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Role Of Faith - nawaz - 11-30-2004
Dear All
For the purpose of faith springing from the direct experience of
order, harmony, and beauty in nature, the Quran gives a sketch of the
process of knowing, which is both scientific and ethical. This process
is begun by the activity of the senses, which furnish the raw material
of knowledge. The next stage is of the attending when the mind
addresses itself to the material reaching it. This is the stage of
perceptual knowledge. The sense of data are referred to external
objects and events and their objective meaning is grasped. In the
third stage, through the process of analysis, synthesis, abstraction
and generalization, the material is converted into knowledge of
varying degrees of generality. The final stage is that of
comprehension in which the new knowledge is placed and viewed in the
context of the whole of human knowledge and experience, and its
meaning of human life is assessed. At this stage the Quran exhorts men
to aim at the deeper understanding of the meaning of the Messenger's
words, whenever he speaks to them through the embodiment of the Quran.
It denounces those who fail to make this attempt and stop at the first
or second stage, being content with imperfect knowledge: And you may
see them looking towards you, but they see not -Quran chapter 7 verse
198-. In this way the process of development includes the following
basic principles:
1.Every thing, animate or inanimate, is endowed with the capacity for
development. Its development is guided, at every step, by the Supreme
Being.
2.It must not be supposed that the guiding power acts upon things from
outside. It is inherent in their nature and acts from within them. It
would be more correct to say that it is the nature of a thing to seek
the development of its latent capacity and thus to reach its destiny.
3.Man, by virtue of possessing an autonomous self, occupies a
privileged position in the universe. Divine Guidance is offered to him
in the form which is suited to a free rational being. It does in no
way curtail man's freedom of choice and action. Man has the right to
rejected it, if he so desires but the impact of laws of cause & effect
applies on every one who so accept it or denounce it, accordingly.
4.For man, Wahi or revelation, is the vehicle of Divine Guidance. God
selects a man who is fit to be the custodian of truth. This man is the
Nabi - Messenger who receives the revelation from God, keeps it
inviolate and faithfully communicates it to his fellow-beings. Those
who accept, of their own accord, find themselves following the path
which leads to the enhancement of their powers and towards the goal of
perfection. Those who reject, have perforce to follow the downward
path of deterioration and degradation. Self-fulfillment is
the reward of the farmer, while an enfeebled and perverted self falls
to the lot of the latter. Such is the Law of Requital.
5.The Wahi, the Divinely revealed guidance, is indeed God's Word. It
is not contaminated by the personal likes and dislikes, feelings and
desires of the recipients. The medium specially selected by God is so
refined that the Wahi, in passing through it, suffers no diminution in
its purity or lustre. The Wahi transcends intellect but does not
conflict with reason. It rather supplements it.
Scientifically the knowledge of the Divine Laws relating to the
external universe is derived from a close observation of nature,
scientific experiments and discoveries, but not so in the case of laws
relating to human life and the regulation of its conduct which are
communicated only through Revelation to the Rusul and conveyed by them
as Messengers of God to mankind as mentioned above. It is this wherein
Islam as a din - system, it also distinguishes itself from the
Material concept of life which takes no cognizance of the Divine
Guidance by means of revelation.
Regards
Nawaz