Copyright © 2011 Mohsen BANAN

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Contents

1 This Essay is in Globish

This essay is in Globish. It is not in conventional Anglo-American English.

See the document titled Introducing Globish into Globish [6] for a description of Globish.

The intended audience for this essay is all of humanity.

Some of the concepts developed in this essay stand separate from American and Western values. Some of these concepts specifically reject American and Western values. Western readers need to pay extra attention, as many of their assumptions are likely not the same as ours.

2 Part of the Evolution of Globish Series

This essay is part of a series of essays, where we introduce new words and concepts into Globish. See Introducing Globish into Globish [6] for a list of sister essays where we introduce other words and concepts relevant to this essay.

In this essay we introduce the terms “halaal” and “haraam” into Globish. Our primary purpose in doing so is to use these terms in the context of “halaal software” and “halaal Internet services.”

Based on the introduction of the word halaal in this essay, in a subsequent essay we then provide definitional criteria for halaal manner of existence of software, and halaal manner of existence of Internet Services [5].

3 Shortcomings of English in the Domain of Morality

English is strong in some domains and weak in others.

The strength and weakness of English in various domains is of course directly related to the culture and value system of the native speakers of this language, most notably the Americans and the British.

In the domain of business, economics and finance (that is to say, money) English is very strong. In the domain of money English is rich with terms such as: MBS (Mortgage-Backed Securities), shorting, margin, hedge fund, haircut, EPS, P/E, double down, bubble, pyramid scheme, day trading, pump-and-dump, spin-and-flip, and many others. In Anglo-American English, the term for the world’s largest casino is “the stock market.” Equivalents for most of these terms do not exist in most other languages, because these concepts do not exist in other cultures. Values, thinking and behavior influence language; and conversely, language influences values, thinking and behavior.

In the domain of morality, ethics and philosophy, English is extremely weak. Fundamental concepts from other cultures such as Halaal, Haraam, Fatwa and Jihad are entirely absent from English. And previous attempts to translate these terms into English have been miserable failures. This is because these are complex concepts that do not exist within the value system of the Americans and British.

Looking up the word “haraam” in Wikipedia, or in Encyclopaedia Britannica or Webster’s dictionary, provides at best an over-simplification, or at worst complete garbage. Viewing haraam as meaning just “prohibited” is shallow and simplistic. The concept of haraam is far more complex than that.

The concept of halaal does not exist in the Western world. In Anglo-American English, the word halaal is loaded with connotation. More than anything else, it evokes immediate feelings of Islamophobia.

Not only is Anglo-American English weak in regard to expression of morality, but the culturally egocentric Americans (and Westerners generally) are allergic to the expression of morality by others.

Halaal is a fundamental, deep and broad concept among Muslims which addresses the question of right and wrong about everything and about all aspects of life.

The full richness of halaal and haraam are essential for building global consensus about basic issues such as the desired manner of existence of software. Our goal is to address the moral dimensions of software, and for this the concept of halaal is essential. Therefore Globish needs halaal, so that we can all have halaal software.

This essay represents the first correct and coherent description and definition of halaal expressed in English.

4 Halaal: the General Concept

Here we provide an overview description of halaal. We will then follow with a more rigorous dialectical definition.

The word halaal has several contexts and usages. Generally speaking one can say it is a term for the declamatory expression of moral values. It is a pervasive concept throughout its native cultures, appearing in multiple contexts: in the form of formal decrees for what is prohibited or permitted; in daily language as an individual statement of moral values; in the content of proverbs and stories; and in many other usages. The particular shading of meaning in any particular usage depends on the context and how the term is used.

The word halaal is a facility for expressing general moral sensibilities which map to “right.” The word haraam is a facility for expressing general moral sensibilities which map to “wrong.”

In order for the above to be meaningful we need a framework for moral philosophy in the abstract.

5 Philosophical Halaal: a Wordly Framing

The word halaal is loaded in many ways. It carries a number of strong connotations, in both its native context, and in non-native contexts. In its roots it is theological, originating in and tied directly to Islam. It is a sensitive word in its native context (Arabic and/or Islamic cultures), and evoking strong reactions in the west.

In a non-native context the word halaal evokes negative reactions. In particular it is viewed as a direct expression of Islam; at best unwelcome and at worst evoking strong feelings of Islamophobia.

But in this essay we are using this term without these theological/Islamic connotations. The scope of the word here is philosophical and wordly, to be used in day-to-day affairs, including those of business and technology. We are using it as a philosophical term, to address worldly concerns.

Thus we are introducing a new context for this word, without the native Islamocentrism, and without the non-native Islamophobia.

