Duties as Rational Being

 

 Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society

Part 3. DUTIES AS RATIONAL BEING

  Exposition

 

ENDS:

(1)  Subjective:

Balanced and healthy development of human knowledge in all dimensions.

(2)  Objective:

Service to humanity in terms of correct and comprehensive Guidance.

 

(1)          Duty of Commission

Pursuit of knowledge enjoined, with emphasis on:

1.             its sublimity and unavoidable necessity—basically and for proper moral life;

2.             its importance for spiritual development;

3.             its role in conferring greatness on individuals and communities;

4.             its compatibility with Faith;

5.             the principles of observation and research;

6.          the principle of continuous and ceaseless endeavor for rising to higher and higher levels of knowledge;

7.             the principle of Objectivity; 

8.             the principle of Comprehensiveness;

9.             the attainment of the stage of al-Hikmah, or, the Wisdom;

10.         the technique of attaining all Higher Knowledge.

Thus:

(1)     Sublimity of the pursuit of Knowledge and its unavoidable necessity—basically as also for proper moral life, emphasized:

The Holy Qur’an says:

“And He imparted to Adam knowledge of the nature of all things…” (2:31).

The story of Adam given in the Holy Qur’an (2:30-39) reveals that knowledge was imparted to him by God:

a.     at the transcendental or spiritual stage of his existence,—when his life was sublime because of the innocence and the serene tranquility that he enjoyed, together with his wife, in the

“Presence of God”;

b.    before he embarked on his earthly career, i.e., before he had the occasion to engage himself in worldly pursuits,—nay, before he had acquired any worldly interests;

c.     before he was confronted with the moral struggle. 

 

All this means that, in the estimation of the Holy Qur’an:

a.     Acquisition of knowledge is a sublime and a spiritual pursuit:

b.    Cultivation of knowledge is one of the most basic needs and, hence, one of the most basic duties, of a human being:

c.     Proper knowledge forms one of the most basic requirements of proper moral life.

 

(2)          Spiritual achievement through Knowledge, especially of empirical Reality, emphasized:

The Holy Qur’an says:

“… Those only among His Servants who are learned (i.e., possessors and pursuers of knowledge) truly fear Allah.” (35:28).

Here possession and pursuit of knowledge—all true knowledge—has been mentioned as the condition for true fear of God, which, in its turn, is, together with the love for God, the motivating force in the life of every true Muslim. Thus pursuit of knowledge becomes a duty from the point of view of leading a good spiritual and moral life.

 

(3)          Acquisition of greatness through Knowledge, emphasized:

The Holy Qur’an says:

“Allah will exalt those who have Faith among you, and those who have knowledge, to high ranks.” (58:11).

According to this verse, the basis for exaltation in the estimation of God is not only Faith in God and all spiritual verities, which is the highest theme of Religion, but also Knowledge, which forms as high a theme in the religion presented by the Holy Qur’an. This honored place given to knowledge makes it obligatory for a Muslim to devote himself to it whole-heartedly.

 

(4)          Compatibility of Knowledge and Faith emphasized:

A very important point should be noted here. Faith and Knowledge, in the view of the Holy Qur’an, are compatible with each other. Indeed they are complementary—wedded to one another, as another verse clearly establishes:

“And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: ‘We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord’: and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding.” (3:7).

This is a unique feature of the Qur’anic philosophy.

Thus, the Holy Qur’an demands acceptance and adherence to its teachings on rational basis. It proclaims most emphatically:

“So that he who perishes (spiritually) should perish by indisputable (rational) evidence (or, proof) and he who survives (spiritually) should survive by indisputable (rational) evidence (or, proof).” (8:42).

It challenges its opponents on the basis of reason and knowledge in these words

“Say: ‘Have you any (certain) knowledge? If so, produce it before us. Lo! you follow nothing but opinion. Lo! you do but guess’. Say: ‘With Allah is the argument that reaches home’.” (6:148-149).

               Again

“Will they not then ponder on the Qur’an (i.e., examine its teachings rationally).” (4:82; 47:24).

In fact, the Holy Qur’an appeals to humanity not less than forty-eight times—and at numerous places on the basis of the physical, the psychical and the social phenomena—to employ reason, emphasizing regarding the truth of its teaching that:

“And these similitudes We set forth for mankind. But their import is grasped by the reason of only those who possess knowledge.” (29:43).

