Heritage Conservation based on Islamic Objectives

As long as no evidences from Quran and Sunnah oppose heritage conservation, we should not claim that Islam does not appreciates this kind of value. By contrast, we must understand this issue carefully and not too hasty in making the conclusion.

In fact, heritage conservation is one of the contemporary issues in Islamic jurisprudence. Thus, if the matter not occurred in prophetic period and also there no clear signal from Quran and Hadith about it, then it must be examined based on Islamic objectives (maqasid syariah).

Al-Ghazali, one of the great muslim scholar, has described this term ( maqasid ) interestingly. According to him:-

“The objectives of Sharia are to promote the well-being of all mankind, which lies in safeguarding their faith (din), their human self (nafs), their intellect (aql), their posterity (nasal) and their wealth (mal). Whatever ensures safeguard of these five serves public interest (al-maslahat al-ammah) and is desirable”

Islamic objectives is a method that guides the Muslim scholars understand the implied meaning for every divine rules in Islam. Therefore, they should not judge the matter based on the literal comprehension of any versus from the Quran and Sunnah. By contrast, they must interpret them under the framework of Islamic objectives and current reality.

One cannot deny that heritage contributes many benefits to Islam and Muslim as follow:-

1. Protect the religion ( Hifz Deen ): - Heritage evidences convince others to believe the fact of Quran. For example, most of the content in Quran is about tales. However, Quran does not prescribe them specifically as its main objective is to give the lesson to human.

Therefore, by protecting the ancient material, It may prove the truth of the stories in Quran. For example, when Allah said the body Pharoah still preservable and it is true.

“We took the Children of Israel across the sea: Pharaoh and his hosts followed them in insolence and spite. At length, when overwhelmed with the flood, he said: ‘I believe that there is no god except Him Whom the Children of Israel believe in: I am of those who submit (to Allah in Islám).’ (It was said to him): 'Ah now!- But a little while before, wast thou in rebellion!- and thou didst mischief (and violence)! This day shall We save thee in thy body, that thou mayest be a sign to those who come after thee! But verily, many among mankind are heedless of Our Signs!’” ( Yunos : 90-92 )

The pharaoh's body

2. Protect the human self ( Hifz Nafs ) : Preserving heritage lead us to discover the whole story about any civilization. The remain ancient material for instance, shed light us to find answers for the questions like how they began, how they became strong and why they felt as the lesson for next generation. This is because the extinction of tribe could be by human themselves such as war and conflict between them or by nature disaster like earthquake or volcano.

3. Protect the intellect ( Hifz Aql ): The first versus of Quran asked human to ‘Iqra’ which mean to read. It can be interpreted as Allah encourages human to discover and do research for any beneficial knowledge.

Meanwhile, heritage is the broad term that includes history, civilization, sociology, religion and serves as the irreplaceable sources. Thus, conservation and restoration efforts for this kind of value are central to the sustainable development of humanities as build up human intellectual.

4. Protect the posterity ( Hifz Nasl ) : Heritage conservation means we preserve our culture and identity. In recent years, we can see how the aggressive Jewish have tried to excavate many lands in Palestine include Al-Aqsa mosque in order to find any significant remain materials that belong to their ancestor. If find, they will justify them as the owner to Palestine land.

5. Protect the wealth ( Hifz Maal ): When the government declare any area as the historical site, consequently it will attract many people from inside or outside country to visit. Indisputably, heritage boost country's economy either for the government by collecting tax and also for the local people as they can sell their product to the tourists.

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In a nutshell, if preserving the heritages contribute many benefit to religion, education, civilization and also boost the Muslim economy, then this effort should be supported.