Episteme Online version available at www.certindia.in Dr. Mohammad Rafat, Dept. of Applied Sciences & Humanities, Jamia Millia Islamia Introduction Human beings are by their nature active beings; immediately after being born a human child starts displaying its active nature by moving its limbs. The child cannot keep quiet for two moments together; indeed if a child was found sitting quietly, adults around him would be concerned about the child s health. Action is thus an innate characteristic of the human existence. However, while performing actions, the human mind is not sitting as an idle spectator. Rather the physically active person is simultaneously thinking about what he is doing. Often he also feels compelled to communicate his thoughts to other people around him. These three activities thus go together; physical action, thinking and communication. As is well known, these activities produce tangible results. Physical action leads to useful products which may be utilized suitably; often involving the use of tools. The tools themselves steadily progress from primitive devices to sophisticated technology. The activity called thinking leads to ideas, concepts, theories, schools of thought and ideologies. Communication is of course, recognized as crucially important for the stable basis needed for maintenance of social order. Knowledge is to be understood and visualized in the context of the second of these basic activities namely thinking. If the above view about knowledge is correct then one would not regard action delinked from thinking as being relevant to knowledge. To take a trivial example, one may contrast the role of two persons involved in erecting a grand building. One of them is a qualified engineer while the other is an unskilled helper. The latter s job is only to transfer physically from one point to another, building materials such as bricks and stones (to be used in the construction of the building). He may accomplish his end (of moving such material from one point to another) by minimal of thinking. No great demands are made on his intellectual faculties to perform the simple task assigned to him. The engineer on the other hand when he begins the project, has to imagine in his mind, the final building not yet constructed. He has to draw the relevant maps and charts and carefully prepare estimates. He has to create a detailed stepwise plan before actually starting the necessary physical operations at the construction site. One would conclude that the engineer s role is linked to knowledge because it involves thinking, while the role of the unskilled helper has only minimal connection with knowledge. This example and also wider human experience illustrates that while all action may require knowledge, may in turn lead to knowledge and knowledge may inspire novel actions; yet the connecting link between the two (namely knowledge and action) would always be
the thought process. Hence in order to understand knowledge, it becomes necessary for us think about the process of thinking itself. Without thought process, knowledge does not seem possible. Subjects of contemplation Human beings think about a wide variety of topics; to try to enumerate them all would be a hopeless task. However perhaps three topics can be singled out because they seem to engage the attention of every member of the human species: (a) What is the nature of the reality that we perceive? What are human beings and why are they here in this world? What is the nature of the objects existing on the earth and in the heavens? What are they for? How do they relate to human beings? (b) Is there a reality beyond what human beings may perceive directly through their senses (assisted by the rational faculty, of course)? If so, what does that ( invisible ) realm of reality consist of? (c) How should one act in this world? What principles and values should guide the human conduct? One distinguishes between various world views and ideologies on the basis of the varying answers that they provide to the above questions. In any serious discourse on life, such questions are unavoidable and a program of action launched without a consciously articulated view on these matters cannot sustain itself for long; nor can it satisfy the inquisitive mind. Sometimes these central questions are not directly tackled by a person; instead an attitude towards the basic issues is unconsciously adopted by him. An observer can however easily detect within a particular attitude (of a person), an implicit answer to the queries raised above. Since knowledge acquisition is practically synonymous with thinking, a theory of knowledge would take the fundamental questions as its starting point. It may be noted that the first two questions listed above may be answered by committing oneself to a world view; while the third may be answered by subscribing to a value system. Of course, world view and value system cannot be delinked from one another as apparently suggested by the above statement; nevertheless it is convenient to consider them separately. Before engaging directly with the basic questions themselves, another preliminary remark must be made. It is sometimes maintained that as human beings make progress in acquiring detailed knowledge about objects around them and also about the historical experiences of human society, they become better equipped to discover the correct world view and the appropriate value system. It must be asserted that this expectation is actually false. World view and value systems are accepted by people because they intuitively perceive them to be beautiful and true (i.e. they ring true ). Such intuitive resonance with a system of ideas is not the cumulative effect of so many disjoint bits of information, slowly gathered over time. By the same token, a person may sometimes change his outlook regarding the values cherished by him. But such change (which resembles a religious conversion ) is not due to availability of greater amount of empirical data. In actual fact, it is the intuitive grasp of the nature of things that undergoes a change. Such intuitive grasp, by its very nature is not fragmentary; rather it is spontaneous and holistic in character. Once a commitment has been made to a definite world view, the pursuit of knowledge as such may begin. The world view provides the basic frame, in which bits of information find their appropriate places as the information is acquired. When the information available expands, the basic frame is further articulated and developed; but its fundamental character is never modified. 2 P a g e