        

 (5)     Observation and Research emphasized:

Similarly, the Holy Qur’an appeals not less than seventeen times to contemplate and meditate on the natural phenomena as well as on the truth of its own teaching. In that connection, it emphasizes also the joint exploration of truth:

“Say: I admonish you on one point: that you stand up, for Allah’s sake, by twos and singly, and then contemplate.” (34:46).

This contemplation is to be pursued in the form of search and research for arriving at the truth:

“You will not see any want of proportion in the Creation of (Allah) Most Gracious. So turn your vision again: do you see any flaw? Then repeat your look twice over…” (67:3-4).

 

(6)          Endeavour to rise higher and higher in knowledge, emphasized: 

The Holy Qur’an has taught the prayer:

“… and say: O my Lord! advance me in knowledge.” (20:114).

It is evident that to pray for advance in knowledge and not to strive for it with might and main would be the height of irrationality. Therefore, this prayer implies the Divine Command for striving after knowledge. Hence, the duty to strive with a devoted and sincere heart for continuous progress in knowledge.

 

(7)          Objectivity in Knowledge emphasized:

But this duty has to be pursued, as the wordings of the above verse establish clearly, with reference to God, Who is the Source of all Truth. In other words, quest for knowledge should be based on unflinching faith in God and in His Guidance, and should be inspired purely by the motive of search for Reality and love for Truth. All preconceived notions, superficial opinions and conjectures should be avoided. In other words, the pursuit should be based on objectivity. Persons undertaking this pursuit should strive to be, as the Holy Qur’an states: 

“Those possessing knowledge with devotion to justice (or, objectivity in knowledge)”—in other words, “the learned who are balanced (in their view of Reality)”, being spiritually as well as rationally illumined.” (3:18).

According to the Holy Qur’an this is rationally possible only for a devotee of God, Who is the Source of all Knowledge. It says:

“Behold! in the constitution of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of the Day and the Night,—there are indeed Signs for the possessors of understanding (i.e., the wise),—such as celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and reclining, and reflect on (the problems relating to) the constitution of the heavens and the earth (finally acquiring that stage of understanding the Reality where the conviction bursts out from them): ‘Our Lord! you did not create (all) this in vain? Glory be to You! Give us salvation from the Penalty of the Fire’.” (3:190-191).

Thus the pursuit of knowledge should have, as its technique, non-capricious penetrating observation of the universe and man.

 

(8)          Comprehensive pursuit of Knowledge emphasized:

Observation relating to the Universe as a whole has been emphasized, among other verses, in 3:191 quoted above. Observation of man’s immediate environment—natural as well as social—and of his inner self has been emphasized in the following verses:

“On the earth are Signs for those who have sure faith (in the meaningfulness of all things), as also (there are Signs) in your own selves: will you not, then, observe?” (51:20-21).

 

(9)          Quest for the stage of ‘Wisdom’ emphasized:

Such quest for knowledge will bear the fruit of al-Hikmah, or the Wisdom, about which the Holy Qur’an says:

“… and whoso is granted the Wisdom, receives indeed abundant Good, but none receives admonition save those possessing understanding.” (2:269).

They will finally be blessed with guiding mankind aright on the basis of sure knowledge contained in the Divine Guidance, even as the Holy Prophet (Peace be on him) has been asked by God to declare:

“Say: ‘This is my Way. I call to Allah with sure knowledge, I and whoever follows after me. To Allah be glory! And I am not among the idolators’.” (12:108).

 

(10)  The correct technique of attaining Higher Knowledge:

The process of education for acquiring higher knowledge, deducible from the Holy Qur’an, may also be mentioned here for further edification. Speaking of the functions of the Holy Prophet (Peace be on him) as Divine Teacher, the holy book informs us:

“It is He Who has sent among the Unlettered a Messenger (Muhammad) from among them, to rehearse His revelations to them, to purify them, and to teach them the Book and the Wisdom…” (62:2).

