Islam, the West and ‘Man’ in the State of Nature

Abstract

What is the natural condition of human beings in the state of nature? What are the circumstances that exist in the state of nature and what may one, convincingly, claim in regards to human nature? Or, better still, how do we assert and substantiate what we make of it all? Responding to these inquiries, political theorists have put forth a bewildering array of opinions, explaining their perceptions concerning the constitution of human beings and the extant conditions in which they live. The philosophers selected are Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu. From each of them, a few key ideas from carefully chosen works will be extracted in order to explain their respective positions on man in nature. Subsequently, following a deconstruction of their viewpoints, this article proceeds to expose the distinct values that lead to an Islamic concept of human beings in the state of nature. It does so by drawing from the Qur’an and Prophetic traditions and, adding to that, includes pivotal political treatises written by Ibn Khaldun and Muhammad Iqbal.