Page 6 - Pakistan Link - November 24, 2023

P6 - PAKISTAN LINK - NOVEMBER 24, 2023 OPINION
n By Professor Nazeer Ahmed in Baghdad. Through these centuries,
Concord, CA Why Did the Scientific Revolution Not the intellectual genius of Muslim schol-

he intellectual storms created Take Place in the Islamic World? - 4 ars had struggled to accommodate the
challenge of Greek ideas. The work of
by the Mu’tazalite and anti- Al Ash’ari (d 936) had brought a degree
TMu’tazalite movements con- of calm to this intellectual landscape
tinued to rage long after the eighth humankind in its quest for the Truth. but the undercurrents of a perceived
century. The Islamic The passage of time, absolute time, per- disharmony between faith and reason
world had come face ceived time, time as a moment, time as persisted.
to face with Greek a day and as a mirage are all clarified Al Gazzali injected himself head-
rationalism and was in different contexts in the Qur’an. The long into the Fatimid-Sunni and
trying to reconcile definition of a natural phenomenon philosophy-theology debates. His dia-
its belief system with must therefore state, a priori, its as- lectic reflects the political and intellec-
reason. Was there an sumptions of time within which the tual turmoil of the age. He argued elo-
interface between reason and faith? If phenomenon are defined. Otherwise, quently against the esoteric doctrines
there was one, where was it? The ma- observations, theories and deductions of the Fatimids as well as the deductive
jor intellectual figures of the Islamic that are derived in one timeframe be- approach of the philosophers. In his
Golden Age grappled with this ques- come speculative when applied to a treatise Tahaffuz al Falasafa (Repudia-
tion and advanced their own views different timeframe. Al Ash’ari won tion of the Philosophers), he contend-
and their own theories. the debate against the Mu’tazalites of ed that the metaphysical arguments of
Among the most influential of the the day. However, his assumptions are the philosophers did not meet the test
usuli ulema who tried a reconcilia- insufficient to accommodate mod- In modern language, Al Gazzali’s position can be stated as follows: The laws of reason. Basing his powerful dialec-
tion of reason with faith was the Shafi’ ern theories of quantum physics. The of nature are not deterministic. Cause and effect are not necessary conse- tic on the earlier works of al Ash’ari, Al
scholar Abul Hasan al Ash’ari (d 936). search for a satisfactory definition of quences of each other; they exist “side by side”. The outcome of a natural Gazzali argued that there was no cause
To maintain the transcendence of God the interface between reason and faith phenomenon is a moment of God’s grace and effect in nature, and that all natural
and preserve His power over all deci- is perpetual and must continue. events happened by the Will of God.
sions, Al Ash’ari advanced the thesis among the scholars and the elite. period brought him the conviction “The connection between what is
that time was discrete and was built up The Approach of Ibn Sina and the that true faith resided in the heart, and habitually believed to be a cause and
of small increments (atoms). At each Scientists Al Gazzali’s Tahafut al Falasafa it was only through a cleansing of the what is habitually believed to be an
increment of time, the Will of God in- Ibn Sina was one of the most cel- (Repudiation of the Philosophers) heart and constant remembrance of effect is not necessary… For any two
tervenes and determines the outcome ebrated scientists of the Islamic Golden Abu Hamid al-Gazzali (d 1111) God that man ascends to Divine pres- things, it is not necessary that the ex-
of an event. Thus, in the Asharite cos- Age. His approach to the question of was one of the most influential theo- ence. Al Gazzali returned to Nishapur istence or the nonexistence of the one
mology, a natural law which appears cause and effect in nature was funda- logians, jurists and skeptical philoso- (1098) where he founded and taught at follows necessarily from the existence
to follow the logic of cause and effect mentally different from that al Ash’ari. phers in Islamic history. Born into a a Zawiya, a college structured on Sufi or the nonexistence of the other. Their