Thus, we are given three stages of education for the acquisition of higher knowledge:

1.    The stage of basic and general education, represented in the Holy Prophet’s mission by communicating Divine

Revelations to the people;

2.    The stage of spiritual and moral purification for the sake of eradicating all subjective perversions and acquiring absolute devotion to truth, even as it was ordained in the Holy Prophet’s mission;

3.    The stage of pursuing knowledge at the higher level where research is undertaken on the different facets of Reality and direct conviction is acquired on the basis of personal observation and insight, represented in the Holy Prophet’s mission by ‘teaching the Book and the Wisdom’.

 

To sum up: Cultivation of all knowledge, employing the method laid down for ensuring the service to truth, is a duty, according to the Holy Qur’an, commanded by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on him) in the following words:

“Quest for knowledge is a duty for every Muslim man and woman.” (Muslim’s Sahih, Kitab al-‘Ilm, p. 34).

 

 

 

(2) Duty of Omission

Subjectivity and capriciousness in the pursuit of knowledge, as also lack of the spirit of observation and open-minded understanding of Truth, condemned:

According to the Holy Qur’an, those who employ subjectivity and caprice in the domain of knowledge remain misguided, in spite of the apparent scholarly tone of their endeavor:

“Have you seen him who has taken his caprice to be his god, and Allah has left him astray despite his knowledge, and has sealed up his hearing and his heart (and understanding), and has set on his sight a covering? Who, then, will guide him after Allah (has withdrawn guidance)? Will you not receive admonition?” (45:23).

This is so because:

“… they have no knowledge therein. They follow nothing but conjecture; and conjecture avails nothing against Truth.” (53:38).

As to those who lack the spirit of observation and open-minded understanding of the Truth, they are led to, or remain in, nothing less than infidelity. We are told:

“How many a Sign there is in the heavens and in the earth that they pass by, turning away from it. And most of them believe not in God without associating other gods with Him!” (12:105-106).

This is so, because:

“… They have hearts, but understand not with them (i.e., do not exert their will to understand); they have eyes, but perceive not with them; they have ears, but hear not with them. They are like cattle; nay, they are worse (in their listlessness). They are heedless.” (7:179).

Source

to be continued . . . . . 

Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times

 

The Angels Prostrate before Adam

 

Dajjal (Anti-Christ), the Qur’an and the Beginning of History

Chapter Four

The Angels Prostrate before Adam

in Awwal Al-Zaman

 

(Qur’an, al-Hijr, 15:28–29)

So when Allah Most High has formed man fully, and

breathed into him of His Ruh, or Divine Spirit, bow

down before him in prostration!

 

Why Prostration?

The Ruh or spirit, is life. It is a capacity or a force which is breathed into a thing. When the Ruh is breathed into a human being, the human Nafs, i.e., soul or self, can then be activated (for want of better language). Allah Most High breathed the Ruh into the first human being, i.e., Adam ʿalayhi as-salām. However in a Hadith recorded in Sahih Bukhari Prophet Muhammad ʿalayhi as-salām explained that it is an angel (rather than Allah Most High) who breathes the Ruh into the unborn fetus: 

 

Verily, each of you is brought together in his mother’s abdomen for forty days in the form of a drop of fluid. Then it is a clinging object for a similar period. Thereafter, it is a lump looking like it has been chewed for a similar period. The angel is then sent to him and he breathes into him the Ruh or spirit. [Sahih Bukhari]

 

Who or what is ‘I’?  Where is my personal identity? ‘I’ is my Nafs or self. It is my personal identity. ‘I’ is not my body of clay, nor is ‘I’, my Ruh or spirit.

 

The Qur’an has warned of the day when the human body will be given the capacity to speak, and would then give evidence against the Nafs or person to whom the body belonged. Consider the following ominous verses of the Qur’an:

 

(Qur’an, Yasin, 36:65)

On that Day Allah Most High will set a seal on their mouths, but their hands will speak unto Him, and their feet will bear witness to whatever they have earned in life. 

 

(Qur’an, Fussilat, 41:20–22)

When they come close to the fire on Judgment Day, their hearing and their sight and their very skins will bear witness against them, speaking of what they were doing on earth.  And they will ask their skins, Why did you bear witness against us?—and these will reply: Allah, who gives speech to all things, has given speech to us as well: for He it is who has created you in the first instance—and unto Him you are now brought back.  And you did not try to hide your sins lest your hearing or your sight or your skins bear witness against you: nay, but you thought that Allah did not know much of what you were doing. 

