RS paper 1

• Muslims believe that God created the world and gave humans the responsibility of taking care of the planet
• Muslims believe that we will be held answerable to God on how well we fulfilled this role of taking care of the Earth
• Humanists believe that there is no afterlife and that the only duty that humans have on Earth is to the world - not to a supernatural force such as God
• Ways we can take care of the Earth

  1. Reducing food and water wastes

  2. Reduce the consumption of resources that are unnecessary
• Dominance


  (in Islamic beliefs) Humans have dominance over other animals because we have stewardship for the Earth and everything upon it
• Commonality


  (in non-religious beliefs) The belief that all creatures are part of the same process of development, meaning humans and animals are equal in dominance
• Five freedoms of animals


  • Freedom from hunger, malnutrition and thirst
  • Freedom from fear and distress
  • Freedom from heat, stress or physical discomfort
  • Freedom from pain, injury and disease
  • Freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour
• Humanists advocate for the removal of religious exemption for animal welfare and farming laws, such as allowing slaughterhouses to kill animals without pre-stunning
• Ruh


  The immortal and immaterial soul that distinguishes humans from animals and provides us with consciousness, self-awareness, and free will
• Fitrah

  The innate awareness of God and morality that humans have due to the Ruh
• Qalb


  The heart and the centre of worship which houses our faculties for self-control and self-discipline
• Nafs


  The seat for passions and desires that must be trained through living the right way
• Muslims believe that the constant conflict between the Qalb and Nafs is like a wild horse that needs to be tamed, and successfully doing so keeps us on the straight path and allows us to reap the rewards for doing such in this life and the hereafter
• Ruh


  Immortal and immaterial soul that distinguishes humans from animals and provides us with consciousness, self-awareness, and free will
• Fitrah


  Innate awareness of God and morality
• Nafs


  Our seat for passions and desires that must be trained through living the right way
• Constant conflict between Qalb and Nafs


  Like a wild horse that needs to be tamed
• Successfully taming the conflict between Qalb and Nafs keeps us on the straight path and allows us to reap the rewards for doing so in this life and the hereafter
• Allah


  Omnipotent, omni benevolent and omniscient
• Muslims believe that God is beyond all things and is not limited to the physical world
• Id


  Part of our mind where there is an instinctual drive (particularly sexual) that requires satisfaction
• Super-ego


  Part which contains the 'conscience' that maintains socially acquired control mechanisms which have been internalized and are usually imparted by authoritative figures such as our parents
• Ego


  Conscious self that is created by the interactions between the Id and the super-ego and has the task of reconciling our conflicting demands with the requirements of the external reality
• Reasons why people believe in the soul

  • Revelation
  • Upbringing
  • Hope for an afterlife
  • Explain aspects of life (conscience) that evolution cannot explain
  • Free will
  • Empirical evidence (Near Death Experience/Past Life Regression)
  • Philosophical arguments (Descartes/Application of Leibniz's Law of Identity)
• 981 mentions of the Soul in the Quran
• Reasons why people do not believe in the soul

  • Lack of scientific evidence for non-material realm of living
  • Success of reductionism
  • Upbringing
  • Atheism
• Physicalism


  The belief that the real world is nothing more than the physical world
• Physicalists believe in an infinite regress where things have been causing each other in an infinite causation line which is how the universe has been made
• Physicalists believe that the laws of the universe cannot be created
• Physicalists believe that the existence of mankind can be explained through the scientific theory of Charles Darwin regarding evolution
• Muslims believe in the existence of another world due to the premise of belief
• There is no evidence for the existence of God, but the belief in God is done under the premise of belief
• Belief in God keeps Muslims on the straight path so they can reap the rewards for such in this life and the hereafter
• Selfishness


  • Avoiding donating to charity
• Greed


  • Stealing the Christmas decorations a neighbour put out, so you don't have to buy them
• Ignorance


  • Shouting homophobic abuse at someone
• Fitrah


  Innate knowledge of what is right from what is wrong, and an inbuilt awareness of God
• Muslims believe that sin occurs when humans use their free will to ignore their consciences and the command of God
• Muslims believe that evil originates from the fact that this life is a test
• Muslims believe that Shaytan has a purpose of tempting humans to do wrong, instead of right