# Does God's morality change over time?

*Does morality change? The Quran retells the Exodus without a war of conquest*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zasz48lx_wi/s/12/
- Date: 2020-12-11 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Dr Javad T. Hashmi | Axis of Morality & Archetypal Myths in the Quran | MindTrap 46 |Mufti Abu Layth (47:41–49:52)
- Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAsz48lX_WI&t=2861s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zasz48lx_wi/

**Topics:** Moses; Philosophy and ideas; Christians and other faiths

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The guest says universal morality does not change, only ritual law: the Quran corrects the biblical conquest narrative by implying the Israelites inherited Egypt rather than slaughtering another people.

## Longer summary

Answering whether morality changes, the guest, who says he is not a moral philosopher, takes the story of Moses and his people persecuted by Pharaoh. He says that in the Bible they flee Egypt and conquer another land, killing all the women and children, whereas the Quran seems to imply that the land they acquire is Egypt itself, the land where they were persecuted. He reads this as the Quran correcting an ethical ideal, since killing innocents and aggressing against neutral third parties violates God's law, and says he does not think God would ever have allowed it. Universal moral values cannot change, he says, while ritual laws can, and humans can come closer to the moral ideal over time.

## Sources and names cited

- Dr Javad T. Hashmi (guest)
- Musa (Moses)
- Pharaoh
- the Bible
- the Exodus

## Transcript (machine tier, 47:41–49:52)

[47:04] Yeah. Now like this tribe goes and robs that tribe and brings their goods. Um this is obviously something you know many pre-ivilization is something essential as a survival tactic now right is this when you're told okay don't do certain things do you think this is something uh human beings are learning picking up is this something god has because the issue comes here that god has legislated different things for different prophets so is god's morality then changing with time.

[47:41] So I So first I just want to clarify I'm not a moral philosopher. So I don't want to get too deep in the woods here. But what I would say but what I would say is um I don't think morality changes in the sense of um I'll give you an example. So in the Quranic story of um Moses and his people, they're being persecuted um by the Egyptians and the Pharaoh.

[48:08] Yeah. In the Bible, what we have is then they flee Egypt and they go to the promised land, which is a different land. And and no, just carry on. It's picked it's picked you back up as you as you speak. Yeah. So, so in the in the biblical story, they go and conquer uh another people and kill all the women and children.

[48:33] That's how it's narrated in the story. In the Quran, the Quran changes that and says that no, it implies, it seems to imply that in fact the land that they acquire is actually the land of Egypt, the same land in which they were persecuted. Mhm. The reason is the Quran is correcting this ethical ideal and saying that no, it violates God's law that you can kill innocent human beings and aggress against neutral third party people.

[49:04] So the Quran is rearticulating the story. My point is that yeah, I think they got it wrong, the biblical story, but I don't think God himself would ever have allowed for people to go and kill innocent people. So that I don't think can change. Morality cannot change from these universal moral values. But what can change is like ritual laws can change with time. And we could also reach closer to the ideal, approximate that ideal, moral ideal.

[49:34] We can get closer to acquiring it. That's that's what we can do. I mean, sure. I mean, that's uh and and and you've highlighted that this is not generally, you know, you're not this is not you're not uh uh philosophy of morality is not something you normally um delve into too much. Uh so just I mean just to I know some of the people had said in the comments that my perspective on it is that these things are very fundamental as in because we see in animals as well.

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment ZAsz48lX_WI/s/12. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zasz48lx_wi/s/12/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.