Reply to Bill Nye - The Science Guy

THE UNSEEN

11:123 And Allah's is the Al-Ghaib of the heavens and the earth, and unto Him the whole matter will be returned. So worship Him and put thy trust in Him. Lo! thy Lord is not unaware of what ye (mortals) do.

Al-Ghaib.  Al-Ghaib is something much talked about by Muslims and others.  It has been translated as “The Hidden,” “The Unseen,” “The Invisible,” and various other such concepts.  However, to more fully understand this tasawwir (concept), we need to look at what Allah has paired it with. 

6:73 He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in truth. In the day when He saith: Be! it is. His Word is the Truth, and His will be the Sovereignty on the day when the trumpet is blown. Knower of al-Ghaib and al-Shahadah, He is the Wise, the Aware.

39:46 O Allah! Creator of the heavens and the earth! All-Knower of the Ghaib (Unseen) and al-Shahadah! You will judge between your slaves about that wherein they used to differ." 

Al Ghaib is the opposite of al Shahadah.  Al Shahadah means that which is perceivable, “witnessable,”  attainable by the senses directly.  We can detect it with our five senses, even if we do require special tools such as telescopes or microscopes to “see” it.

Al Ghaib, then, is something that is not directly perceivable.  We cannot see, hear, smell, taste or feel it and we cannot detect it with any special tools.  It is unperceivable directly.

Does this mean that humans cannot “know” anything of al-Ghaib?

Allah SWT tells us:

He is the only one who has true knowledge of al-Ghaib.

2:33 … He said: Did I not tell you that I know the secret of the heavens and the earth ? And I know that which ye disclose and which ye hide.

6:59 And with Him are the keys of the Invisible. None but He knoweth them. And He knoweth what is in the land and the sea. Not a leaf falleth but He knoweth it, not a grain amid the darkness of the earth, naught of wet or dry but (it is noted) in a clear record.

Humans, on the other hand do not have direct knowledge of Al-Ghaib, but we are capable of believing in it.  In fact, belief in the Al-Ghaib is one of the attributes of a Muslim.

2:1 Alif. Lam. Mim.

2 This is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance unto those who ward off (evil).

3 Who believe in the Unseen, and establish worship, and spend of that We have bestowed upon them;

But Allah SWT also lets us know that He can reveal something of the knowledge of al-Ghaib to people.

3:44 This is of the tidings of things hidden. We reveal it unto thee (Muhammad). Thou wast not present with them when they threw their pens (to know) which of them should be the guardian of Mary, nor wast thou present with them when they quarrelled (thereupon).  

So Allah SWT revealed something of al-Ghaib to the Prophet Muhammad when he informed him via wahy (revelation) of the history of Mary and Jesus (AS). 

3:179 It is not (the purpose) of Allah to leave you in your present state till He shall separate the wicked from the good. And it is not (the purpose of) Allah to let you know the Unseen. But Allah chooseth of His messengers whom He will, (to receive knowledge thereof). So believe in Allah and His messengers. If ye believe and ward off (evil), yours will be a vast reward.

In response to disbelievers, Allah SWT says that He will not allow those who do evil to get away with their evil.  He will separate the wicked people from those who have believed in Him and behaved justly in this world.  He then says, He does not reveal the Al-Ghaib to those who are wicked.  But He chooses to reveal such matters to those whom He chooses, and not to just anyone who thinks he wants it.  Knowledge is in His hands, not ours.  And He does reveal it to messengers and to those who believe in Him.

27:65 Say: "None in the heavens and the earth knows the Ghaib (Unseen) except Allah, nor can they perceive when they shall be resurrected." 

We also know in Surah al-Kahf, that Allah SWT revealed something of Al-Ghaib to the one who met Musa. 

18:65  Then found they one of Our slaves, unto whom We had given mercy from Us, and had taught him knowledge from Our presence.

The one we often refer to as al-Khidr had been given knowledge, revealed knowledge by Allah of certain matters, such as the presence of the pirate king, the evil disposition of the young boy, and the buried treasure of the orphans.  He had a more complete picture of reality than Musa (AS) and so he was able to look at the totality of the circumstances, and make judgments taking into account full equity and justice, not just the limited evidence available under Shariah.

Some have looked at this story as an illustration of the difference between Allah’s capacity as Judge to know our intent and to take intent into consideration, and a human judge’s limitation to only consider actions under Shariah, for he cannot judge intent, only evidence of actions.

SCIENCE AND THE UNSEEN

For centuries, religion dominated the Western view of the Universe.  Based on the philosophy and metaphysics of Plato and Aristotle, as well as the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, accepted by both the Catholic Church and Rabbinical Judaism, Western thinkers held that the Universe was created by God.

In the late 1800’s Charles Darwin posited new theories regarding the creation of animals and plants that did not factor in the Hand of God.  The idea that change could occur in the Universe without the direct intervention of God caused considerable controversy, a situation that persists today. 

With the evolutionary theories posited by Darwin, and the mechanism of that theory, Natural Selection, many began to doubt the very existence of God.  Time magazine asked in 1966, “Is God Dead?”  And many turned to a new religion – the religion of materialism and science. 

This doctrine of materialism has gone by various monikers over the years.  The basic doctrine is that there is no God.  The adherents of this philosophy claim to be atheistic.  Everything is material, and has only material attributes.  Because of the Law of Causation, then many materialist hold that behavior is caused, not free.  Where no free will is possible, how can a person be held accountable for their actions?  It would be unjust. 

In the case of Leopold and Lobe, Clarence Darrow argued that the court should take determinism into consideration in determining the sentence of the two wealthy teenagers who unremorsefully killed a 14-year old.  Because of the popularity of this notion at the time, the boys avoided the death penalty.

