The speech of H.E. the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar at the closing ceremony of the ‘Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities: Child Dignity in the Digital World’ forum, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Munificent, the Most Merciful
Dear Honorable Audience,
As-Salāmu ‛Alaykum wa Raḩmatu Allāhi wa Barakatuh
There is no doubt that religions in the ancient and the recent times, have agreed that the children are the youth of tomorrow and the future leaders who will bear the responsibility in every nation that aims for power and progress.
It is hard to refer to the literature on children's rights for protection and care without recalling the pioneer Islamic legislation in this area, which comprehensively and effectively handles this issue in the best interest of the child's rights. I do not mention that to praise the Islamic legislation and its due care of the children even before they form fetuses in their mothers' wombs until they grow into mature men and women. Rather, I mean to make a reminder that the modern legislations, despite their highly appreciated efforts, still need to be guided by the teachings of the true religions in general and of Islam in particular in their pursuit to protect this susceptible young creature.
It is much to the credit of the Islamic legislation that it has taken care of the issue of children's rights several centuries ago, when the human conscience was not even ready to comprehend such a subject. Human brutality at that time drove parents to bury their daughters alive, while thinking that they were doing the right thing.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Muslim jurists have unanimously agreed that the Islamic legislative system is based on five purposes [of life], for which Allah has sent messengers and set legislations, namely: protecting one's religion, offspring, mind, body, and property. These five purposes constitute the foundations of any human society aiming at psychological stability and peace. The Divine Law protects these five pillars with strict rules—first, in order to apply them and, second, in order to protect them from what may tamper with them. As for the purpose of preserving the offspring, Islam has prohibited adultery, rape, indecent assault, women defilement of women, killing boys and burying girls alive. Preserving the offspring that our forum handles today, labeled as "dignifying the child," is the same issue for which the Islamic legislation has established a comprehensive set of rules, unmatchable in any other legal, social or philosophical systems.
An evidence of that is the fact that Islam takes care of the interests of the children even before they are born. In particular, it looks after the child's right by telling the father to choose the mother of his child from a good community so that the child's peers may not ridicule her/him. When a child is born, her/his father has to choose for her/him a name which does not subject her/him to mockery among children. The aim is to protect the child from being susceptible to such psychological diseases as introversion or autism. The Prophet of Islam (pbuh) understood the consequence of choosing of bad name to the child and its negative effects. He (pbuh) would change the names of children when they had bad connotation that would hurt the feelings of the child—a boy or a girl. It is reported that Omar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, had a daughter called ʿAāṣyah (disobedient). The Prophet (pbuh) renamed her as Jameela (beautiful). He is also reported to have changed the boys' names Ḥarb (war) to Silm (peace), and Muţţajiʿ (laid-down) to Munbaʿith (raised-up). He even changed the name of a whole tribe from Bani Mughwiyyah (the children of a seductive woman) to Bani Rashdah (children of a well-guided woman).
Islam protects the right of the child to the extent that it keeps her/his share of inheritance while still being an embryo in the mother's womb. It also forbids killing the fetuses or abusing them under any circumstances, unless the survival of the fetus becomes a threat to the life of the mother. Only in this case can abortion be permissible. An Islamic legal rule stipulates that the lesser of two possible harms must be chosen and a major harm must be substituted with a minor one. Otherwise, the fetus may not be aborted in any circumstances or cases, once it has been given the lease of life. The sanctity of the life of a fetus in the mother's womb is equal to that of its life after birth. If we permit killing an alive child before birth under the pretext that it is a malformed fetus, then we would permit killing the child whenever s/he is inflicted with such abnormalities after birth, e.g., as a result of accidents or sever illnesses. I do not think that any sane human may approve the killing of children, or adults, whose fate is to be adversely affected by such diseases.
Arguing for aborting of the malformed fetus, under the pretext of avoiding the prospective psychological agony the family may have to endure, is a false argument, because it is well known that this life is, after all, not free of pain in any case. Those who want it free of pain and tears only chase a deceptive mirage. Of course, the solution for deformed fetuses is not in allowing abortion, but rather in building modern institutions to accommodate those children [when born] and provide them with dignified life conditions that please their families.
