sidetracked and to return, to profit from experiences. Making a difference for ourselves, we start influencing those around us and changing the situation in which we find ourselves. The world becomes what we, each of us, contributes to it. Our sages said that it takes only forty loving sincere human beings to preserve the world in spite of a lot of evil.

On the whole, God says yes to the creation of Adam. We are not mere coincidental successors of a more primitive species but consciously intended beings capable to make conscious decisions - including the conscious decision to love and share the love of our Creator.

God gives us an advance of trust. Let us make an effort to prove worthy of it.

Our Creator and Sustainer, help us to remember the gifts, the guidance and the dignity that You have given us. Strengthen out courage to discover and unfold our potential and to use it in Your service, taking responsibility for ourselves, our families, our community and, together, for the world that You created. Give us the humility to recognize each other's abilities and skills for a beneficial exchange and to forgive each other's shortcomings and to respect each other's dignity. Guide those who are entrusted with special socio-political tasks to ways of justice, wisdom and peace and protect us from tyrants bent on injustice, madness and war.

(c) Halima Krausen, 2005