We considered the word secular as an appropriate qualifier, as in “secular halaal,” but this is not correct for our purposes. Secular implies a complete separation from Islamic/theological meaning, but we wish to retain a reference to these theological origins. Thus we are shifting the center of gravity of the word from theological to wordly, but retaining the origins of the concept as a theological formulation of morality. Thus we are coining the term “philosophical halaal” to represent this.

6 Locating an Abstract Moral Philosophy for Expressing Philosophical Halaal

One of my Western friends, Dr. Andrew Hammoude, has written an essay which provides a good basis for explicit definition of philosophical halaal. I am always delighted when I find Westerners who concern themselves with morality.

Hammoude’s essay is titled Moral Philosophy: An Abstract Approach [1]. The full text of his essay is available at: http://andrew.hammoude.1.byname.net/PLPC/150020

Hammoude’s work does not in any way touch on the words halaal or haraam. But the framework he has created is a useful basis for the definition of philosophical halaal.

In this essay I am using Hammoude’s work extensively. Here we will restate the key ideas, definitions and vobulary from his essay. For complete details, refer to the original essay titled, Moral Philosophy: An Abstract Approach.

The present essay is completely separate and independent from Dr. Hammoude’s work, and does not carry his endorsement.

7 Definition of an Abstract Morality

Hammoude defines something he calls an abstract morality. This is a completely artificial construct, making no formal reference to real-world moral concepts, but it provides a framework and a way of thinking about moral constructs. His definition is as follows:

The set of actions consists of all actions that may be considered to have moral consequence; that is, they are all actions that affect the welfare of others in some respect. The two-element set {right, wrong} is a pair of symbolic tokens with no meaning assigned to them—they are merely arbitrary tokens that we may associate with actions. Thus an abstract morality as defined by Hammoude is a function from the set of actions into this pair of token symbols.

The token words right and wrong are distinct from the natural language terms “right” and “wrong.” To distinguish the two pairs of words clearly the abstract terms are written italicized, while the natural language terms are written unitalicized, and frequently within quotation marks.

Refer to his essay for complete discussion and examples.

7.1 Vocabulary for Real-World Morality

Hammoude also establishes a vocabulary to make reference to moral constructs in the real world. He defines a number of terms for this purpose: an “individual moral sensibility” referring to individual persons, an analogous “group moral sensibility” referring to groups of individuals, a “manifestation” of such sensibilities, and a “real-world morality,” defined in terms of such manifestations.

We summarize his definitions below; for complete details refer to his essay.

• An individual moral sensibility is defined as “an innate sense of aversion by an individual to certain kinds of behaviour, or to the commission of certain acts.”
• A group moral sensibility is defined as an analogous concept for groups of individuals; it is a cultural formulation of sensibility, representative of the majority individual sensibilities within the group.
• Hammoude notes that these definitions of moral sensibility are based on internal subjective experience within individual group members, and therefore the sensibility is ultimately unknown to all but each individual in isolation. But he notes that these sensibilities have externally observable “manifestations,” and he gives a number of examples of this, including, “avoidance or relative rarity of acts or behaviour that offend the sensibility; explicit verbal expression such as the use of natural language terms like “right” and “wrong” to acts or forms of behaviour that do or do not offend the sensibility; strong forces of dissuasion against offending acts or behaviour; and explicit codifications of the sensibility in the form of religious or legal doctrine.”
• He then defines the real-world morality associated with a moral sensibility as “a data set, consisting of the set of actions, and for each element in the set of actions, the set of all manifestations of the sensibility regarding that action.” Thus a morality is the complete characterization or cataloguing of an underlying moral sensibility, in terms of its observable manifestations.

7.2 Duality between abstract and real-world moralities

Having defined an abstract morality, and a real-world morality, Hammoude then notes that there is a duality between these two constructs, stating as follows:

8 Defining Abstract Halaal and Abstract Haraam

This now provides the framework and vocabulary needed to define philosophical halaal. In particular, we have definitions for following terms:

• The two-element set {right, wrong}
• The set of actions
• A mapping
• A moral sensibility
• A manifestation
• An abstract morality

Based on this, we now can properly introduce the concepts of philosophical halaal and philosophical haraam.

Philosophical halaal is “manifestation” of “moral sensibilities” relevant to a specific topic where “the set of actions” map to “right.”

Philosophical haraam is “manifestation” of “moral sensibilities” relevant to a specific topic where “the set of actions” map to “wrong.”

Philosophical halaal and haraam can then be applied to different topics, providing in large part an abstract morality.

9 Moral Sovereignty and Global Morality

So we now have properly introduced Halaal and Haraam into Globish.

For what purpose? What are we going to do with Philosophical Halaal and Philosophical Haraam?

Ghom and Las Vegas can coexist just fine as long as they remain separate. In which case, economic creatures (not humans) in Las Vegas need not even know what halaal means.

