On Human Dignity: Sura
17, Aya 70
“Indeed,
We have conferred dignity on the children of Adam, carried them over land and
sea, provided for them nourishment out of good things, and endowed them far
above most of Our creation”.
This aya points to an
important spiritual reality: the intrinsic worth of man because of his great
potential. Everyone knows this truth instinctively. For this reason, the most
important need of a human being is to feel valued, to be respected and to be
honored.
We don’t need to earn our self-worth by accomplishing anything;
it was given to us by God. However, when we internalize this truth, great
achievement is inevitable. We must first become conscious of the fact that we
were made by the Most Magnificent God and that we have a degree of His
magnificence within us. If we reflect on this idea regularly until it becomes a
conviction, we begin making favorable choices in every situation and,
eventually, these accumulate, resulting in a spectacularly successful life.
We
are blessed as Muslims because a solid understanding of our religion gives us
freedom and power. God infused us with His spirit and therefore, we have
inherent great worth. Through this understanding, we are saved from the agony
of desperately seeking to conform to externally imposed ideals. We are
preciously unique creatures and do not need to prove our worth by spending our
lives chasing after material and social standards of success dictated by
society or imitating the artificial beauty norms established by the latest
trends. This never-ending chase destroys a person’s self-esteem.
In contrast, when we have high self-esteems, we treasure our
lives and spend our time wisely. We take care of our minds by constantly
learning, of our souls by reflecting and praying, and of our health and bodies
by eating well and exercising. Our bodies and our souls were given to us by God
as a trust; they do not belong to us. We are accountable for them and must take
excellent care of them. If we follow this path, the path of Islam, we manifest
an inner and outer beauty so radiant and powerful that no superficial approach
could ever match it.
The
Quran and the Life of Excellence teaches us that in order to benefit from this
knowledge: “we should act in ways that recognize our self-esteem, irrespective
of our circumstances. Train yourself to behave with poise, to walk like a
dignified person, and to talk like a noble person. Do not use words of inferior
meanings and never use foul language. You create your self-esteem by how you
conduct yourself when you are alone. Always be aware that the way you dress,
sit, stand, talk or eat, even when you are by yourself, makes a statement about
the value you place on yourself.”