The Islamic legislation also shows much care about the child's custody. For example, when a child is born to a Muslim father and a Christian or a Jewish mother, who are separated for any reason, the Islamic legislation stipulates that the Christian or the Jewish mother has the right to keep the child in her custody, in priority to the family of his Muslim father. As shown in the saying of the Prophet (pbuh), "Whoever separates a mother from her child, Allah will separate him from his beloved ones on the Day of Resurrection". That is an implementation of one of the rules of the Islamic legislation, which stipulates that the rights of people have the priority to be fulfilled over the rights of Allah.
Moreover, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) prohibited separating a mother from her child, even in the world of animals and birds. It is reported that he (pbuh) was on a journey with his companions when one of them saw a bird with her little chick and took it to his shelter. The mother bird started fluttering its wings and hovering over the shelter. The Prophet (pbuh) knew about the matter and he angrily asked, "Who made this bird grief over her little chick? Return it to her!" It seems that the mother bird asked the Prophet (pbuh) for help, so he did help her.
Dear honorable audience,
It is a fact that Islam is pioneer in protecting the children's rights. However, this does not mean that what the modern and contemporary charters, agreements and protocols have added in this domain is not needed.
I know that today's children face such complex problems that the children of the past did not. Examples include child trafficking, and transplanting the organs of the poor children inside the bodies of the rich ones. Children are also trapped into armed conflicts; their bodies are used in executing terrorist bombing attacks, and committing shameful sexual acts and making money at the expense of their innocence via advertising and pornography. Besides, they are denied their right to learn, while forcing them to do tough labors not suitable for their age. They can also face other problems due to the serious challenges of poverty, conflicts in developing countries, the invasion of global social media, and the absence of censorship over the children's use of these media. In addition, there are not enough pedagogical programs that can instill in children's minds the best ways to benefit from these devices. The Muslim jurists have unanimously agreed that such countless horrible moral and inhuman crimes are strictly prohibited; they even prohibit committing or encouraging any forms or means leading to any of them.
Definitely, by mentioning the initiative of Islam concerning the rights of children I do not underestimate the appreciated and respected international efforts that have been made to serve this issue. However, before I conclude my speech, I would like make a very important note. Some items of those modern conventions on the issue of children's rights were formulated in an environment whose religious and cultural standards differ more or less from those of other cultural backgrounds. Besides, such items may include ambiguous statements, potential for rejected interpretations. While some of these may be acceptable in a particular culture, they can be rejected in another.
Therefore, in my opinion, formulation of the concept of the rights of human beings, notably the children and women, should take into account the principles of the Eastern culture based on the fundamentals of religions and their well-established code of ethics. This is a very significant and serious matter not only with regard to respecting the specific nature of nations and peoples, but also in terms of the internal unity of the social systems of those peoples. Thus, they can achieve an equal and harmonious cultural exchange between the East and the West.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
By participating today in this important forum, Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif, as a mosque and a university, calls for the continuation of the work for establishing an "Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities". Thus, it is taking the responsibility of formulating a common global ethical system that protects the rights of children and women, protecting women from violence, domination, exploitation in prostitution, or any form of aggression against their humanity. Such an ethical system would also protect the young people from whatever contradicts their mental, ethical and religious awareness. They can also avoid all that leads them to fall into the crimes of terrorism and extremism under the pretext of religion. Al-Azhar stresses the significant role of religious scholars and leaders in formulating this system and continually supervising and evaluating it.
In conclusion, I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to the state of the United Arab Emirates for holding this grand forum which coincides with the celebration of the International Children's Day held yearly on the 20th of November.
I also appreciate with gratitude the efforts of those who stayed up whole nights and worked very hard to make this forum appear in this wonderful and honorable form.
Thank you for your kind listening.
Peace, Mercy and Blessing of Allah be upon you all!