In the Qur’an God gave human beings (Children of Adam) a...

In the Qur’an God gave human beings (Children of Adam) a rank that goes beyond value, which is dignity, God says: “And We have certainly dignified (honored =Karramna) the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference.” (Qur’an, 17: 70) When God dignified human beings, then every human being becomes invaluable by the action of God Who gave this intrinsic worth through uniqueness.

-If Qur’an had given only value to humans, then human beings become valuable but at the same time replaceable by equivalent value. -Since we know that there is no equivalent value for any human being (because of uniqueness). -Therefore, every human being is irreplaceable, and has the intrinsic worth and respect that is called in the Qur’an Dignity.

In Islam the duty not to harm other human beings goes over time and covers the present and future generations because it revolves around the internal absolute worth and dignity of each person as such; and because God treat people equally and no one should be victimized nor be held special to cause harm. Kant: Why should we respect a person? Kant, in his book Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals , discussed price and dignity: “In the kingdom of ends everything has either a price or a dignity.

If it has a price, something else can be put in its place as an equivalent ; if it is exalted above all price and so admits of no equivalent, then it has a dignity.”11 Kant considered value to be, that which bears equivalence in the process of exchange.12 The problem with this definition is that it does not make a distinction between the essence and the attributes. Human life is unique and invaluable. It is the very essence of attributes and values that we can possess.

Life cannot be a subject of exchange simply because there is no equivalence to it. The discussion of dignity and uniqueness, in the light of Kant’s philosophy, revolves around the idea that respect due to a person is related to autonomous action based on rationality and free will. This action must submit to the universal laws of ethics. But if this is the case, then lack of rationality means lack of dignity by default. This cannot be true.

Consider a mentally challenged person, although he or she may not have the capacity for rational decisions we still respect that person, and he or she still possesses dignity.