The same materialistic philosophy provided the foundation for modern metaphysics, including the theories of the creation of the Universe.  The Universe was seen as infinite, with no beginning or end, and change within it was caused by laws of physics. 

In his rejection of the idea of Divine creation of the Universe, a scientist once posited that if the Universe was created by God, then it would have been come into being instantaneously out of nothing.

Then, in 1927, Georges Lemaître first proposed what became the Big Bang theory in what he called his "hypothesis of the primeval atom.”  As we now understand this theory, for evidence provided by the Hubble Telescope and other astronomical equipment, the Universe began 13.798 billion years ago, by a great instantaneous explosion of matter from an initial singularity, having no extension or duration.  Since that event, the Universe has continued to expand as to extent and duration.  

The scientists studying this aspect of the Universe, then began to wonder if the expansion would just continue until all was dark, or would the Universe come back together again at some point.

“In the early 1990's, one thing was fairly certain about the expansion of the Universe. It might have enough energy density to stop its expansion and recollapse, it might have so little energy density that it would never stop expanding, but gravity was certain to slow the expansion as time went on. Granted, the slowing had not been observed, but, theoretically, the Universe had to slow. The Universe is full of matter and the attractive force of gravity pulls all matter together. Then came 1998 and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of very distant supernovae that showed that, a long time ago, the Universe was actually expanding more slowly than it is today. So the expansion of the Universe has not been slowing due to gravity, as everyone thought, it has been accelerating. No one expected this, no one knew how to explain it. But something was causing it.

“Eventually theorists came up with three sorts of explanations. Maybe it was a result of a long-discarded version of Einstein's theory of gravity, one that contained what was called a "cosmological constant." Maybe there was some strange kind of energy-fluid that filled space. Maybe there is something wrong with Einstein's theory of gravity and a new theory could include some kind of field that creates this cosmic acceleration. Theorists still don't know what the correct explanation is, but they have given the solution a name. It is called dark energy.” (NASA website -  http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy/)

“One explanation for dark energy is that it is a property of space. Albert Einstein was the first person to realize that empty space is not nothing. Space has amazing properties, many of which are just beginning to be understood. The first property that Einstein discovered is that it is possible for more space to come into existence. Then one version of Einstein's gravity theory, the version that contains a cosmological constant, makes a second prediction: "empty space" can possess its own energy. Because this energy is a property of space itself, it would not be diluted as space expands. As more space comes into existence, more of this energy-of-space would appear. As a result, this form of energy would cause the Universe to expand faster and faster. Unfortunately, no one understands why the cosmological constant should even be there, much less why it would have exactly the right value to cause the observed acceleration of the Universe. 

“Another explanation for how space acquires energy comes from the quantum theory of matter. In this theory, "empty space" is actually full of temporary ("virtual") particles that continually form and then disappear. But when physicists tried to calculate how much energy this would give empty space, the answer came out wrong - wrong by a lot. The number came out 10¹²⁰ times too big. That's a 1 with 120 zeros after it. It's hard to get an answer that bad. So the mystery continues.

“Another explanation for dark energy is that it is a new kind of dynamical energy fluid or field, something that fills all of space but something whose effect on the expansion of the Universe is the opposite of that of matter and normal energy. Some theorists have named this "quintessence," after the fifth element of the Greek philosophers. But, if quintessence is the answer, we still don't know what it is like, what it interacts with, or why it exists. So the mystery continues.

“A last possibility is that Einstein's theory of gravity is not correct. That would not only affect the expansion of the Universe, but it would also affect the way that normal matter in galaxies and clusters of galaxies behaved. This fact would provide a way to decide if the solution to the dark energy problem is a new gravity theory or not: we could observe how galaxies come together in clusters. But if it does turn out that a new theory of gravity is needed, what kind of theory would it be? How could it correctly describe the motion of the bodies in the Solar System, as Einstein's theory is known to do, and still give us the different prediction for the Universe that we need? There are candidate theories, but none are compelling. So the mystery continues.”  (NASA website -  http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy/)

What is most interesting about these new metaphysical theories, -  and here we should define metaphysics properly as the study of that which is “beyond” the physics.  It includes Cosmology, Ontology, Theory of Knowledge and other such basic philosophical foundationals, - these new theories posit something existing that is “dark.”  Dark energy and dark matter are not directly perceivable.  Their presence is confirmed, not by taste, touch, sight, smell or hearing, but by their effects on perceivable matter.

Allah SWT tells us that there is al-Shahadah, the perceivable, and al-Ghaib, the non-perceivable.  The only way we can “know” al-Ghaib is indirectly, by observing its effects upon the Universe.   Allah SWT tells us we can “know” of His presence, due to His Ayat, His Signs in the Universe and in ourselves.  Again, we cannot see, hear, taste, touch or smell Allah, but that does not mean we cannot indirectly “know” of His actuality by observing the signs in the Universe and in ourselves.  

Here also, science is showing us there signs in the Universe of something that is “Unseen.”
What is the difference between “belief” in Dark Energy and Dark Matter, and belief in Allah SWT?   Why is one rational, and the other deemed irrational?  Why is one accepted by materialists, and the other not?
Perhaps the materialists need to take a clear-headed look at their own religion, the religion of science and its beliefs.  Is the current evolutionary theory, with its fortuitous random jumps that “explain” the lack of gradual evolution, any more reasonable than “intelligence guidance?”  Is the current theory of the Big Bang any more reasonable than instantaneous creation by Allah SWT? 

ATHEISM OR ANTI-CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

Many of the arguments of Atheists and Materialists for their positions assume only one definition or conception of God.  The Atheists and Materialists have made a theistic choice.  In refuting the existence of God, they have chosen to define God using only a Christian conception.  They assume that the only religion that could be “right”, if any are right, is Christianity.  They do not even entertain any other conception held by any other religion.  They dismiss all other religions out of hand, because only Western Christianity could possibly be right.  Therefore, if it is determined to be wrong, then all conceptions of God or other religious positions are also wrong.

