When does a human become a human being?

Allah Ta’ala has granted three main faculties to a person, which are called:

1. قوة عقلية - Quwwah Aqliyyah

2. قوة شهوية - Quwwah Shahwiyyah

3. قوة غضبية - Quwwah Ghadwabiyyah

The first faculty enables a person to reason. But not all types of reasoning are valid. Just as certain reasoning is trivial, there are some levels of reasoning that are beyond necessity. For example, there are people who want to understand everything with their limited mind. When they cannot understand, they refuse to accept it and they start to speak nonsense. The balance between these two extremes is called حكمة (Hikma) or wisdom that leads us to realise that we cannot understand everything with this mind. Our intelligence has a limit where it stops reasoning. As from this point, there is something else that will guide us. It is belief. That is, at this stage, we must believe in things that are difficult to understand, based on the trust of someone who understands better.

The function of this second faculty is to enable a person to desire. Sometimes, a person does not even have any taste or desire. This is also not normal. Similarly, there is another category of people, whose desire and wants have no limits to such an extent that they do not differentiate between Halaal and Haraam. Their extreme wants and desires prevent them from distinguishing between good and bad. Sometimes, they reach a stage where they do not see any difference between their mothers, daughters, sisters and wives. 

The balance between not having any desire and having an excess of desire is called عفة 'Iffah' or chastity that enables us to make use of what is Halaal and to refrain from what is Haraam. This allows us to differentiate between good and bad. And it applies a brake to our excesses in life in order to keep us under the control of the Shari’ah.

And the third faculty enables us to resist and struggle against things that we consider to be wrong. Here also, there are people who do not have the courage to defend themselves. They can be so coward that they might be fearing their own shadow. There is another group of people who uses this faculty where it should not be used. They use their courage to oppress others. They become a danger and a threat to the whole society. Sometimes, they create a climate of terror that every member of the society feels unsecured. The balance between the two is called شجاعة (Shuja'ah) or bravery that allows a person to use his courage for noble causes such as helping the needy, defending the oppressed, helping those who are in difficulty or supporting the weak.

Thus, we must balance these three faculties that Allah Ta’ala has granted us. Just as being deficient in these faculties is not good, to have it in excess also is not good. It must be balanced. As long as it is not balanced, a person does not become a human being in the true sense of the word. He has a weakness that leads us to say that he is a human being merely in form, because a true human being is someone who has a good character. The character of a person cannot be reformed as long as he does not balance these three faculties. Thus, a human being becomes a human being when he is able to balance these three faculties.

When we say humans, it does not just mean his صورة (Surah) or his exterior form. There is something more essential that is called سيرة (Seerah) or character. A person’s "Seerah" or character must be good, then, we can call him Insaan or a human being. Otherwise, a person who troubles people for whatever reason cannot be qualified as a human. He may appear as a human being due to his external form but taking his manners and character into consideration, he is not a human being. Rather he is a vampire! All other evil characters such as hypocrisy, jealousy, pride, rancour, selfishness, etc. that a person may have should be considered in the same way. With these bad characters, a person does not remain a human being in the true sense of the word. He falls from the rank of a human being to the inferior rank of creatures that have these evil manners. Sometimes, when a person misbehaves, we say that this is not a human being. This is because according to us, certain ways of behaving are unworthy of an Insaan (a human). It seems rather a trait that may be found in certain animals. Thus, this shows that certain ways and characters take us out from the noble rank of Insaan (human) and throws us into the lowliness of extremely inferior creatures.

[English version of "Quand dimoune vine dimoune?" – Al Jamiat – Vol.3 No.15]