Christianity has given the world a wonderful ethical principle it's called 'The Golden
Rule' and it's found in Matthew chapter 7 verse 12 and the most common translation and phrasing is
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (REPEAT) "Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you". And many many Christians think this is a unique teaching of Jesus and it's
there in the gospel, and that and it's different from other religions: different
from Islam for sure, and Judaism and all those eastern religions, and this is Golden Rule
is the summit of ethical behaviour: 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you'
and it is a marvellous principle this Golden Rule. I just want to share with you some thoughts about
it from Professor Bar Ehrman's book 'The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction' because there is a lot about
this golden rule that people often don't know and i want to share this information with you.
And also let's see what Islam actually teaches: does Islam teach anything similar
or comparable to the golden rule or was it really nothing like this exquisite teaching of Jesus, as
many Christians of course would assume nothing like that would exist in Islam. So Bart Ehrman says
on the golden rule: (QUOTE) 'The most familiar form of the Golden Rule is 'do unto others as you would
have them do unto you' Many people think that Jesus was the first to propound this ethical principle
but in fact it was given in a variety of forms by moral philosophers from the ancient world. In most
of these formulations it was expressed negatively stating what should *not* be done rather than
positively. The rule was found, for example, among the ancient Greeks many centuries before Jesus. One
of the characters described by the Greek historian Herodotus (5th century B.C.E.) said, "I will not myself
do that which I consider to be blameworthy in my neighbour"; (REPEAT) "I will not myself do that which I
consider to be blameworthy in my neighbour"; and the Greek orator Isocrates (4th century B.C.E.) said,
"You should be such in your dealings with others as you would expect me to be in my dealings with you."
The saying was also present in Eastern cultures most famously on the lips of Confucius (6th
century B.C.E.) who said, "Do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you." (REPEAT) "Do not
do to others what you would not want others to do to you." Nearer to Jesus' time the golden rule
was endorsed (in various forms of wording) in a number of Jewish writings. For example in the
apocryphal book of Tobit - (now when Bart Ehrman says the apocryphal book of Tobit it is actually in the
Catholic Bible, it was accepted by most in the early Church as being part of the Bible, but
because it's not accepted by Protestants, for some reason he calls it the 'apocryphal book', but anyway) -
In this book we read "And what you hate do not do to anyone and what you hate do not do to anyone";
that's a great saying, and in an ancient Jewish interpretation of the book of Leviticus, that's
obviously in the Old Testament, we read, "Do not do to him (your neighbour) what you yourself hate." (REPEAT) 'do
not do to him your neighbor what you yourself hate'. And of course we have the famous rule in Leviticus
"love your neighbour as yourself love'. But perhaps the best known expression of the rule
in Jewish circles however comes from the most revered rabbi of Jesus day the famous Rabbi Hillel.
A pagan approached the rabbi and promised him that he will convert to judaism if Hillel could recite
the entire Torah while standing on one leg. Now there are 613 commandments of the of the Torah.
Hillel's terse reply sounds remarkably like the statement of Jesus in Matthew 7: 12. He said, "What
is hateful to you do not do to your neighbour; that is the whole Torah, while the rest is commentary.
Go and learn it! This is a very clever typically clever jewish rabbi's response.
So what is the summary of the Torah? 'Whatever is hateful do not do to your neighbour' -
that's the whole Torah, the rest is merely commentary. Bart Ehrman says: Jesus, in short, was not the only
only teacher of his day who taught the golden rule or who thought that the essence of the Law of Moses
could be summed up in the commandment to love. So I think it's fascinating but what about Islam?
Just you Google this and you can see lots of answers just looking at the wikipedia
article on the golden rule which gives lots and lots of examples from various religions
and there's a few from Islam i just wanted to show - I think they're particularly delightful
and beautiful in a way. One hadith says 'A beduin came to the prophet (that is the Prophet Muhammad)
grabbed the stirrup of his camel and said 'O messenger of God, teach
me something to go to heaven with it', the prophet said 'As you would have people do
to you do to them and what you dislike to be done to you don't do to them now let the stirrup go!'
Another one this is from An-Nawawi's famous 40 hadith collection, 'None of you truly believes
until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself'. See how similar that is to the other quotes
from by e
Bart Ehrman's book. Another one: 'Seek for mankind that of which you are desirous for yourself,
that you may be a believer". Another one: "That which you want for yourself seek for mankind".
Another one: "The most righteous person is the one who consents for other people what he consents for
himself and who dislikes for them what he dislikes for himself". And there's a slightly longer one from
Ali the son-in-law the prophet and the the Fourth Caliph in Sunni Islam and he is recorded as
saying: "Oh my child make yourself the measure for dealings between you and others; thus you should
desire for others what you desire for yourself, and hate for others what you hate for yourself;
do not oppress as you do not like to be oppressed; do good to others as you would like good to be
done to you; regard bad for yourself whatever regard bad whatever you regard bad for others;
accept that treatment from others which you would like others to accept from you; do not say to
others what you do not like to be said of to you." So that's from letter 31 by Ali. So many people
particularly in the West think the golden rule is basically first propounded, first given to
the world, by Jesus. Actually It's found in Islam; it's found in Confucius; it's found in even in
negative form in Greek philosophy, so there's very little in I've discovered in the
teaching of Jesus that really is unique actually. Nearly all of it is rooted in Jewish teaching, found in his own interpretation of the Torah basically, and it's not really brand new at all.
But I just wanted to emphasise that the golden rule is found not only in the gospels
but in Judaism, and especially importantly I think today in Islam and there are many, many
hadith and statements of the companions and others which endorse the golden rule in
a more expansive form in Ali's case. So I just found that very interesting. Until next time.