Contrasting world views While world views are numerous, there only two which (in the context of the present discussion) merit our serious attention; namely the secular materialistic world view and the religious world view, committed to belief in unity of God. The most coherent and consistent articulation of the religious world view is found in Islam. However it should be noted that in general, the religious discourse (specific to any particular religious denomination) does not contradict directly the Islamic view of reality. A genuinely religious person would usually find himself in agreement with the Islamic view point about universe, nature of things, and essence of humanity and relation of man to other beings. The secular world view cannot be attributed to a single thinker nor is it easy to reduce it to a single postulate or formula. Nevertheless it has definite characteristics; three of them appear to be basic. One is the firm denial of any important role in its conceptual scheme of invisible aspect of reality. This means, for instance that in the secular conceptual matrix, existence of God and possibility of divine guidance (emanating from Him) are either outright denied or their relevance to human affairs is denied. This may be contrasted with the religious would view where the central theme is man s relationship with God. In Islamic terminology, the invisible aspect of reality is called GHAIB. The believer, by definition, is one who believes in GHAIB (and does not deny its existence). The secular and religious world views are thus irreconcilable in their attitude towards possibility of GHAIB. The second defining characteristic of the secular world view is that according to it, the world that we observe around us is devoid of any higher meaning or purpose. While it seems to be governed by physical laws whose form we may speculate about, with some certainty and while the chain of cause and effect seems to be operating in it; the whole universe as such is meaningless. Indeed according to the secular temperament, the very idea of meaning is irrelevant to a rational description of the world that we observe. Secular thinkers take great pains to explain away the harmony and beauty visible in the universe; which thrusts itself on our attention and compels us to contemplate the universe with a sense of wonder and awe. According to them, the observed harmony arises merely from chance or though blind interplay of physical causes. To attribute harmony and design to a Creator is a delusion and a sign of psychological weakness; according to the secular view. The third basic characteristic of the secular conceptual scheme is that man is master of the world; nature is to be conquered by him. As is well known, this attitude has often led to ruthless exploitation of nature and its resources; resulting in ecological imbalance and environmental crisis. Due to such ill effects, the secular discourse now includes practical suggestions to overcome the crisis of environment. But this does not mean that the basic idea of conquest of nature has been abandoned. Secular man s recent concern about ecology and environment does not arise from a change in his world view; instead such concern is a merely pragmatic one. Conquest of nature remains the central project of the secular program of action, even when existence of environmental problem is recognized. 3 P a g e
Religious world view The religious world view as articulated by Islam may be defined by a set of basic concepts. Ziauddin Sardar in his book The touch of Midas, identifies these basic concepts as tahwheed (unity) khilafah (trusteeship), ibadah (worship), ilm (knowledge), adl (justice) and istislah (public interest). He says: (a) (b) (c) (d) Usually the concept of tawheed is translated as unity of God. It becomes an all embracing value when this unity is asserted in the unity of mankind, unity of man and nature and the unity of knowledge and values. From tawheed, emerges the concept of khilafah; that man is not independent of God but is responsible and accountable to God for his activities. The trusteeship implies that man has no exclusive right to anything and that he is responsible for maintaining and preserving the integrity of the abode of his terrestrial journey. Thus the heroic concept of (western) science, of lone scientist out to conquer and dominate nature at all costs, has no place in this frame work. If man is not to seek knowledge for the outright exploitation and domination of nature, is he simply reduced to a passive observer? (No!) On the contrary, contemplation (ibadah) is an obligation, for it leads to an awareness of tawheed and khilafah; and it is this very contemplation that serves as an integrating factor for scientific activity and system of Islamic values. Ibadah, or the contemplation of unity of God, has many manifestations, of which the pursuit of knowledge is the major one. The concept of knowledge (ilm) is a value when it is pursued within an Islamic frame work. ( The touch of Midas by Ziauddin Sardar) Another scholar Ismail Raji al Faruqi has also delineated the conceptual basis of the Islamic world view. He identifies some of the fundamental concepts as unity of Creator, unity of creation, taskheer, unity of knowledge, amanah, khilafah and unity of humanity. Comparing with Sardar s elaboration, one may note that the principle of tawheed includes within it the various manifestations of unity (i.e. unity of creation, knowledge and humanity). The concept of amanah is closely linked with that of khilafah. Of particular interest to us is, the concept of taskheer because it sheds light on the relationship of man with nature. The Quran mentions amanah in the end of Chapter 33: We did indeed offer the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains. But they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof. But man undertook it. Abdullah Yousuf Ali explaining the above verse says: The amanah (trust) is something given to a person, over which he has a power of disposition; he is to use it as directed or expected, but he (also) has the power to use it otherwise. There is no trust if the trustee has no power. (On the other hand), the trust implies that the giver of the trust believes and expects that the trustee would use it according to the wishes of the creator of the trust, and not otherwise (The Holy Quran, Meaning and Commentary) The concept of taskheer is mentioned at several places in the Quran. One may, for instance consider the following verses from chapter 45: 4 P a g e