gets broken up into an infinite series To preserve the overarching authority Persian-Arab family in Tus in North- teachings. In 1106 he returned to the connection is due to the taqdir of God,
of occasions for the intervention of of Divine Will in nature, Al Ash’ari con- eastern Iran, Al-Gazzali received his Nizamiya College and continued to who creates them side by side, not to its
the Will of God. Those who accepted ceived of time as moving in discrete, early training in Qur’an, fiqh and ta- teach there until his death. being necessary by itself.”
the philosophy of al Ash’ari were called small increments (atoms). Ibn Sina, sawwuf in the local religious schools Al Gazzali lived in a period of great Al Gazzali supported his argument
Asharites. The Asharite ideas found on the other hand, tackled the more and then studied under a well-known political turmoil. The Islamic world by offering the combustion of cotton as
wide acceptance in the Islamic world fundamental issues of “change” and the scholar, al-Juwayni of Nishapur. The was divided between the Fatimids in an example:
and influenced some of the major “agent of change”. He constructed a hi- erudition, brilliance and intellec- Cairo and the Abbasids in Baghdad. “We say that the efficient cause of
thinkers of Islamic history including erarchy of causers of change and distin- tual acuity of the young Al-Gazzali The Sunni Seljuqs backed the Abbasids the combustion through the creation
Al Gazzali and Allama Iqbal. guished between the “necessary” and attracted the attention of Nizam ul and were engaged in a military struggle of blackness in the cotton and through
Al Ash’ari’s thesis was a major the “contingent”. God is “necessary”, he Mulk, the grand vizier of the reigning with the Shia Buyids of Iraq for control causing the separation of its parts and
step towards a reconciliation of faith maintained, whereas the created world Seljuks, who conferred upon him the of Baghdad. The Crusaders, taking ad- turning it into coal or ashes is God—
and reason. Al Ash’ari rejected the is “contingent”. In the cosmology of title of “hujjaatul Islam” (evidence of vantage of the Fatimid-Abbasid rival- either through the mediation of the
Mu’tazalite position that the Qur’an Ibn Sina, the metaphysical structures Islam) and appointed him a professor ries, were successful in capturing Jeru- angels or without mediation”.
was “created”. He explained that the of necessity and contingency were dif- at the Nizamiya College in Baghdad. salem in 1099. The assassins, a band In modern language, Al Gazzali’s
divine attributes of seeing, hearing ferent. The necessary is “the source of His lectures on jurisprudence and of disgruntled Fatimids, were active position can be stated as follows: The
and action are different from those of its own being without borrowed exis- tasawwuf attracted a wide following throughout the Islamic world, caus- laws of nature are not deterministic.
human beings and must not be under- tence. It is what always exists”. By con- and his fame spread far and wide. ing havoc with their targeted killings Cause and effect are not necessary con-
stood in anthropological terms. trast, “the contingent being is ‘false in After teaching at the College for of Sunni leadership. Nizamul ul Mulk sequences of each other; they exist “side
However, in advancing his own “at- itself’ and ‘true due to something else four years, Al Gazzali went through himself fell to an assassin’s dagger in by side”. The outcome of a natural phe-
omistic” theory of time, Al Ash’ari left other than itself… It is actualized by an a profound internal crisis. Outward 1092. nomenon is a moment of God’s grace.
himself open to a critique from the phi- external cause other than itself.” Thus, ritualistic observances of religion On the intellectual plane, the tur- (The author is Director, World Or-
losophers and scientists. What is time? the theories of Ibn Sina stay close to and esoteric philosophical discourses bulence generated by the injection of ganization for Resource Development
Is it linear? Is it discrete? Is it warped? the guidance provided by the Qur’an. brought him no inner peace. He quit Greek philosophy continued to roil and Education, Washington, DC; Di-
Is it even “real”? The limits of reason However, his esoteric arguments of his prestigious professorship and em- theological debates. It had been four rector, American Institute of Islamic
are the limits of human understanding the “necessary” and the “contingent” barked on a journey to Damascus, Je- hundred years since the Mu’tazalite History and Culture, CA; Member,
of time. The Qur’an offers profound in- were too complex for the layman and rusalem and onto Mecca and Madina movement had first enjoyed and then State Knowledge Commission, Ban-
sights into the nature of time to guide his works remained unknown except for hajj. His introspections during this lost the patronage of the Abbasid courts galore; and Chairman, Delixus Group)

n By Abdul-Majeed Azad (even most Cherokee) can't read it. But
Pasadena, CA Please Write Six Names, Will You? it does beckon: don't forget, this is who
we are!
few years ago, sI was on a Absorbing all this, invigorated me
working trip to Houston. I flew writing becomes. schools, where even speaking their to start something that is so fitting in
y

A Southwest both ways. On Is it any surprise, then, that humans mother tongue was often forbidden. the current social, political and reli-
b
my return flight to LA, I picked up the are writing more now - emails, texts, But Sequoyah's syllabary survived gious quagmire that as Muslims we
in-flight magazine and Facebook posts - than at any other time in those Bibles and prayer books, and face everyday!
read an amazing arti- in history? at the end of the 20th century, a revival First, the onslaught by the far-right
cle, 'A Man of Letters'. Did we know that in the early 19th of the Cherokee language began. To- and alt-right groups across the globe
It was written by century, in an astounding act of per- day, Sequoyah's invention still speaks on Islam is due mainly to ignorance
Tim Brookes - found- sistence, imagination and courage, a so strongly to the traditional identity of and then some sheer xenophobia. It
er of the Forgotten Cherokee named Sequoyah invented The poignancy of that linguistic lega- the Cherokee that their art form often has made us fear for our faith and life
Alphabets Project, a written version of his people's lan- cy is amazingly so clear in the current includes the characters he created. both.
who took upon carving in woods, in guage? situation: we Muslims have in our In Tahelquah, Oklahoma - the site Then there is this second but more
his sixties, the alphabets of foreign and The Cherokee became the first possession the world's perhaps the of the Cherokee National headquarters lethal attack by the fanatically myopic
forgotten languages of the world. American Indian nation to adopt their most pure, vibrant, unadulterated, - the high school is named after him. ideologues such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS/
We write, he says, so we remember: own script, and they went from non- rich and lively language - Arabic The downtown post office is inscribed ISIL, Al-Shabab and their off-shoots,
shopping lists, memos, histories, even literate to literate in a single decade. in both English and Cherokee Wheel- that has made Muslims a pariah nation
fiction and spiritual texts. The sheer act Soon, a variety of publications, includ- 1830 Indian Removal Act was passed. chair access and tobacco-free signs around the world!
of writing carries the injunction: This ing Bibles, prayer books, and news- The Cherokee were driven from their around the old courthouse are also in We are asking more frequently what
is important. papers were printed in Cherokee by a homelands in Georgia and Carolinas. both languages, and the front window can we do to change the perception of
The busier we are, and the more we missionary named Samuel Worcester. Their printing press was seized, and of the Bank of America features a mes- the world towards us?
have on our minds, the more likely we But just as this extraordinary the Cherokee type was destroyed. Their sage in Cherokee! Can we all draw inspiration from
are to forget, so the more important transformation was taking place, the only path to literacy was through white It does not matter that most people (Continued on page 23)
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