Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
2. IMPORTANCE OF ULTIMATE
QUESTIONS IN PRACTICAL LIFE
Some might doubt that these ultimate questions may not after
all be as important as they are said to be. Indeed, the modern secular
civilisation is, for all practical purposes, based on the notion that these
ultimate questions have nothing to do with the immediate practical problems of
mankind and that the interest that can at all be reasonably taken in them
cannot be anything else than academic. In other words, these questions are
meant only for philosophers and no practical person should waste his time and
energy on them. But if we go deep into the matter, we are bound to come to the
conclusion on the basis of our common sense itself that the ultimate questions
are infinitely more important than the immediate questions.
The problem can be attacked from different angles. But here
it will suffice to quote just one instance of the importance of ultimate
questions in the field of the immediate problems of life. Namely, we shall
discuss the practical consequences of belief and disbelief in the existence of
God.
Taking up disbelief in the existence of God first: If there
is no God and the world came into being by itself, it means that it came into
being by chance. In other words, it is a world of chance in which everything
and every event emerges and dies out by chance.
If we consider the nature of “chance” itself, we find that it always indicates an event which has no pre-conceived cause. In any case, it cannot be said to be a planned event. Again, if there is no plan in an event, there can be no purpose, because all purposive activity is planned, whether the planning is conscious (namely, based on intellectual appreciation) or merely instinctive.
Resuming the argument, if the world came into being by chance, it
is a blind and lawless world. Indeed, the very word “chance” means the absence
of law.
Now, if the world is lawless in its inherent constitution and
if everything which is born out of it is also in its nature without law, it
means that the formulation of any laws by human beings, whether those laws are
scientific or ethical or political or economic, would be a violation of human nature
and the nature of the world itself. But human beings cannot exist without law.
Therefore, they are bound to give up the atheistic hypothesis of the existence
of the world in order to live. If they don’t and if they carry the atheistic
hypothesis to its logical consequences, the only law which they can establish
for themselves would be the law of the jungle in political administration and
the rule of expediency in moral life.
Speaking from the other side, namely, affirmation of faith in
God’s existence, if we believe that God exists and that He has created the
world, it means that the world came into being through planned creation, is
functioning under a system of law and is moving towards a purpose. In other
words, plan, purpose and law are inherent in the very constitution of the
world. This, in turn, provides the ground for every branch of human
law—ethical, political, economic, and so on.
to be continued . . . . .
