What is the practical conclusion that we derived from the study of the
causes and factors responsible for materialist tendencies?
I again admit that I do not claim this study to be complete and
comprehensive. Certain causes and factors might have remained hidden from me. Also I might
have been mistaken in the analysis of some of these factors. Obviously, those who
interpret history on the basis of economics describe these events in a different manner
and see the future in another way. Although I do not consider my study sufficient for
giving a definitive opinion about the causes and factors responsible for materialist
tendencies and consider a more accurate and inclusive analysis as necessary, yet I am not
prepared to simply follow others and blindly accept their views.
Let us now see as to what is the remedy and what is to be done from the
viewpoint of those who are interested in the spread and propagation of the message of tawhid,
in whose opinion mankind's deliverance hangs on knowing and worshipping God, who consider
spirituality a human necessity for individual and society, being certain that there is no
hope of its survival without spirituality, that it will destroy itself, its civilization,
and the planet on which it lives with its own hands.
If we take the study conducted so far as the criterion, it must be said
that, firstly, we need to present the Divine teachings in a rational, scientific, and
logical manner. We should not offer an anthropomorphic conception of God, neither should
we fashion ears and eyes for Him, nor determine the distance between His two eyes. Further
we should not look for Him in the laboratory, or above the clouds, or in the depths of the
seas. We should follow the approach stressed by the Noble Qur'an on the issue of God's
transcendence (tanzih) by considering Him beyond imagination, analogy, conjecture
and fancy. We should not conceive Him only as the originator of the universe, nor assign a
division of work between God and temporal causes. We should counter irrelevant notions of
eternal knowledge and eternal will, and, in short, prevent every kind of intellectual
error in issues of theology.
Undoubtedly, this is only possible when we affiliate ourselves to a
logical and systematic school of Divine thought capable of fulfilling this need.
Islamic teachings are extraordinary rich from this point of view and
can fulfill this requirement very well. Islamic philosophers have been able to create a
well-reasoned and powerful school of thought in this sphere under the inspiration of the
Noble Qur'an and the traditions of the Noble Prophet (S) and the Immaculate Imams ('a).
One acquainted with this school of thought will not say that the meaning of the first
cause is that a thing brings itself into existence. He would never ask that if all things
came into existence due to the first cause, what brought the first cause into existence.
He would not say that the difficulty of the first cause is unsolvable, or that if we
believe in God we will of necessity have to accept a temporal beginning for time, or that
if we affirm God's existence we will have to reject the idea of liberty—'either God
or freedom'!—and such things.
In Islamic history, the Ash'arites and the Hanbalis
introduced stagnation and literalism, which threatened Islamic theology, but they could
not resist the dynamism and sublimity of Islam's profound teachings.
Regrettably a group of so-called intellectuals among Muslim Arab
writers have in recent times been propagating a kind of intellectual stagnation and
theological agnosticism under the influence of Western empiricism on the one hand and the Ash'arite
past on the other. They have been trying to popularize a type of Ash'arite thought
mixed with empiricism. Farid Wajdi, and, to some extent, Sayyid Qutb, Muhammad Qutb and
Sayyid Abul al-Hasan Nadwi, belong to this group. To a certain extent this kind of
thinking has reached here as well.
On the basis that the realm of the metaphysical is an obscure valley
unknown to man and Iying outside the limits of human thought and intelligence, and that we
are not required by the Shari'ah to enter this unknown valley, this group
completely locks up the door to the higher teachings (ma'arif). They think that the
furthest limit of theology is to study the systems of the universe and remain stupefied by
a feeling of wonder. Expression of wonder and awe to them is the zenith of theology.
Accordingly, a course in natural history is sufficient to resolve all the issues of
theology. Books such as that of Maurice Metterling represent a complete theology.
These persons do not know that the study of creation is the first step,
not the last. At the most, through it we can reach the border between nature and the
supranatural, no further.
In the fifth volume of the 'The Principles and Method of the Philosophy
of Realism,' I have evaluated the different ways to obtaining the knowledge of God,
including the way of empirical science, that is, through the study of nature, identifying
the limitations of each of them. There we have proved, firstly, the possibility of the
knowledge of Divine and metaphysical issues for man as a valid science based on sound
rational foundations. Secondly, from the point of view of Islam, man is required, or at
least permitted, to acquire the knowledge of metaphysical issues through reasoning and
inference, not just believe them on the basis of tradition. Thirdly, the path of empirical
knowledge, or the path [to the knowledge of God] through nature, is one which extends from
nature to the frontier of the metaphysical, no further. We do not say that it is a path
which stretches- from nature to the frontier of the Divine realm, or that it is
sufficient, as they say, for 'the journey from the creatures to God' (min al-khalq ila
al-Haqq). All that we are saying is that it is a road that leads only up to the
frontiers of the metaphysical. That is, it only proves that nature has a metaphysical
plane to which it is subject. But whether that metaphysical is itself created or not; that
is, whether that metaphysical power is the creator of all things, or itself created and
subject to something beyond it; and presuming that there is nothing beyond it, whether it
is simple or composite, one or many; are its knowledge and power finite or infinite; is
its grace finite or infinite; is man free or not vis-à-vis it—none of these and
scores of similar other questions can be answered by it.
But there is a science and discipline which provides replies to all
these questions. It enables us through its rational principles to fly from the world of
creation (khalq) towards God (Haqq), and take us on 'the journey in the
Divine realm in God s company' (bil-Haqq fi al-Haqq), acquainting us in the process
with a set of teachings relating to the Divine realm.
However, one step in the way of countering materialist tendencies is to
present a school of Divine thought which is capable of answering the intellectual needs of
the thinkers of humanity.
In the second stage, the relationship of the issues of theology
(metaphysical issues) with social and political affairs needs to be clearly determined.
The place of a school of Divine thought as the supportive basis of political and social
rights needs to be clarified. Belief in God should no longer be construed as amounting to
the acceptance of tyranny and absolutism of rulers. Fortunately, from this angle, too, the
teachings of Islam are rich and clear, although they have rarely been presented. It is the
duty of the enlightened Islamic scholars to acquaint the world with the legal framework of
Islam from the political and, especially, the economic point of view.
At a later stage, the chaos prevailing in the field of preaching and
expression of non-specialist opinions needs to be countered. There should be no
philosophizing of the kind that tries to explain the lines on the melon or advantages of
the camel's lack of wings. The issue of a favourable moral and social environment
harmonious with the sublime spiritual teachings should be given utmost importance.
The issue of a conducive moral and social environment, for which
purpose the duty of amr bi al-ma'ruf and nahy 'an al-munkar (commanding the good
and forbidding the evil) has been devised in Islam, is, apart from its other aspects, of
extraordinary importance for preparing the ground for growth of sublime spiritual
values.
More necessary than everything else, for our times, is that those who
are aware of the real Islamic teachings and devoted to them should try to regenerate that
combative spirit, which is one of the principal Islamic values. Of course, the restoration
of the combative spirit to Islamic teaching requires an intellectual jihad, a jihad by pen
and tongue—and yet another jihad, in action and deed.
And peace upon him who follows the (path of) guidance.
