The Holiness of the life of Man as the Common Base of Peace and Health

All rational and cultured people intrinsically consider the life ofman significant and necessary to be protected. When the issue isself-protection this understanding is associated with the intrinsicof self- preservation. Consequently, there is normally no problemwhen self-protection is concerned. Protecting the lives of othershowever, has cultural and educational aspects in addition to itsintrinsic and natural causes. Therefore, it is possible to deepenand strengthen the sense of protecting the lives of others througheducation. Islamic teachings consider life sacred and a divine giftgiven by the Almighty God. Due to the holiness of the life of man,it is not easy to permit euthanasia, abortion and similarphenomena. This holiness, in its turn, plays a great role inrespecting the life of man. In the Islamic view, man is notpermitted to breach the life of him or herself let alone the lives ofothers. According to the Holy Qur’an, killing one single innocentperson equals destroying the life of all mankind. Similarly, savingthe soul of one single person is like saving the life of all humanbeing. In the Islamic view, the holiness of life and necessity of itsprotection is not limited to the Muslim, believer or someone witha particular gender, color race, etc. Accordingly, in the Islamicview the reference principle for both the practitioners of peaceand heath is the holiness of the life of man regardless of everycharacteristic. The objective and practical result of this principleis the principle of altruism. Loyalty to this principle wouldpromote the quality of all measures of the fields of peace and health. This principle at the same time links activities of these twofields, because the basis of activities of both fields is protectionof man’s life and promotion of its quality. However, everyreligion including Islam has capacity to raise and/or develop thedichotomy of self/other. Despite the fact that Islam like otherreligions insists some identity elements when it comes toprotection of the soul of man there is no difference betweenMuslim and non-Muslim. The reason is the fact that according toIslam it is the soul of man per se that is holly and deservesprotection. The main task of this research is to elaborate onsacredness of the life of man as such and to criticize sometraditional views in Islamic jurisprudence that differentiatebetween the significance of the life of man based on the elementof faith and religion.

Keywords:

life , quality of life , health , peace , human dignity