Re: Knowledge

Critic:-

My question to you is this. How is it that on one hand you imply that speculation cannot take the place of truth, while on the other hand you suggest that one is required to seek truth.

Comment:-

Do you see this as a contradiction? I have quoted the verses and you are required to understand them (10:37, 51:10-11 and 17:35-37).

Critic:-

The mere endeavour for truth presupposes that one lacks it. If I am certain about P, and I believe I am justified in believing P, it seems rather futile to suggest that I continue to search for P. Can you elaborate?

Comment:-

This has been dealt with several times.

Your certainty about P may be a delusion. And it will mislead you and prevent you from seeking and acquiring truth. If it is false it will cause mal-adaptation and suffering and destruction. But you might not be aware of this, especially if you are in a restricted and protected environment that lasts a short time.

"That is because Allah, He is the Truth (or Reality), and that whereon they call instead of Him is the False, and because Allah, He is the High, the Great." 22:62

Allah is the Real and that which He has created is Real ."R". Experiences "E" are not the same as the Real, but experiences are true when they correspond to Reality. Ideas, thoughts, images or verbal descriptions "D" are not the same as experiences, but they are true when they correspond to the experiences that correspond to Reality. Knowledge refers to the awareness of Truth, though some people also speak about unconscious knowledge that is contained in the organism and all other things to which the scientific notion of Information is applied.

An idea of experience is true when it fits into a system "S" of ideas or experiences in a non-contradictory manner. If there is a contradiction then it causes confusion and doubt. And this conflict causes suffering and constitutes a "problem". Its purpose is to "stimulate" you into action that leads to reconciliation and re-harmonisation. This constitutes a "solution".

However, there may be several systems S1, S2, S3....Sn in your mind or psyche that may overlap each other or be mutually exclusive to various degrees and they constitute "Complexes" or even "personalities". There will be contradictions and conflicts between these and they cause inner suffering. They must be kept apart by means of "Barriers" and this causes disintegration of the Psyche. This causes a person to behave differently in different situations and to hold different opinions at different times without being aware of the contradictions and in some cases it makes a person, when identified with one "complex", see the other "complexes" as different persons. These may make suggestions or even force them to actions. Consciousness contracts, becomes unstable and behaviour becomes mechanical, compulsive and obsessional and people can be said to be slaves of their inner "complexes" that constitute "idols". Indeed, the person can be said to be "possessed".

The cure for this is to give up, surrender all idols and be slave only of Allah, the ultimate Unity.

But, this is not possible for people who are deluded and controlled by the "complex". They have no insight into their condition. There is a seal on their eyes and hearts (Quran 2:6-7). They are "spiritually dead" in that they have no real centre of integration. Release from this prison can only be obtained if they do not have strong fixations on these "complexes" but have some inkling of a greater reality, and if they undertake the discipline required to release them.

Study the following verses. The Quran tells us:-

"Allah sets forth a similitude: There is a slave who belongs to several partners, differing (or quarrelling) with one another, and there is another slave wholly owned by one man. Are the two alike in condition? (All) praise is due to Allah. Nay! Most of them do not know." 39:29

"Is he who was dead and We have quickened (given him life) him, and made for him a light, wherein walks amongst men, like him whose likeness is one walking in utter darkness whence he cannot emerge? Thus is their conduct made seemly to the disbelievers." 6:123

"And say: Truth has come, and falsehood has vanished! Verily, falsehood is ever bound to vanish. And We will send down of the Quran that which is a healing and a mercy to the believers, though it only increases the wrong-doers in ruin." 17:81-82

"The dwellers of the desert say: We believe. Say: You believe not, but rather say, 'We submit'; for faith has not yet entered into your heart; and if you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not diminish aught of your deeds; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." 49:14

"Only they are the believers who believe in Allah and His Messenger, then afterwards they doubt not and struggle hard with their wealth and their lives in the way of Allah; they are the truthful (sincere or righteous) ones." 49:15

"O you who believe! Respond unto Allah and His Messenger when He calls you to that which quickens you; and know that Allah comes in between a man and his own heart; and that He it is unto Whom you shall be gathered." 8:24

There is a connection between knowing Allah and knowing one’s own soul that derives from the Spirit of Allah.

“And be not ye as those who forgot Allah, therefore He caused them to forget their own souls. Such are the evil-doers.“ 59:19

It is not difficult to see that the idea or even experience of Allah is connected with, and proportional to the degree of inner psychological unity and with the existence of a single comprehensive system of experiences that is in harmony with the processes of the organism in which the laws of the Universe also operate and in adaptation to which human minds have arisen. Religion arises from the harmony or the recognition of the need for the harmony between the inner and outer worlds.

Another Critic:-

Muslims pray: "I bear witness that Muhammad is the slave and Messenger of God". How can any one bear witness to that? All they can state is their belief - and one can ask for the grounds of that. Present-day Muslims are not even acquainted with Muhammad, and even if they were, how could they testify that his 'message' came from God, with whom they are also not acquainted? Christians only state "We believe…."

Comment:-

People bear witness to all kinds of things by their behaviour.

When you go to court to "bear witness" you do not state what you believe but what you have experienced or understood and by the action that follows. In the case of Islam, witness is bourn by being a Muslim, a slave of Allah as was the Prophet. This is possible because a Muslim is one who has understood the message and applies it.

But I see this is not the case with you and you may, therefore, not understand this reply either.

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