One can survive for days without clothing, shelter, weapons or the like but few can survive without food, much less without water. What is clear is that no organism can survive without air.
It is also common knowledge that the supply of our food comes almost entirely from agriculture, such activity many scholars of cultural studies consider as the earliest and most fundamental form of ‘culture’ vis-a-vis ‘nature.’
After several years of our nation’s seemingly marginal appreciation for agriculture, the recent move by the Malaysian government to make agriculture the third engine of growth, as outlined in the Ninth Malaysian Plan, is something commendable, at the very the least.
Such factors as the economic sustainability of our nation, especially in the event of adverse global scenarios which may affect its sovereignty, have been put forth as among the reasons for such a move.
In addition, its potential as a new gold-mine, especially in the present era of biotechnology, has hardly passed unnoticed by both zealous entrepreneurs and the business-minded alike.
Yet, the aforementioned reasons are not and must not be the only grounds. In fact, the move to revitalize agriculture should not be driven purely by economic consideration and commercial motives. Should such consideration and motives be paramount, it then has a good chance of being as temporary as the government of the day.
In addition, the damaging impact on the natural environment brought on by the agriculture in the long run will be no less than those wrought by industrialization. In fact, even today, such phenomena which cannot be considered ‘natural’ are the outcome of human greed and negligence. Erosion of the soil and landslides resulting from the indiscriminate development of hill sides and in areas adjacent to them, the massive use of chemical fertilizers instead of the organic substitutes, as well as abuses of banned pesticides which lead to underground water pollution and soil degradation are fast becoming common.
We therefore need to also be mindful of other more basic dimensions of agriculture; dimensions that contribute to a better and more balanced perspective of agriculture. There are two fundamental dimensions. One is the traditional understanding of man as the microcosmic representation of the universe at large, the macrocosm; and the other, the traditional understanding of the indispensability of maintaining justice in both the microcosm and the macrocosm.
With regard to the first dimension, it has always been the understanding in the Islamic intellectual milieu that man in his very constitution reflects what is there in the outer world. In fact, there have been scholars who have gone even further to assert that what is outside man reflects what is in him.
As far as man and agriculture are concerned, the latter is simply an extension of what the scholars call “man’s vegetative soul.” In their view, “vegetative soul” is actually the best description to capture in totality all the basic powers or faculties that are common to both man and plants; meaning to say, as far as these faculties are concerned, man is not different from plants. There are three such faculties, namely: the nutritive, the faculty of growth, and the reproductive faculty.
Just as plants need nutrition to grow and multiply, man needs to consume food and drink because only by doing so can he maintain his health and thus grow, and later on to duly satisfy his sexual instincts and reproduce. Deprived from food and drink, man is simply counting his days. As human population increases and human societies become ever more complex, such consumption is possible only if man practices what we now generally call “agriculture.”
Yet, the aforementioned faculties are not the only faculties man has; neither are they those which differentiate man from plants and beasts. In this respect, to limit one’s life simply to the satisfaction of the three faculties is to reduce and downgrade oneself simply to mere plants! Hence, there is a need to afford the other faculties of man their proper due, which brings us to the second dimension.
To understand this second dimension, it is important that one first be familiar with how Islam expounds justice. The basic meaning of justice in Islam has always been “the condition wherein things are in their right places.” As such, an act is said to be just if it is accorded its proper place.
To maintain justice in both the microcosm and the macrocosm requires and necessitates the realization of the above meaning in both the microcosm and the macrocosm. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi’s advice to the rulers of his time contained in his famous “Akhlaq-i Nasiri” provides us with a good illustration of such justice. The ruler, he admonishes, is obliged to consider the state of his subjects, and to devote himself to maintaining the laws of justice, for in justice lies the order of the realm.
The first condition for justice is that he should keep the different classes of mankind correspondent with each other, for just as an equal mixture results from correspondence of the four elements, equal combinations are formed from the correspondence of the four classes.
First come the Masters of the Sciences and Knowledge on whose existence depends the order of this world and the next. Among the natural elements, these correspond to Water.
Secondly, the Men of the Sword, by whose intermediacy the world’s organization is effected. Among the natural elements, these correspond to Fire.
Thirdly, the Men of Transactions without whose co-operation the daily life of the species would be impossible. Among the natural elements, they are like Air.
Fourthly, the Men of Agriculture who organize the feeding of all communities, and without whose help the survival of individuals would be out of the question. Among the natural elements, they have the same rank as Earth.
We do hope that the Malaysian government, in its move to restore agriculture to its proper place, will take due cognizance of these two important dimensions and their fundamental roles in giving proper perspective to any agricultural undertaking.