SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE — Protection of Mankind

SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE Protection of mankind According to the Quran Surah Al-Maida Verse 32: Whoever killed a human being except as a punishment for murder or for spreading corruption in the land shall be regarded as having killed all mankind, and that whoever saved a human life shall be regarded as having saved all mankind. THE QURAN 5: 32 W HEN a person commits such a crime as is mentioned in this verse, in reality he breaks the inviolable ethic of the sanctity of human life. The sanctity of human life is a kind of value system that is a barrier to anyone taking another’s life. In any society, when this value system and sanctity is violated, then this barrier is demolished. A person who commits such a crime gives licence to others in society to indulge in similar or lesser such crimes. The murder of one human being opens the door to the killing of mankind. The sanctity of human life is a kind of value system that is a barrier to anyone taking another’s life. Adam’s two sons Habil and Qabil had a conflict on some issue that escalated further until Qabil murdered Habil. In this way Qabil became the first person in history to breach the ethic of the sanctity of human life. He was the first to use the method of violence in order to resolve conflict and hence began a new convention. In reality therefore, Qabil’s actions was not just the killing of his brother, but it was the beginning in history of a new convention of killing another human. After this murder, this wrong convention has continued relentlessly throughout human history. To better comprehend this issue consider the example of the medieval Muslim state known as Al-Andalus or Muslim Spain (711-1492 AD). The Muslim rulers of Spain in the later periods had become weak due to their internecine differences and conflicts. Initially the kingdom was fragmented into a number of smaller states and fiefdoms and then gradually, one by one, these small states started to disintegrate and