It is Allah who has subjected the sea to you, that ships may sail through it by His command; that you may seek of His bounty and that you may be grateful. And He has subjected to you, as from Him, all that is in the heavens and on earth. Behold; in that are signs indeed for those who reflect. (Chapter 45, Verses 12, 13) Abdullah Yousuf Ali has used the phrase subjected to you for the divine act of taskheer meaning thereby that Allah has subjected to man, the various objects in the heavens and the earth. Explaining the above verses, Yousuf Ali says: The sea is only an example of Allah s cherishing care in making all things in nature available for the use of man; through the genius and faculties which He has given to man. Man should never forget that it is all as from Him, i.e. from Allah. (The Holy Quran, Meaning and Commentary) Taskheer is natural corollary of khilafah which implies man s power over things (as vicegerent of God). Thirst for Knowledge Human beings are ever thirsty for knowledge; they seek to find answers to questions which keep arising before them. One may wonder what compels human beings to seek knowledge. If we analyse this human urge for knowledge, we find that it arises from, a) human curiosity and b) human needs. Primarily a person seeks knowledge simply because he is curious; he wants to know. When we human beings encounter a question, we get restless and are not content till the question is answered. When a person discovers reliable answers to his queries, he experiences a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment; somewhat similar to the feelings of a thirsty man who searches for water and eventually finds it. Curiosity seems to be an essential component of the traits that constitute human nature. Apart from curiosity, there is another reason which compels human beings to seek knowledge. This reason is linked to human needs. To begin with, there are immediate physical needs of human beings to be satisfied. A person needs air, water, food, clothes and shelter; without these things he cannot survive. Then there are supplementary human needs. A person may fall ill and in that case, would need care, treatment and medicine. To develop his personality, he needs education and information. He needs to travel and to communicate with other human beings. He needs facilities for entertainment and recreation. In order to meet all these diverse needs, man requires knowledge about the physical objects and natural resources that surround him. Without knowing this world and the mode of behavior of the objects found in it, man cannot profitably use them to meet his requirements. The most crucial need of human beings is that they require guidance about how to conduct themselves in this world. They realise that they are endowed with an innate moral sense; this moral sense compels them to classify possible human actions and deeds as good or bad, righteous or evil, praise worthy or blame worthy. Hence they need criteria to make the distinction between good deeds and bad deeds. They need guidance about how to develop their ethical personality. They also need enlightenment about vexing issues of human society; such as the issue of proper balance between individual and society, ruler and ruled, capital and labour, man and woman, freedom and discipline, rights and duties and the like. Religions and ideologies address this human need for guidance directly, by postulating a world view and presenting a plan of action. Literature of various communities addresses the same need, though indirectly; through artistic depiction of human experiences. 5 P a g e
Sources of Knowledge As seen above, there are a large number of questions that human beings ask themselves. In the final analysis, these questions boil down to two basic issues: (a) what is this world? And (b) how we (as human beings) should act in it? The answer to the first, results in a world view and that to the second, leads to religion or ideology including within their frame work, a set of values (i.e. the criteria to judge right and wrong.) What sources are available to us, to answer the above two questions? According to the secular philosophy, there is only one source of knowledge, which may inform us about the world around viz our senses; the information collected through the use of our senses is to be organized by the exercise of our rational faculty. As far as the second question is concerned (i.e. how should we conduct ourselves? ), the secular attitude is that the answer should be sought in human experience. The above secular attitude may now be compared with the religious attitude to the same two questions. According to the religious attitude, the world is not a single entity. Therefore the first question, what is this world? is to be answered by considering various aspects of the existing reality: (a) To begin with; according to religious view, the world observable through our senses is not the only world that exists. There is also an invisible world (the realm of GHAIB ). Knowledge about GHAIB (to the extent that we need it) is provided to us by God Himself, in the form of revelation through His messengers. (b) In the observable world, one needs to make a distinction between knowledge about human beings and knowledge about other entities (which are inanimate objects or animals). As far as human beings are concerned, basic knowledge about their nature is given in the revealed text itself. This knowledge may be supplemented by what we learn (about human beings and their nature) through our observations and experiences. As far as other entities in this world are concerned, they may be inanimate objects or animals. Allah has subjected them to human beings and knowledge about them may be obtained by us through the use of our senses and reasoning faculty. (c) The second basic question raised above was, how we (as human beings) should conduct ourselves in this world? According to