Knowing the Master-truth

By DR MOHD SANI BADRON
Senior Fellow/Director, Centre for Economics and Social Studies

To safeguard human intelligence and spirituality, any doubts concerning the ultimate reality and purpose of life must be banished.

Concerning “those who forgot God, and He therefore made them forget their own selves” (al-Hashr, 59:19), commentators of the Quran offer these broad explanations.

First, in ontology, as God is the only One Real and True Being, how can he who forgets God, Who is the very source of his existence, be conscious of his own reality?

Second, by virtue of the fact that those who are oblivious of God are equivalent to “those who have hearts with which they fail to understand, and eyes with which they fail to see, and ears with which they fail to hear” the truth (al-A‘raf, 7:179), then the fact that they are oblivious of their true selves is evident.

Second, pertaining to the shari‘ah, as “upon God rests the goal of the path”, referring to qasd al-sabil, which is mentioned in al-Nahl, 16:9, how can he who forgets God lead his own soul upon a straight and true Way of Life? If that were the case, he cannot but swerve from the true Way of obeying God, i.e. Divine Law.

Third, in psychology, as hearts are made tranquil in the remembrance of God (al-Ra‘d, 13:28), how can he who forgets God free his soul from disquietude, a freedom concerning which has everything to do with certainty and is never doubtful of the ultimate Truth and fulfilment of action in conformity with that certainty?

Fourth, in ethics, as God is al-Mihsan, meaning “the One Who constantly does that which is good”, how can he who is oblivious of God be conscious of his spiritual best interest and do justice to his intelligent self, let alone to society?

Fifth, in eschatology, as all of mankind will return to Him to be held accountable (Hud, 11:123), he who forgets God is oblivious that ultimately he will leave this world and come face to face with the Truth.

In explaining al-Dhariyat (51:56) concerning the purpose of life, the Companion Ibn ‘Abbas clarified that God has only created jinn and man, that they may know Him and His Attributes, and willingly conform to His will.

The former refers to the deliberative aspect of life, and the latter to the desiderative, all for man’s own benefit.

Murtada al-Zabidi concluded that “there is no way to worship and serve Allah – whereas ‘ibadah is the right of Allah over His servants – except through Knowledge, and there is no way to acquire Knowledge except by seeking it wherever it is”.

The last portion of Zabidi’s remarks, “by seeking Knowledge wherever it is”, was penned in the context of vindicating the textual authenticity of another celebrated Prophetic tradition, “Seek knowledge even if in China”.

This is the significance of a knowledge-structure which functions as the foundation of Islamic thought, viz, knowledge concerning fardu ‘ayn. In order to safeguard human intelligence and spirituality, first and foremost his intellect must be liberated from doubt concerning the ultimate reality and purpose of life.

Freedom from doubt and conjecture with regard to fundamental reality and truth can only be achieved through i‘tiqad imbued with certainty, which affirms the authentic Divine Message to His Messenger.

Coupled with bodily actions and behaviour in conformity with such belief and faith, this knowledge reflects the tranquillity of the heart which knows itself as well as its perpetual relation to the omnipresent Creator.

Religion is indeed rooted in the recognition and acknowledgement of the Lordship of Allah, the One and Only God, Who possesses the Perfect Attributes. This is the reason why this foundational knowledge has also been widely referred to as ‘ilm al-tawhid.

Close observation would discover that it is this very knowledge concerning God which later branches out into other fundamentals of Faith, such as belief in His Angels, His Scriptures, and His Messengers. Hence, this knowledge, according to Fazlur Rahman’s Major Themes of the Quran, is of the Master-Truth.

If a master key secures access anywhere, knowledge of the Master-Truth secures entrance to every other science, in particular concerning good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, wisdom and folly, justice and injustice, both in terms of their outward and inward dimensions.

In contrast, without true faith, there will be spiritual anarchy, as the aforementioned verse “upon God rests the goal of the path, but they are ways that turn aside”.

- THE STAR