Social Equality: the elimination of classes and disparities
This is the most difficult form of equality to achieve. Economic equality and political equality are considered its prerequisites; they are the culmination, essence, and pinnacle for both. It has not been achieved by humanity up until this day, and will not be accomplished in the future except through hard work, education, and guidance to correct and change what seems natural in human behavior. In this way, it is the highest product of civilization throughout all ages. Civilization is principally an attempt to distance the human being from his baser animal instincts and lead him to a higher level of character, where the law of the jungle - the law of violence and domination by force - is replaced by the law of justice, truth, and mercy. Thus, improvement enters human relationships: satisfaction replaces force, justice replaces exploitation, freedom replaces repression, and the transcendent emotion, guided by a strong mind, replaces the dwindling emotion.
Our approach to this equality in this book is similar to our approach with the previous ones, which is to defer the detailed examination to its appropriate time in the book "Islam: Democratic and Socialist," where we will study it thoroughly. However, it is necessary to mention it here to the extent that the context allows.
The subject of social equality is the human individual, as was the case with economic equality and political equality. The human individual, as previously mentioned multiple times, is the goal behind every collective effort. He is a goal, and his means are Islam and the Qur'an, which are the greatest methodological tools of all. Its means is also the society, which is the highest achievement humanity has produced until today. The individual, who is the goal, is the human individual in the sense that he is human - even if he is an imbecile. He should not be made a means to anything else. For this reason, there should be no distinctions between individuals based on birth, ethnicity, color, belief, or gender, whether male or female.
Allah, the Almighty, said about this: "O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted." (49:13) His saying, "Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you," means that nobility comes from knowledge and character. Righteousness is knowledge and acting according to that knowledge, as indicated by His saying, "Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted," where "Knowing" refers to knowledge and "Acquainted" refers to acting according to that knowledge. The Infallible (the Prophet) said, "All of you are from Adam, and Adam was made from dust. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you."
The absence of social discrimination against the weak, and the elimination of the disparities that arose from the law of the jungle between individuals and classes, is the certain work of civilization. If you find a society where the rights of the weak are preserved and their dignity respected; if you find a society where women enjoy freedom, privacy, and honor, and where children have rights and are cared for with mercy and love, then that is a civilized and advanced society.
The family is the first society, and within it the individual learns - and continues to learn - the system, proper social conduct, respect for the law, reverence for authority, compassion, tolerance, and love. The family still has its exceptional ability to educate individuals in a way that leaves a lasting impact on their personal lives, as well as on their lives in both their small community and the larger society when they emerge into it. The pillar of the family is the mother, who is the queen of the small kingdom. However, unfortunately, recognition of this has not been granted to the human family to this day. The woman has been, and continues to be, oppressed. Her role in the home has been that of a servant. This situation has dire consequences for the upbringing of children, leaving a deep impact on the entire society and on all its levels.
We have previously mentioned in this book the matter of absolute equality between men and women, so there is no need to repeat it here. However, it is important to point out that social equality does not come about naturally, nor as a spontaneous result of evolution. Rather, it requires planning and intelligent development of society, as it needs education and guidance. Education is different from guidance; the purpose of education is to equip individuals with professional experience that makes them useful to society in the field for which they were created and are naturally prepared based on the talents instilled in their nature. Education is essential to arm individuals with scientific, technical, administrative, and technological skills to develop their society's civilization and elevate it to higher levels of competence and efficiency.
Within education, specialization occurs, differentiation takes place, and the direction of planning to meet the needs of society prevails. There is differentiation between men and women, as well as among men. This differentiation aims to develop and nurture the talents of every gifted individual so that they can serve their society in the field for which they were naturally prepared. However, this distinction that occurs in the fields of preparation for serving civil society does not carry any social privilege that automatically elevates the status of one individual above another. In this perspective, which focuses on professionally preparing citizens through directed education programs, the value of a woman is not the same as that of a man, but it is equal to his value.
This means that when a woman is prepared to be a mother by learning everything that qualifies her for this vital, complex role, her service to society, in the eyes of society, is not less than that of her brother, who is being prepared to become an engineer, doctor, or legislator. There is no limit to the preparation for successful motherhood. The more a girl learns, the greater her competence in the field of motherhood itself. For the benefit of society, every individual must be taught a skill that they master, both physically and intellectually. This is also in the individual’s best interest, as a person’s intellectual and moral values mature only when they love manual work and master part of it with good proficiency, because all advancement is rooted in knowledge and action according to that knowledge. Allah, the Almighty, says: "To Him ascends the good word, and the righteous deed raises it." All of these matters are part of the purpose of education.
As for the purpose of upbringing, it is to liberate natural talents, the mind, and the heart from the captivity of delusions and falsehoods. When the heart is freed from fear and the mind is cleared of delusions, the life of thought and feeling is realized, this being the aim of every living being. This is the mission of upbringing. Upbringing has many functions, which in their totality lead to the transformation of the human being from a state of wildness to a social being, where all their habits become humane and refined.
They eat in a humane way, drink in a humane way, sleep, sit, talk, and act in all matters, both public and private, in a humane and civilized manner. They do not display indecencies, nor do they utter words that offend the hearing, sight, mind, or heart. They do not spit in clean public places, nor urinate or defecate in public spaces. They do not throw dirt or filth on clean streets. Generally, they strive with all their might to leave everything in a better state than they found it. Guidance should prepare individuals for all of these things. Guidance occurs in schools, clubs, and public places, where education and awareness are continuously provided to the public, always without interruption, using all the media that the state can offer: radio, television, cinema, theater, press, books, magazines, lectures, and various types of recordings for different arts. The state must direct all the community's resources towards nurturing mature individuals by following the right educational approach.
The problems in societies arise from the majority of individuals being either adolescents or children, with very few mature individuals who are capable of confronting the truth. "Children follow the principle of play, which makes a person act driven by desires and passions, trying to fulfill any desire when it arises, without balancing one desire against another, executing it immediately. This pursuit of immediate gratification is often coupled with avoiding failure, pain, or denial. Such behavior stems from the failure to distinguish between conflicting desires based on a reasonable, long-term perspective. Often, wishful thinking replaces what is possible or desirable." There is no way out of this except through guidance. Guidance, unlike education, does not involve specialization or differentiation between men and women. It is a fundamental right for every human being and extends even to children, with no limit except their capacity to receive, understand, and implement. We have previously discussed the Islamic approach to upbringing in this book, and there is no need to repeat it here.
The golden rule in guidance is to place individuals in front of responsibility and to assist them, by all means, in bearing that responsibility. The purpose of upbringing is to raise mature individuals - to turn children and adolescents, who crowd societies, into men. The difference between children and adolescents, and men, is that men act freely and take responsibility for their actions, while children and adolescents avoid acting out of fear of responsibility, or they act and attempt to escape, under the cover of darkness, from the responsibility of their actions.