The Atheists and Materialists are so blinded by Western arrogance, they are unable to remove their biases, bigoted, blinders and even consider other conceptions of God.  What about Zoroastrian conceptions, Coptic Christian conceptions, Hindu conceptions, Buddhist conceptions, Islamic conceptions.  In particular, we find their complete refusal to even consider a conception of God that many consider to not be man-made, but to have been provided by God Himself, to be the height of utter hubris.

Allah SWT revealed the Qur’an to Muhammad over 1400 years ago.  Unlike any other religious text, it is not the story of men’s experiences with God, but God’s experiences with us.  He tells us about Himself.  He is one, He is the one on whom all depend.  He begets not, nor is He begotten, and there is none like unto Him.  Muslims will recognize this as the jist of Surah Al-Ikhlas.  Here, Allah SWT says that He is singular and that everything is dependant on Him.  He is unique.  He has no beginning and no end, and He does not beget.  He does Create.  And He created the Universe in a single instant.
“And the heaven We created with might, and indeed We are (its) expander.” (Quran 51:47)
“Is not He who created the heavens and the earth Able to create the likes of them?  Yes; and He is the Knowing Creator. His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” (Quran 36:81-82)

Hey Bill Nye

Lately, Bill Nye has been hitting the airwaves, debating the teaching of evolution and science in schools.  Based on this arrogant, ethnocentric, bigotry, this practice is disrespectful and even dangerous.
First, science is based on inductive logic.  Specific instances or specific evidences are assembled to produce a probability that a particular theory is true or false.  Nothing is ever certain or “proven” in science, only more or less probable.  For more on this I would recommend reading David Hume, and some of the Pragmatic philosophers, such as one of my venerable professors, Carl Hempel. 
So, as Hume points out, scientific theories are no more “supported” than religious beliefs.  Both are probable, and often equally probable, as in the comparison between current evolutionary theory and “intelligent design.”

Second, to promote this materialistic conception of the Universe ignores evidence of al-Ghaib posited by scientists themselves.  Moreover, it ignores emotion, and ethics.  Like Clarence Darrow in Leopold and Lobe, we ask if everything is merely a bunch of swirling electrons, why should we be held accountable for our actions?  There is no good or bad, or evil.  Why shouldn’t a poor homeless man kill a rich secular humanists for his money?  Don’t they each deserve to have paradise of earth?  Why be socially responsible? Why care for the environment?  

Finally, what is the point?  Why shouldn’t youth kill themselves?  We are all just spinning electrons.  We have no “feelings,” no “life.”  What is life?  Self-replication? Why isn’t a rock alive? Is the fact that I can have sex the only purpose I have in life?  So why do anything else?  Are we but rocks that can fuck?
Allah created man and jinn to worship – amana – to love each other, and Allah.  

Allah tells us in the Qur’an that hell will be filled with men and stones.  He also says some stones gush forth water and some quake at the mere thought of Allah.  So who are these stones in hell?  Perhaps they are but men who have stripped themselves of all humanity.

The Strongest Fiber in the Universe

 THE HOUSE OF THE SPIDER

 29:41. The parable of those who
Take protectors other than God
Is that of the Spider,
Who builds (to itself)
A house; but truly
The flimsiest of houses
Is the Spider's house;—
If they but knew.

42. Verily God doth know
Of (every thing) whatever
That they call upon
Besides Him: and He is
Exalted (in power), Wise.

43. And such are the Parables
We set forth for mankind,
But only those understand them
Who have Knowledge.

Allah (SWT) has provided us an amazing guidance in the Qur’an.  No other religious text is like it.  No other book contains such a wealth of wisdom.  It is sad that today we take so little time to understand it.  If we took the time to do so, we would again be the best of Ummah in the World raised up from among mankind.

Here Allah (SWT) uses the parable or example of the house of a spider.  A familiar thing to all of us, is the house of the spider.  How many times in our lives have we easy ripped one of these houses from its anchors on a door threshold or crevice near the ceiling. 

Science tells us some interesting things about the substance from which the spider builds her house, her web.  The silk of the spider is incredibly strong.  In fact, pound per pound, it is stronger than steal.  Its tensile strength is stronger that the rebar we use to build concrete structures.  And some of our da’is who talk on Qur’an and Science have noted this.  Yet Allah (SWT) says that the house of an ankabut spider is the flimsiest if we but knew.  

BUILDING OUR HOUSE OF THE STRONGEST FIBER

Let us examine this parable in more detail then to see the amazing understanding Allah is trying to give us.  First, Allah (SWT) uses this parable to show the position of one who commits shirk.  What is it to commit shirk?  It is to set up partners with Allah, to think that anything or anyone or any being has power and control along with Allah.  The people of Ibrahim used to worship the sun, moon and stars as well as idols they made themselves out of wood or stone.  The Quraish used to worship stones and bones and all kinds of idols they fashioned for themselves.

The ankabut similarly builds her own house.  She builds it out of silk which she produces from her own body.  She makes it up so to speak, just as partners of Allah are mere inventions of people, produced by their imaginations from their own minds.  People invent all kinds of partners with Allah (SWT).  People think their bosses gave them their jobs and pay, or that their teachers gave them knowledge.  Knowledge and risq/wealth come from only one source – Allah (SWT).  That is the true meaning of tawhid al- rububiyyah – the oneness of Lordship.  Allah alone is Lord, Provider and Guide of us all.

So our ankabut builds her house out of her own silk produced from her own body.  How strong is that house?  On paper, it should be very strong.  The tensile strength of spider silk is more than that of steal, as we mentioned, but… What looks good on paper may not look so good on reality.  The spider’s silk is strong on a micro scale, but on the scale of reality, it is flimsy.  You or I can tear it easily in an instant.  Even a wind can cause it to shake and wobble.  It is exceedingly flimsy. 

