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Taha Abdurrahman, a Moroccan philosopher, chaired a conference on “universal justice and depositarism” at the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco in 2019. He emphasised the role of human beings as entrusted with a mission to promote good deeds in the world. He highlighted the importance of spiritual renewal, moral values and the ethical dimension of human rights. His aim is to foster an original Muslim philosophy that modernises thought and addresses contemporary challenges.
Then I became certain that human perfectibility comes neither from material possessions nor from knowledge, but from moral qualities. This certainty led me to formulate three postulates on which I founded a moral philosophy. First, ethics defines human identity, which is neither fixed nor uniform but expands or contracts according to the moral qualities a person possesses. Identity is therefore proportional to ethics. Second, ethics cannot be reduced to a set of values or specific acts; it encompasses every aspect of human experience, whether visible or hidden, easy or difficult. Third, because Islamic legal rulings seek to honour human beings, they are fundamentally grounded in ethics. Reducing any ruling to its legal content without regard for the corresponding moral value undermines its purpose.
Taha Abderrahmane
Taha, A., 2017. Dīn al ḥayāʾ: Rūh al ḥiǧāb. Bayrūt: Ebdaa, pp. 163–164.
In 2019, the Moroccan philosopher Taha Abderrahmane chaired a conference at the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco on “universal justice and depositarism”. He argued that human beings are, by nature, entrusted with a mission to promote good deeds in the world.
Speaking to an audience of intellectuals and academics, the eminent professor highlighted the ideas associated with fiduciary thought and spiritual renewal, grounded in three principles: spiritual nature, trust and spiritual development.
From this perspective, the Moroccan thinker stressed the importance of renewing the approach to religion and moralising modernity. He underlined the need to apply the principle of spiritual development, which challenges individuals to embody moral values and the spirituality required to uphold the primacy of human beings in the universe and confront the new challenges and crises threatening human values.
Addressing human rights, Taha Abderrahmane emphasised the primacy of their ethical dimension over international conventions and resolutions.
Taha Abderrahmane is one of the leading scholars to have consistently addressed the issues of his time, contributing substantially to philosophical responses to contemporary problems. His project is to foster an original Muslim philosophy that seeks to modernise thought within the Ummah through the renewal of the human being. The author of The Question of Proper Philosophy: The Best of Creativity in Contemporary Arab Thought conceived and developed a distinctively Islamic philosophy intended to revitalise this thought linguistically and cognitively, encouraging mastery of the mechanisms of production and the search for alternatives.
Professor Taha Abderrahmane has become a reference point in current debates on Islam, promoting dialogue and the right to difference. He has consistently advocated cultural emancipation.
Dr Massimo Cozzolino