 

The Prophet warned: Fear the Firasah of the one who has faith, for he surely sees with Allah’s Nur, or light.   (Tirmidhi, Kitab Tafsir al-Qur’an)

 

The Qur’an confirmed this capacity as follows:

(Qur’an, al-Isra’, 15:75)

Surely in this are messages or portents for the Mutawassimin, i.e., those who can read the Signs of Allah.

 

Thus the human being, by virtue of a Divine-endowment, now occupied an elevated position in creation that was second to none, and this was permanently engraved at the very beginning of history in the most dramatic event ever to have occurred in history, i.e., the Angels prostrating themselves before Nabi Adam ʿalayhi as-salām as an act of honor, and in recognition of that Divine spark with which every human being was now endowed. (See verses below).

 

The Qur’an has declared that the material human being, created from humble clay, did not occupy the status of highest in creation. Indeed, the creation of the Samawat, i.e., the parallel universes—or the other worlds of space and of time, and the earth or material universe, is recognized in the Qur’an to be greater than the creation of human-kind:

 (Qur’an, al-Ghafir, 40:57) 

Greater indeed than the creation of man, is the creation of the heavens and the earth: yet most men do not know of this. 

 

Here now, are the verses of the Qur’an which inform us of the most dramatic event that occurred in Awwal al-Zaman, i.e., at the beginning of history:   

(Qur’an, al-Isra’, 15:28)

Allah Most High said unto the angels: Behold, I am about to create mortal man out of potter’s clay, out of mud molded into shape: 

 

(Qur’an, al-Hijr, 15:28–29)

So when I have formed him fully, and breathed into him of My Ruh, i.e., Divine Spirit, fall down before him in prostration! 

 

(Qur’an, al-Sajdah, 32:7–9) 

Allah Most High makes most excellent, everything that He creates.  Thus, He begins the creation of man out of clay; then He causes him to be begotten out of the essence of a humble fluid; and then He formed or fashioned him in accordance with what he is meant to be, and breathed into him of His Ruh or Spirit, and consequently He endowed mankind with hearing, and sight, and hearts: yet how seldom are they grateful! 

 

In consequence of the Divine Ruh or Spirit being breathed into him, the human being was endowed with both sensory perception as well as a rational faculty. But that was not all! In going on to disclose that the Divine Ruh or Spirit also bestowed on the human being a heart, the implication was that every human being was divinely endowed with a capacity to see—both externally and internally—and hence to possess both external sight and internal sight, to hear, both externally and  internally, and to process externally acquired information and thus acquire knowledge with the rational mind, as well as to receive knowledge internally with the spiritual heart.

 

This gift was divinely-conferred on all human beings, and it raised their status to such an extent that the Qur’an declared it to be an honor:

(Qur’an, al-Isra’, 17:70)

Indeed, Allah Most High has conferred honor and dignity on the progeny of Adam, and hence on all human beings . . . .

 

The Qur’an has thus delivered a beginning of history in which every human being, by virtue of being a human being, held an honored status in Allah’s creation. Every human being was honored when he was given the divine capacity for knowledge, both externally-acquired and internally received. It was because of this epistemological gift to man that the Angels were ordered to bow down and prostrate before Nabi Adam ʿalayhi as-salām.

 

The link between this gift to man, and the End-time, can be readily perceived when we ponder over the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad ʿalayhi as-salām that “Dajjal sees with the right eye, and that he is blind in the left eye—but your Lord God is not one-eyed”. Dajjal, who is internally blind, is incapable of acquiring knowledge other than externally, i.e., through the scientific method of observation, experimentation and rational enquiry, and all those who follow Dajjal suffer the same fate of internal blindness!

 

The claim of the Israelite people to a unique spiritual status with the Lord-God to the exclusion of all the rest of mankind, is thus manifestly false, since all of mankind were honored by the Angels when they prostrated themselves before Adam ʿalayhi as-salām. All of mankind, including the Israelite people, have originated from the same father—Adam, and the Lord-God has Himself honored all the progeny of Adam.

 

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