Actually the spider wants it that way.  She knows that her prey has come by detecting the slightest movement of her web.  She wants a flimsy and unstable home.  Similarly, the house built of partners invented by mankind is just as flimsy and unstable, subject to the effervescent nature of wood and stone, or the whims and fancies of a boss.  The difference is that the person deludes himself into thinking his self-created fantasy house is stable.  Then he is shocked when Ibrahim breaks the idols or his boss fires him and he no longer has his wealth or status.  His house crumbles and falls.

29:60. How many are the creatures
That carry not their own
Sustenance? It is God
Who feeds (both) them and you:
For He hears and knows
(All things).

When adversity comes to them, they cry not to their partners, but to Allah (SWT).

But after the adversity is past, they go right back to their foolish beliefs.

29:65. Now, if they embark
On a boat, they call
On God, making their devotion
Sincerely (and exclusively) to Him;
But when He has delivered
Them safely to (dry) land,
Behold, they give a share
(Of their worship to others)!—

And the spider’s silk tensile strength is a deceit.  It looks strong, it should be strong, but only on the smallest level.  On a larger scale, it is weak.  The mushrik thinks his wealth, health and knowledge will always be there.  He has wealth and sons.

57:20 Know that the life of this world is only play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting among you, and rivalry in respect of wealth and children, as the likeness of vegetation after rain, thereof the growth is pleasing to the tiller; afterwards it dries up and you see it turning yellow; then it becomes straw. But in the Hereafter (there is) a severe torment (for the disbelievers, evil-doers), and (there is) Forgiveness from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure (for the believers, good-doers), whereas the life of this world is only a deceiving enjoyment.

29:67. Do they not then see
That We have made
A Sanctuary secure, and that
Men are being snatched away
From all around them?
Then, do they believe in that
Which is vain, and reject
The Grace of God?

Do they not see that Allah (SWT) has given us a secure sanctuary – which is this deen, this belief in Allah and worship of Allah in tawhid.  And that men are being snatched away by death all the time all around us.  So how can we believe in such vain and flimsy things and reject the stability and security of the one who created us, the source of all – Allah (SWT).

29:68. And who does more wrong
Than he who invents
A lie against God
Or rejects the Truth
When it reaches him?
Is there not a home
In Hell for those who
Reject Faith?

29:16. And (We also saved)
Abraham: behold, he said
To his people, "Serve God
And fear Him: that
Will be best for you
If ye understand!

17. "For ye do worship idols
Besides God, and ye invent
Falsehood. The things that ye
Worship besides God have
No power to give you sustenance:
Then seek ye sustenance
From God, serve Him,
And be grateful to Him:
To Him will be your return.

Islam is a process, a path, a journey toward Allah.  We will all return to Him, but how will be that return?  Many of us seek knowledge, but that is not the end of the journey.  Knowledge is useless unless it is understood.  Understanding is the second stage of the journey and with understanding comes Iman or faith and love of Allah.  When we study our Qur’an instead of just mouthing the words or learning the translated meanings, we will develop an understanding that will increase our faith in Allah and drive us forward to grow in our relationship with Allah.  The next step then is to “stand under” the shade of the Qur’an , to develop ihsan.  To have ihsan is not only to understand but to internalize and live according to the Qur’an.  Aisha once said that the Prophet was like a walking Qur’an.  He put all of its teachings into perfect practice.  We who follow him, may fall short, but we are capable of doing better.  As he was human, so are we and his legacy calls to all of us, reminding us of that of which we are capable. 

Let us build our houses of the strongest stuff – the strongest handhold – the deen of Islam and taqwa of Allah (SWT).

BUILDING OUR CITIES FROM THIS STRONGEST FIBER TOO

29: 41. The parable of those who
Take protectors other than God
Is that of the Spider,
Who builds (to itself)
A house; but truly
The flimsiest of houses
Is the Spider's house;—
If they but knew.

42. Verily God doth know
Of (every thing) whatever
That they call upon
Besides Him: and He is
Exalted (in power), Wise.

Despite its famed tensile strength, the house of an ankabut or spider is indeed flimsy.  Engineering-wise, the spider’s silk is the strongest organic fiber on earth.  It is stronger than steal, but you or I can come along and wreck it easily.  The mithlu or similitude is apt.  We build structures around us, not just physical ones, but structures of family, friends, co-workers.  We think we are safe in these structures; they seem so strong, but the smallest of winds can take them out.  If any maseebah or difficulty blows our way, “fair weather” friends run away.  Our structures collapse around us.

We pray to Allah that we will never be in the position to discover which friends are real and which are only “fair weather,” but how much better to build ourselves stronger structures in the first place.

We first need to build strong relations with each other as fellow brothers and sisters in Islam.  We need to follow our deen and not our cultures and leave behind backbiting, slander and the creation of fitnah or disharmony amongst ourselves.  We need to treat each other well and with respect and love.  And we need to extend this character to our non-Muslims friends as well. 

A spider’s web is a network of fine silk between many anchor points.  We need to build our webs not out of flimsy spider silk, but out of love and respect, and from the strongest fiber in the universe. 

What is the strongest fiber in the universe?  Is it Zylon, carbon nanotubes?  Allah says, 

29:22. Whoever submits
His whole self to God,
And is a doer of good,
Has grasped indeed
The most trustworthy hand-hold
And with God rests the End
And Decision of (all) affairs.

Islam is the strongest fiber in the universe!  This fiber consists of submission to Allah.  Allah SWT uses the term yuslim wajhahu – submits his face.  This is very important.  When we refer to “face” we are not talking about the physical face, but one’s honor, dignity, public reputation.  In embarrassing situations, we often seek a way to “save face.”  And it is this “face,” our honor, our hayaa that we must fully surrender to Allah.  We must place it voluntarily in His Hands and trust He will never humiliate us.  We must grasp tightly to Him and realize everything we are, our physical strength, mental ability, knowledge, and reputation comes from Him.  To Him is tawhid al-Ruboobiyyah.  Only He is our Rabb. 

