harmful to him. He enjoys freedom of choice and has to pay the
price for the wrong one. Even the sure guidance that instinct gives is
denied to him. The chick, when it finds itself on the brink of a pond,
instinctively shrinks back and saves itself. The human child may
misuse its freedom because of internal compulsion and may plunge
into the pond and get drowned. Man has much in common with the
animals but the differences between the two are more important
than the resemblances. His intellectual powers and immense
learning capacity set him apart from the other animals. However,
though potentially superior to the animals, he is at the beginning of
life much worse-equipped for the struggle of life than they are. If he
develops his powers he can quickly outstrip the animals; but if he
fails to develop them, he may as easily sink below the animal level.
Again, man is a moral being, capable of distinguishing between
right and wrong, and free to choose either. However, he finds that it
is not easy to distinguish good from evil, nor is it easy to choose the
good, when it is known. In his own self there is no sure guide to the
good. No moral instinct leads him unerringly to the right path. It is
obvious that there are no universally accepted moral codes, for there
are as many codes as cultural groups in the world. Each tribe seems
to have developed a code of its own, which is unacceptable to other
groups. A dispassionate survey of several moral codes leads us to
the standpoint of ethical relativism. A code of conduct cannot be
judged to be good or bad in the abstract. It may be good for one
cultural level and bad for another. In the past, conscience was
credited with the power to discriminate between right and wrong.
Now, psychologists, as well as sociologists, maintain that a man's
conscience is shaped by the cultural environment in which he has
been brought up. Conscience is only the group code which has been
internalised in the individual. We are thus driven to conclude that
there is no sure guide to the right and good inherent in man. As the
Qur'an says: "He prays for sharr as he prays for khair " (17:11).
The view that the power to discriminate between right and wrong
is inherent in man finds no support in the Qur'an. The verse^
(91:8)(3) which is very often quoted in this connection has been
misunderstood. It does not refer to any such discriminating quality
of “human nature.” For if man possessed the capability of judging
good from the bad, and thus distinguishing between the right and
Divine Guidance^94