But things have changed, and that separation is no longer viable. The digital era is here, and poly-existentials are now a dominant reality. Unlike a world dominated by mono-existentials, a world dominated by poly-existentials demands greater commonality of morality. Poly-existentials know no border.

Under Western dominance, the most basic moral underpinning of poly-existentials, the so-called “Intellectual Property Rights,” is haraam. Based on economic values and economic power, Westerners are imposing their self-serving and misguided ownership models for copyright and patents onto the rest of the world. See our document titled, The Nature of Poly-Existentials as the basis for Abolishment of the Western So-Called Intelectual Property Rights Regime [?] for details of how ownership models for copyright and patents are haraam.

Software and Internet services are now common, everyday aspects of life, globally. This demands a common set of understandings and agreements regarding their manner of existence.

Regarding the functionality and usage of software and Internet services, a sovereign state can and should exercise its own moral sovereignty and define halaal on its own terms. And so praise and applause to the great firewall of China, and the great firewall of Iran. Clearly, Las Vegas porn should stay in Las Vegas and should remain haraam in Ghom.

But in contrast to functionality and usage, the definition of halaal manner of existence of software and Internet services is best dealt with in the global context.

10 Halaal Manner of Existence of Software

Today there are two models for the manner of existence of software.

1. The Proprietary Software Model.

   This model is exemplified by Microsoft Windows. It is based on a competitive development model, and dominated by American companies. It is protected and rooted in the corrupt Western so-called Intellectual Property Rights regime, in particular the twin ownership mechanisms of patent and copyright. It is opaque and prevents software users from knowing what their software is doing. Its distribution is controlled by its producer.

2. The Libre Software Model.

   This model is exemplified by Debian GNU/Linux. It is based on a collaborative development model where software engineers worldwide work collectively to move the software forward. It rejects the corrupt Western so-called Intellectual Property Rights regime of patent and copyright. It is internally transparent and permits software users to know exactly what their software is doing. Its distribution is unrestricted.

In our paper titled, Defining Halaal Software and Defining Halaal Internet Application Services [5] we provide a definition for Halaal manner-of-existence of software.

Based on that definition proprietary software such as Microsoft Windows is haraam.

Based on that definition libre software such as Debian GNU/Linux is halaal.

11 Halaal Manner of Existence of Internet Services

In our paper titled, Defining Halaal Software and Defining Halaal Internet Application Services [5] we provide a definition for Halaal manner-of-existence of Internet Services.

The following criteria are required for Internet Services to be considered Halaal, and so to allow the Software Engineering and Internet Engineering professions to fulfill their responsibility to society and humanity:

1. Every software component included in the service must be Halaal software.
2. The software for the entire service must be Halaal software. The entire primary source code for the entire service must be available to all software engineers, so that the entire service can be reproduced.
3. All protocols used by the service must be transparent and unrestricted.

Based on the above definition Facebook is Haraam, Google is Haraam, Yahoo is Haraam, MSN is Haraam, and many others.

It accomplishes little to label something as haraam, when a halaal alternative is not offered.

We have built a set of real, working, demonstrable Halaal Services which meet the above definitional criteria. We call these the By* Federation of Autonomous Libre Services. By* (pronounced “by-star”) is a unified services model, unifying and making consistent a large number of services that currently exist in functional isolation. It is a coherent, integrated family of services, providing the user with a comprehensive, all-encompassing Internet experience.

For more information see the document titled, By* Federation of Autonomous Libre Services: The Concept [2].

As part of our responsibility to create a viable implementation construct we have also fully analyzed the business dimension, and we have formulated the business model in the form of an Open Business Plan, titled:

The Executive Summary of Neda Communication, Inc’s Open Business Plan [3], and the full business plan, are available at: http://www.neda.com/StrategicVision/BusinessPlan.

12 Overview of the Full Picture: The By* Halaal Digital Ecosystem

This essay is part of a bigger picture. Our goals are broader than just defining Halaal Software.

We want the world to move towards Halaal Software and Halaal Internet Services.

The totality of our work is directed towards creation of The ByStar Halaal Digital Ecosystem, as a moral alternative to the proprietary American digital ecosystem. An overview of this is provided in [4], available on-line at: http://www.bycontent.net/PLPC/180016.

If you believe that the concepts of Halaal Software and Halaal Internet Services as we have defined them have merit, we invite you continue to read. In the overview of The ByStar Halaal Digital Ecosystem [4] we draw a vast picture for putting in place a model and process that can redirect Internet services and safeguard humanity.

We have introduced halaal into Globish, we have created working halaal Internet services, and we have created a framework for further development. We now invite you to participate. We invite you to assist in the collaborative development of halaal software and halaal Internet services. And we encourage you to avoid use of all haraam software, and haraam Internet services.

References