In a time when we were gathered before Him with all of the progeny of Adam, He asked us, Alastu Rabbakum, Aren’t I your Lord?  We said Bala – ofcourse.  We cannot deny His Lordship, and how can we do anything other than surrender to Him.

Salama means to cease hostilities.  We must cease fire with Allah, cease to make war on Him by our disobedience, and submit our whole face, everything we are, to Him.  And then we must be a muhsin.  We must have ihsan – to worship Allah SWT as if we see Him, or at least to know that He sees us.  

Many of us forget about this aspect of Islam.  We remember what it is to be a Muslim or Mu’min, but what about being a Muhsin. 

To be a Muslim is to cease fire with Allah SWT; to be a Mu’min is to Amana to “believe,” “to have trust in Allah,” to love Allah.” To be a Muhsin is to Amala Salihaat – to do works of reconciliation.     

Islam is the strongest fiber in the universe!  Let us grasp it with both our hands.

 

Uloom al-Taareekh

KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORY

22:46. Do they not travel/Through the land, so that/Their hearts (and minds)
May thus learn wisdom/And their ears may/Thus learn to hear?
Truly it is not their eyes/That are blind, but their/Hearts which are
In their breasts.

47. Yet they ask thee/To hasten on the Punishment!
But God will not fail/In His promise. Verily
A Day in the sight of thy Lord/Is like a thousand years
Of your reckoning.

48. And to how many populations/Did I give respite, which
Were given to wrong-doing?/In the end I punished them.
To Me is the destination (of all).  (Surah Hajj)

We live in a moment, the horizon between the future and the past.  So ephemeral, this moment is.  Were is it?  At what second does the future become the past?  How long is this present moment?  What is its duration?  The ever-moving present is a singularity of no duration.

We could say that the future is all potentiality and no actuality, while the past is all actuality and no potentiality.  But is this true?  Yes, the future is characterized by potentiality, but is the past actual?  The present is actual; in fact, it is potential becoming actual.  But is the past actual?  It was…, but what is it now?  Does it actually exit?

Certainly, the past does not potentially exist.  It either exists or does not exist.  Unlike the future, it has no potential any more.  Its potential has been exhausted, and now it has … retired.  It has ceased to exist.  It is dead. 

However, something happened and its repercussions are still with us, like ripples in a pond of water or echoes of voices in the canyons of time.  Something happened in the present which has left imprints and effects in the present, the ever-moving present, the event horizon of the space-time continuum. 

Some have looked at time as linear, going one way.  Some have posited that at any given moment there are infinite possible futures, but only one past.  The line only goes one way.  Some have posited that even the past has infinite expressions.  Each moment leads forward to infinite futures, AND to infinite pasts. 

The Universe is what is, extended in space, in three dimensions; and in time, duration.  Allahu Samad, He is the self-sufficient upon which all depends.  He is One, Ahad, He is singular.  And He is Asr, time.  Asr also means middle – the Asr or middle prayers of the day are an example of this usage.  He has no beginning or end.  What does this mean?  It means He is All Middle.  All time and all space, but not with extent or duration, like Creation.  He encompasses time and space in one, unique Singularity.  And there is nothing like unto Him.

112:1 Say: He is Allah, the One!

2 Allah, the eternally Besought of all!

3 He begetteth not nor was begotten.

4 And there is none comparable unto Him.

With the Big Bang, the Creation spewed out into extent and duration.  And History began.

So how do we know what happened in the past?  Allah tells us to study the natural phenomenon around us and the evidence of peoples who came before us.

In his book, Iqtisadina, Sayed Muhammad Baqir al Sadr attacks the philosophy of history posited by the Communists.  In doing so, he marks out a view on history as something objective.  Something occurred in the past and it can objectively be known in the present. 

Scientifically-based study of past peoples is called Archeology.  Other natural sciences study the pasts of animals, plants, the planet Earth itself.  Astronomy studies the past of universe.  The stars we see shine as the result of past emissions of light.

So how is this knowledge of the past, objective?  Yes, something happened, …. I assume it did because there is present evidence of something happening, of continuity, of duration.  But, if conditions like Autism have taught us anything, it is that we filter out a lot of what is happening around us.  Allah knows all of these happening, but can we?  We filter out what is happening in the present, otherwise we would be overwhelmed by stimuli, so do we have objective knowledge of the present?  If we do not, how can we have objective knowledge of the past?

In this case, what is objective?  Perhaps it is being able to produce evidence for a position, for a statement or tasdiq about the present or past.  However, in one sense, all experience is subjective. It depends on our view point, our assumptions, our cultural beliefs and values.  As the Hiesenburg Uncertainty Principle points out, the observer is also part of the thing observed and will always affect the observation. 

Sayed al Sadr noted this in his updates to his work, Filasfana.  However, his main reason for writing this text was to refute Communist Dialectic Materialism.  Oddly enough, materialism actually precludes objectivity. I would refer you to this excellent book to discover why.  Dialectic Materialism leaves us in a shaky oscillating universe, where nothing is certain and everything is relative. 

So what about relativity?  Are there no absolutes, no certainties?  And if there are none in the universe in general, how can there be such things in history?  To understand how we can “know” history, we have to first understand how we “know” at all.

THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

What does it mean to know something?  Is it merely a matter of data storage on the hard drive of our brains, which we call memory?  Or does it imply having some deeper relationship with that data?  Does it imply understanding?  Does it imply internalizing this data in such a way as to behave in a manner consistent with this data?  Is it “khabr”, “ilm” or “hikmah?”

