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One of the
lessons from this is the literal; creatures like men (the visible) and Jinn (the
invisible) all use the dark night to come out in full confidence to perpetrate
evil acts, big and small, robberies, theft, mugging, rape. Even others one may
consider lighter evil such as gambling, illicit promiscuous acts, drinking at
pubs etc. are practices that are largely confined to night-time. People who visit gambling cities that
thrive on casinos for gambling will tell you for example that the city begins to
come to life in the evening. While early morning hours is when normal cities
rise to go to various work places to earn a living, gambling cities on the other
hand spend the whole night awake and active and then go to bed at the break of
dawn and will sleep through noon or thereafter.
So many
crimes, evil, and sinful acts are performed under the cover of night because it
provides relative cover to such evil forces, just as the day provides clarity of
vision, firmness of resolve and safety to individuals seen and unseen who use it
productively with less tension from possible threats. If we notice the Surah, even
witchcraft and envy earned a second and third position as against the darkness
of night and how much of a threat it may pose to law abiding humans.
A Christian Scholars view
In his brief
book (2003), Professor Iwe, a Christian, from the Department of Religious
Studies and Philosophy, the University of Calabar, Nigeria; also shares the
notion that a human being is “remarkably endowed with moral sense and the
capability for ethical reflections.”
Among the
various dimensions of religion is “religion as an organized institution” that
seeks to identify and codify its values, in trying to make itself relevant to
the people’s life. But the Prof.
asserts that “it is this socio-institutional dimension of religion that has
rendered religion a contentious issue.”
Throughout
history, he asserts, most especially in modern documented history beginning with
the Roman persecution of early Christians to date, periodic degeneration of
organized religions have on numerous occasions been responsible for the
tragedies and atrocities witnessed.
Such shortcomings of organized religions are responsible for the emergence of
anti-religion propagators, most especially atheists.
On Morality
being inherently inborn, Iwe says “(Man’s) intellectual faculties make him
conscious and aware of the nature and implications of what he or she does and
answerable for the same.” No corrupt
public servant, leader or even the common man is oblivious to his
responsibilities and bounds. He
defined morality as “the standard of human conduct in terms of the good or the
bad or the indifferent.” Actually,
he also isolates our moral yardstick and judge as “conscience.”
Morality being conscience was categorized into 3 by Professor Iwe; (a) the general conscience, which everyone has and is universal to human kind, such that your conscience tells you not to harm, or do things to others you would not like done to you etc.; (b) the specific conscience is another category, which tries to judge and ponder on some contemporary social issues such as capital punishments, the use of contraception, genetic engineering etc. Here usually the issue is new compared to other ancient ones addressed by the Holy Scriptures. It is also deeper and needs either some degree of education on the subject matter as well as guidance. Here conscience “becomes fragile and susceptible to error.”
(c) While
also requiring some degree of authentication and peace of mind from education,
knowledge, and analysis, Iwe categorizes the third one as one that is assumed to
be the voice of the creator reaching out to the created. He however asserts and opined that
though one claims to have received that voice as guidance, it could be
“subjectively an infallible guide, (but) still does not exclude the possibility
of objective error.”
Common Man-Made Laws
Though not
readily apparent, all man made laws try to emulate the divine and universal laws
of righteousness which breads brotherhood and harmony within a community, and
strives to deal away with or punish non-conformists. In recent years, internationally, the
idea of a global conscience guiding international discourse has been tabled and
thoroughly discussed even while some developed nations practicing free market
economy appear to work tediously against it.
The United Nations, for example has come
up with some basic articles that would lay the groundwork for the success of
such campaign. One such
article reads: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.” —United
Nations, Universal Declaration on Human Rights Article 1
Noam
Chomsky, an academician and a very popular critic of issues relating to human
rights violations has argued that “forces opposing the development of such a
world conscience include free market ideologies that valorize corporate greed in
nominal electoral democracies where advertising, shopping malls and
indebtedness, shape citizens into apathetic consumers in relation to information
and access necessary for democratic participation. (Wiki, world conscience,
retrieved March, 2011 ).
As in many
other nations, in Nigeria the man made laws are seen as trying to make sense of
the present communal living, while acting in consonance with the divine laws of
human justice. According to
Professor Iwe of the Department of Religious Studies, “Every law must pass the
critical ethical test of justice, if it is to generate an adequate moral binding
force on the members of the society.
Here lies the critical and indispensible link between law and morality.” Justice therefore must be the core
reason for enacting any law, and its achievement attunes and sharpens the moral
balance of its adherents. Being man
made, it definitely is not infallible.
The
principle of judicial review further indicates that the judgments of the lower
tribunals (courts) are subject to review and some interjections by the higher
courts of justice. Responsibility
and accountability are required from all citizens of any country on this earth,
including Nigeria. All citizens are
required to be law abiding at all times.
But most especially public office holders should naturally be more
accountable because their actions impact on others beyond themselves, and tend
to affect a significant percentage of the community.
Iwe
concludes that religion, morality and law are inseparable. Though the balance and degree of
importance is subjective and subject to various interpretations, none the less
the premise that these three are inseparable, he contends, is beyond reason. “The three religions of Nigeria
(including traditional religion), especially Christianity and Islam must
co-operate institutionally in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.”
Ref
1. Iwe, N.
S. S.. (2003). The Inseparable Social Trinity: Religion Morality and Law.
Calabar: Seasprint Nigeria Co.
2. May L. On
Conscience. American Philosophical Quarterly 1983; 20: 57–67
3. Nanji, Azim. 'Islamic Ethics' in
Singer P (ed). A Companion to Ethics. Blackwell, Oxford 1995. p. 108.
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