the religious world view, the answer to this question it to be found in the revealed guidance given to us by God, through His messengers. This guidance is supplemented by our moral sense, reasoning faculty, historical experience, enlightened intuition and social consensus. The operation of these secondary sources of guidance should however be within the parameters laid down in the revealed text. Knowledge gathering activities The religious attitude, as outlined above accepts two sources of valid knowledge namely (a) revelation from the Almighty Creator and (b) information from observations gathered by human beings through the use of their senses. In accessing either of these sources of knowledge, we are expected to use our intellectual faculties and also to take the help of other human beings who may act as our teachers or colearners. As far as the revealed text is concerned, the first teacher is undoubtedly the messenger of God; who was entrusted by God to convey the revealed guidance to humanity. Obviously the first teacher is also the most reliable one; whose explanation of the text is the most authentic and entirely trustworthy. 6 P a g e
We may thus try to identify the knowledge gathering activities, which are inspired by the religious world view: (a) The first of these activities is centered at understanding the revealed text itself. The book revealed by God is the basic source of knowledge. In particular, one should aim to learn the following, from the revealed book: (i) The concept of man as elaborated by the book (ii) The nature of man s relation with God (iii) The position of man in relation to the objects existing in the physical world (iv) The correct relationship of a person with other human beings (v) Ways and means of human personality development (vi) Ethical and legal injunctions which constitute code of conduct for human beings (vii) Limits prescribed by God, within which human beings ought to act (viii) Nature of life, beyond death and implications of accountability before God (ix) Information about GHAIB, given by the revealed book. (b) Related to this central activity of understanding the text, there are supplementary activities which help in this task. They involve the knowledge of language, grammar and historical context. Also one needs to know the explanation of the text, as given by the messenger through his words and actions. (c) Since the text revealed by God is for guiding human beings in diverse circumstances, the third important activity is to infer guiding principles from it, which may then be applied to concrete human situations. This is necessary because explicit instructions given by the book specify only the basic frame work of guidance. Within the boundaries of this frame work, there is great scope for elaboration of details, which are subject to modification and evolution, as the human situation changes and evolves. (d) In addition to explicit guidance about code of conduct and ethical values, the revealed book provides important insights into the nature of man and human society. Hence one important aspect of knowledge gathering activity would be to absorb these insights and then with reference to them, collect empirical information about human society through observation and survey. This would include information about various groups and communities (which comprise humanity), their history and the nature of their mutual interaction. Human behaviour in various matters such as trade, agriculture, industry, statecraft, administration, jurisprudence, architecture and literary activities should form the subject matter of this empirical study. The information thus collected is be systematized and organized around the basic insights provided by the revealed book, concerning the nature of humanity and human beings. It should be clear that such study of human behavior would inevitably include critical evaluation of it, on the basis of the universal criteria provided by the revealed guidance. Such critical evaluation would make the empirical study useful and relevant; because then it would be linked to the third activity described above (of applying revealed guidance to concrete human situations). Experiences of various segments of humanity in past and present provide useful lessons to us; they often pose ethical problems which demand answers. One may profitably study the actual responses made by various groups to their own situations and the consequences that followed their actions. The present discipline of social sciences, developed in the western world has a similar objective. However the western discourse carries on it, the 7 P a g e
(e) heavy stamp of secular attitude. The new discourse in the subject of social science should reflect the Islamic view of man and humanity. An important postulate in the Islamic conceptual scheme is that the physical objects in this world have been so created and designed by God that they are subservient to man. Some of them play their subservient role directly, by meeting various human needs; the sun provides us light, heat and energy, the water resources in the earth satisfy our need for water. Other objects are of such nature that man may put them to profitable use, by learning about their structure and behavior. Thus ships have been used by people, for a long time for navigation. This aspect of the physical world is termed as taskheer by the revealed book. In order to use the physical world, man needs to learn about it. The means to get this knowledge are the human senses along with the rational faculty of man. Thus as far as knowledge about the physical objects is concerned, the religious view is in agreement with the secular view; both regard the human senses as means of acquiring valid knowledge about the physical objects found in the world around us. To summarize, the task of knowledge acquisition (in the religious frame work) would include the following activities: (a) Understanding the revealed book (b) Learning the subsidiary disciplines which help in understanding the book (c) Deducing guiding principles for human action, from the revealed text (d) Developing social sciences, according to Islamic view of humanity (e) Learning about the physical world. The above activities are expected to lead towards new knowledge; in the usual terminology, one would call them research activities. 8 P a g e