Some of what we claim to know is based on our perceptions and our experiences.  We call this aposteriori knowledge or knowledge that is acquired – khabr.  Some of what we claim to know is based on intuition – ilm.  It does not arise from experience, but arises from relationships discovered by the mind.  We often call this apriori knowledge, knowledge that is not dependant upon experience, knowledge that is innate. 

However, there is another form of knowledge that we as humans require.  Because we have free will, and must make choices that have consequences, we require another form of knowledge to aid us in making these choices, the knowledge of what is morale.

Can we obtain this knowledge from experience?  Consider the lioness’ killing a gazelle. Is this morale, does it have a morale value?  From the lioness’ point of view, it is good.  Killing a gazelle feeds the lioness’ and their family, as well as a host of other creatures, like jackels, hyenas, vultures, even worms and flies.  From the gazelle’s point of view, well…, it is certainly not a pleasant experience becoming such a conscious part of the circle of life.  But again, is there really a morale value in these events?  Or are we just putting ourselves in the gazelle’s hooves because we, ourselves, have been hunted at one time?

Can we obtain this knowledge innately?  Innate knowledge consists of instinct,  as well as the principles upon which we analyze the information we obtain from experience.  From innate instinct and learned experience, we derive knowledge of the forms or tasawwir (concepts – either actual or potential), and relationships discovered between them, (tasdiq – either true or false).  We can state, “Killing is evil.” However, what is evil?  Killing someone who is about to kill your child is good for you and the child, isn’t it?  And to make matters more difficult, humans are able to look forward and predict consequences of present events, into the future. 

A lioness hunting for her family may be offered a choice, challenge a cheetah for a kill close by, or go and stalk and hunt a weakened buffalo in the distance.  Which choice will she make?  Most likely the easiest one, even if the other choice would provide more meat.  So she chases off the cheetah. 

Humans, on the other hand, can look forward and weigh degree of difficulty versus degree of reward.  We make more refined choices, including some that appear negative at first, but on reflection, turn out wonderfully.  We endure years of difficulty and strain to obtain the rewards of a well-built house, a lucrative education, a rewarding career, a fine herd of cattle, a wealthy family.

Other animals seem to be able to do some of this higher level thinking as well.  Dolphins, chimpanzees, bonobos, octopus and cuttlefish all have been shown to make higher level decisions.  But studies on language in gorillas and chimps have produced some interesting results.

Koko is a famous “talking” gorilla.  At one time, she had a consort named Michael.    Michael was captured wild in the jungle.  His mother was hacked to death in front of his eyes.  He remembered this event all of his life, and would draw pictures of green with patches of deep red.  There is photograph of Michael sitting in a window.  There is no way to describe his demeanor other than pensive.  What was he thinking about? Did he ever consider these humans he was interacting with?  How could they hack to death his mother, and yet produce kind and intelligent researchers such as Penny, the researcher who taught him to use sign language?  Michael has now left this world, but in that photo, we see a soul who is struggling with morality, yet he does not have the free will that humans have, and so he stands on the edge but cannot make that leap. 

We made that leap.  We ate the apple of knowledge of good and evil.  We took on the amana, the trust that even the heavens and the earth felt they could not bear.  We took on free will, and to have free will, we need to be able to distinguish between good and evil. 

To aid us in this exercise of free will, Allah gave us a qalb.  That thing with oscillates, oscillates between good and evil, between turning toward Allah and away from Him. The qalb is our “morale compass.”  And to aid us in always pointing toward “true north,”  Allah gave us “aql” or reason.  This is the innate component, the part that “perceives” not just concepts, tasawwur, but tasdiq, assents – statements that are either true or false.  We call this kind of perception, intuition.  It is the hikmah or “wisdom” that enables us to analyze a situation and make a decision based on distant consequences, the natural ability we have to recognize morality and make basic morale decisions.

The qalb is the compass, and the aql is the needle.  The aql helps us process information.  By using the innate apriori truths Allah gave us as part of our fitrah, we are able to analyze our experiences and guide our moral compass to better consequences based on those experiences, as well as on the experiences of others in the past.  

The aql is rational.  It uses rational processes generate truth or reveal falsity.

Deduction is the first rational process used by the aql..  If our assumptions or premises are true, the statements or tasdiq we derive from them are necessarily true.  Through deductive reasoning, we can gain knowledge of abstract constructs like math and geometry.  But deduction can also be based on experience, not just intuitive assumptions or apriori tasdiq.  However, the conclusions derived from these premises stem from the definitions of the tasawwur involved.  

A classic deductive argument follows:

1.  All bachelors are unmarried men
2. Tom is a bachelor

Therefore:  Tom is unmarried.

This argument takes the form of:

1. A = B
2. C = A

Therefore:  C = B

The truth table for this syllogism is:

T	T	F	F	F
T	F	T	F	F
T	F	T	T	F

The aql also uses inductive processes, based on scientific principles and observation.  Here, we observe as many cases or events of a similar kind as possible and then derive probabilities that the next case we see, or the next event we observe will follow the same pattern.  

We observe 100,000 swans and all are white, so we postulate that “All swans are white.”  While there is a good probability that the next swan that comes along will be white, it is not impossible that a black swan will appear, or even a pink one, for that matter.  

The form of this argument is:

A1 = B

A2 = B

…

A 100,000 = B

Therefore:  All As = B

The truth table for this syllogism will always produce the possibility that the conclusion is false even if all the premises are true.  Induction produces probabilities, not necessity.  The probability depends on the size of the sample.

So what about moral knowledge?  Is it based on deduction or induction?  Or is it based on both?  Is morality binary?  In Islam, every action has a value.  The hukm wadi’i value acts based on their comparison with ideal patterns of behavior.  Thus, an act can be sahih, fasid or batil; correct, voidable, and void or invalid.  Fasid acts are capable of being corrected, while batil acts cannot be corrected, and are invalid abnitio

Clearly the Islamic value of acts is “moral” in nature.  But what is the source of these values?  Clearly, the source is Allah.  So is any aspect of morality innate, part of our fitrah?

All people have a concept of morality.  Every society has declared murder, physical harm, and even social harm like slander to be evil.   We seem to have an innate sense of right and wrong.  Some things seemly clearly evil, and all people feel shock when hearing about massacres and horrible tortures of humans.

Michael, the gorilla also understood that killing his mother was painful to him, so how are we humans different?  Michael struggled on the brink of morality, but he could not make the leap to a sense of general morality, versus personal impact; moral acts versus a personally emotional act.  Was his mother’s death an evil act?  The poachers who butchered her to death with machetes went home and fed their kids.  How is that different from the lioness?  From the gorilla eating a trees fruit, the future children of that tree? 

The Prophet said,

عن أمير المؤمنين أبي حفصٍ عمر بن الخطاب رضي الله عنه قال : سمعت رسول الله عليه وسلم يقول : سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال : ( إنما الأعمال بالنيات ، وإنما لكل امرئ ما نوى ، فمن كانت هجرته إلى الله ورسوله فهجرته إلى الله ورسوله ، ومن كانت هجرته لدنيا يصيبها أو امرأة ينكحها فهجرته إلى ما هاجر إليه ) .

رواه إماما المحدثين أبو عبد الله محمد بن إسماعيل بن إبراهيم بن المغيرة بن بردزبه البخاري وأبو الحسين مسلم بن الحجاج بن مسلم القشيري النيسابوري في صحيحيهما اللذين هما من أصح الكتب المصنفة .

From the Commander of the Faithful Abi Hafs ‘Umar Ibn Al Khattab, who said : I heard the Prophet of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) say :
“Actions are but by intentions and every man shall have but that which he intended. Thus he whose migration was for Allah and His messenger, his migration was for Allah and His messenger, and he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his migration was for that for which he migrated.”
Related by Al-Bukhaari and Muslim.

(http://alchishti.wordpress.com/2006/02/20/actions-are-judged-by-intentions-imam-nawawis-arbain-1/)

Upon our creation, the malaaikah asked if Allah SWT would place upon this earth one who would create mischief and shed blood.  We intentionally kill, we intentionally do evil.  We do things that are not simply to feed the family.  We do not kill Michael’s mother to eat her, we kill her to sell her hands and feet, her head, her son.  We are capable of going beyond survival or even relative contentment to greed, avarice, and limitless selfishness.  We hoard things, not just so we will have supplies in the future, but prevent anyone else from having them, ever…

In Islam, acts are also valued as fard, mustahabb, mubah, makruh or haram.  These are the hukm shari’I of obligatory, preferred, permissible, disliked and forbidden.   Morality is not simply binary.  It can be complex.  Things are not just good and evil.  Things are gray.  

The qalb has three potential positions on an act.  We call these the nafs amr bi al suu, the nafs lawammah, and the nafs al mutmainah; the soul that commands to evil, the soul that blames and the soul at peace.  Some things are clearly evil and some are clearly good.  Our innate fitrah tells us which is which.  Our souls, then either command us to do evil or are at peace with the good.  Notice that it takes a command, an intention to do evil, but to do good is the natural state, the peaceful state.  The nafs al lawammah is the soul that blames, this is the state of the qalb that is dealing with less clear acts.  It is trying to analyze the consequences and determine if the ultimate consequences are evil or good.

2:216 But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not. (al-Baqara).

WAHY: THE NECESSITY OF WORDS OF INSPIRATION

2: 37. Then learnt Adam from his Lord

Words of inspiration, and his Lord
Turned towards him; for He
Is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.

38. We said: "Get ye down all from here;
And if, as is sure, there comes to you
Guidance from Me, whosoever
Follows My guidance, on them
Shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

After Adam AS disobeys the command of Allah SWT to not eat of the tree, Adam responds by repenting, seeking tawbah.  Unlike Iblis, who also disobeys Allah by not making sujud to Adam, Adam repents.  Iblis responds to his disobedience by becoming even more egotistical and obstinate.  He is then given respite by Allah until the Day of Judgment, but in the end, he will be punished.  He receives no solace or guidance.

Adam, however, repents and is then rewarded with “words” from his Lord.  These kalimaat are words of inspiration, words of wahy – revealed words.  In other places in the Qur’an, revelation is called “al-Kitab” because it was written, like the Saheefa Ibrahim, and the Torah and Injeel, and Qur’an.  But there was no writing or script in the time of Adam, AS, so he is given oral “kalimaat.” These words were revealed by Allah and part of this message was that Allah would send guidance from time to time to man.  This guidance would provide a furqan or criteria for moral judgments.

Innate knowledge is not enough to guide moral decisions because morality is not based on perception or intuition, but upon a deeper sense of “wisdom” or hikmah. Although we have an innate sense of hikmah from our fitrah, for those questions, acts and issues that are gray, deeper, involve layers of consequences; we need guidance or revealed knowledge to show us the way to make these kind of moral decisions. 

Adam and Hawa had the hikmah of their fitrah to guide them, and they had aql or reason, but they still failed to obey Allah and ate of the tree.  Shaytan convinces them that this act of eating of the tree would be good for them.  How could our basic fitrah show us that eating a fruit would be evil?  Yes, Allah SWT ordered us to not eat, but… why is it evil?  Is it evil to eat a fruit? Or is it evil to disobey?  What are the consequences?  Of eating? Of disobeying?  Seems Adam and Hawa need more information, something beyond just the fitrah.

Allah SWT tells Adam AS, after he disobeys and is ejected from the Garden, that He will send guidance to mankind.  This guidance is imperative because the innate “fitrah” and  “aql” were not enough to prevent man from falling into sin, into disobedience.

In Surah al Baqara, Allah SWT tells how He taught Adam the names of things.  He taught mankind the forms, the tasawwir. 

2:231. And He taught Adam the names
Of all things; then He placed them
Before the angels, and said: "Tell Me
The nature of these if ye are right."

When he asks the angels, those beings created by Allah SWT out of pure ruh, who have no free will, to name things, they answer they are not able to do anything like that.  They have only acquired knowledge provided to them by Allah.  They know nothing else.  They have no innate knowledge. 

2:232. They said: "Glory to Thee: of knowledge
We have none, save what Thou
Hast taught us: in truth it is Thou
Who art perfect in knowledge and wisdom.

Here, the malaika make an important statement; only Allah SWT has knowledge and wisdom.  Allah is the actual source of knowledge and wisdom.  And it is Allah that provides us with any form of knowledge and with the inate ability to process it, understand it and derive wisdom from it.  He created us with the ability to perceive with the senses and the mind, and with the aql to analyze this data.  He is the real source of both acquired and intuitive knowledge.

Allah is also the only source of revealed knowledge, what we call “wahy,” revelation. It is this form of obtaining knowledge that provides us with guidance.

So we have three ways of obtaining knowledge, through perception, through intuition and through revelation.  Hence, there are three types of knowledge, acquired, innate, and revealed.

Allah SWT tested man and jinn.  Iblis failed.  When he disobeys he remains arrogant and disobedient, while man repented and returned to obedience.  We were reward with words from Allah SWT to guide us as to how to make these more complex moral decisions, how to go from nafs al lawammah to nafs al mutmainah.  

This guidance is contained in the Kitab – The Tawrah, Injeel and Qur’an.  So we have the hikmah of aql and the furqan of revealed wahy in the kitab.  

DURATIONAL KNOWLEDGE

Considering the nature of human knowledge, what can we say about durational knowledge.  There are three branches of this knowledge – knowledge of the future, knowledge of the past and knowledge of the present – nur al ‘aan. 

We will perhaps discuss the knowledge of the future and present on another occasion, if Allah SWT gives us life.  For now we are focused on taariikh, knowledge of the past.

We asked before is objective knowledge of the past is possible.  We have personal understanding of subjective knowledge.  We call it memory.  As humans, we have individual memory, family memory, tribal memory, national memory.  Subjective in nature, these visions of the past reflect at best a tiny snap shot of the entire universe at that moment.  Not only is the view myopic, but our assumptions, values and other social and cultural factors color the scene.  The Romans hated the Carthaginians, so our “memory” of them is viewed behind Roman-colored glasses.  

Sometimes history tells us more about ourselves than the people and events of the past.  It reveals our prejudices, vices, and good points.  The Scarlet Letter, a book by Nathaniel Hawthorne, reflects the moral values of the Puritans and early religious settlers of the Americas.  It also reflects the author’s thoughts about the hypocrisy of self-righteous people, and about the double standard in moral behavior for men and women.  Nearly two decades ago, Demi Moore starred in a movie based on this same story, which reflected modern, liberation-centered notions of the role of women and morality.  The same thing could be said of evidence-based views of the past.

Shaheed al Sadr held that history was objective.  Based on his conception of causation and his argument that causation is actual, and not only actual but an apriori first principle; Shaheed al Sadr reasoned that history was not relative, but objectively knowable.

How can we objectively know history?  Certainly, we can look for evidence in the earth, as Allah SWT suggests.  We can observe ruins, and the remains of clothes, foodstuffs, trash, even human remains.  Based on inductive reasoning, we can make reasonable theories and assumptions about the lives of the people of the past.  This physical evidence can confirm verbal or written reports and well as prove how skewed they are.  Hence, physical evidence of past events help us analyze verbal and written reports.

Verbal and written reports also assist us in knowing history.  They reveal what happened, but they also reveal people’s perceptions of what happened.  This can be just as important, because these perceptions shape later events, even present events.  

Therefore, the verbal stories and written accounts, especially first person witness accounts, provide objective evidence, but also important clues as to causation of other events.  Sometimes our perceptions are even more important in shaping events than what actually happened.  Our psychology plays as much a role as physiology. 

Let us take the story of Gilgamesh and the Flood.  Whether it is true or not is not as relevant as the lessons we learn, the values it reveals, the impact on the continuing human drama.  Many people have a flood story. The Mesopotamian cultures, the Greeks, and the Maya, Inca, Ojibwe and Algonquin tribes all have flood myths. There is some physical evidence of such a catastrophic event.  Some have even found wood beams on mountains in Turkey.  But the story of Nuh, AS, and the lessons that story impart have more lasting consequences and are more “historical” value.  Nuh, Gilgamesh, Deucalion, and Nanabozho may have been the same person, but what matters is the result of this flood.  Rampant sin and evil is cleansed from the earth; the earth is renewed and humanity is reestablished from pure, sinless and noble ancestors.  It is a warning of what can happen to any society that strays too far from the moral path, who crosses the line and goes so far as to deserve to be wiped clean from the face of the earth.  In history, people are punished, but their ruins remain as a reminded.  Here, with the flood, not even the ruins remain.  No trace or taint is allowed to remain behind, only a warning…

No doubt, history is important as a teacher.  It provides us with lessons and also with continuity.  We gain understanding of causation; the cause of current events.  This knowledge enables us to learn from our failures and our successes.  We grow as individuals and as societies.  Yes, history has an objective component.  It did happen.  But it is how we remember it, and how we use that memory that is the most important.  Just like our memories help us train our moral compass, so history enables us to train the collective moral compass.  The goal of the din of Islam is not just to save individual souls, but to save all mankind, as mankind.

Allah SWT has fulfilled His promise to us.  He has sent us guidance, the guidance of Islam.