Opinion

Faith and Reason: The Junction of the Two Seas - 2
By Professor Nazeer Ahmed
Concord, CA
What is faith?

“The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him by his Rabb, and so do the believers. All of them have the conviction of faith in Allah and the Angels and the Books and the Messengers (saying). We do not differentiate between any one of the Messengers.” (2:285)

Truth is one. Islam stands at the intersection of the Truth as it was revealed to all the Prophets and hence it honors and accepts the Truth of all the earlier revelations. According to the Qur’an, Iman is to have certainty of faith in Allah, the Angeles, the Books, and the Messengers and not to differentiate between any one of them.

The classical approach for the reconciliation of faith with reason failed because it was deductive. It started with the premise of God’s omnipotence and speculated on where and when this omnipotence interfaced with nature. The attempt was bound to fail because the will of God is transcendent, beyond space-time, and beyond human reach. It is futile to try to define where and when the will of God interacts with the cosmos because His will is built into the natural phenomenon. It is like a fish swimming in a pond and trying to find out where the water is. Another parable is for a man to try to define where the interface between man and God is. Upon being told that God is closer to him than his jugular vein, he proceeds to slit his throat to discover God!

Every universe, every galaxy, every planet, every molecule, every atom, every string beats to the laws ordained for it. It is for man to discover the “how” of these ordinances, not to discover “where and when” these ordinances interact with the cosmos, as the ordinances are built into the very essence of the cosmos.

In contrast to the deductive philosophical approach, the guidance from the Qur’an is inductive. It guides humankind to become a witness to the beauty and majesty of God’s creation, interact with it, discover the Divine Names through this interaction, and create divine patterns on earth in servitude to His commands. Man is uniquely qualified for this mission in that he is endowed with eyes with which to see, ears with which to hear, a body with which to sense, reason with which to integrate and contemplate and a heart to perceive the Most Beautiful Names. In the perspective of a man of faith, philosophy becomes an integrative tool, and reason becomes its normative process.

The soul is the mirror of the invisible world. God’s creation is good. It has beauty and grace. It beckons the soul to discover it and through this discovery to know, serve and worship the Creator. The soul can grasp onto the beauty and grace “on the horizon” because of the beauty and grace within. Man and nature are not antagonists; they are related to each other through God. This is in contrast to the secular perspective where man and nature are antagonists and are divorced from each other so that man may abuse and exploit nature without compunction.

The interface between the world of reason and the realm of the heart (the realm of faith) is elastic and the boundaries are ever expanding. Each individual experiences this interface in accordance with his innate capabilities bestowed upon him by Divine Grace.

To be a witness to God’s creation requires action. Faith that is reinforced with action finds its goal, namely, the Truth. Faith without action dangles in the air. The inverse is also true. Deeds without faith are like building castles in the sand. That is how the Qur’an brackets faith with noble deeds (“Amanu wa ‘amalus salehat”) and emphasizes that they are co-extant.

A physical description of man takes us in the direction of organs, cells, molecules, DNA and RNA. Such a description is useful for physicians, biologists and chemists but it is far from satisfying. Man is more than his body. He is endowed with knowledge, reason, free will, feelings and emotions. Most importantly, he is animated by the spirit, a Trust from God.

Accordingly, a more complete description of man takes us in the direction of his attributes, physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual. The Qur’an provides such a comprehensive perspective. It embraces the physical, the emotive and the spiritual.

The body (jism) which enables us to see, hear, taste, walk, talk and interact physically with the physical world. It is the means for gaining empirical knowledge.
The mind, the seat of reason (aql), comprehension (fahima) and contemplation (fikr). It is the means for extensional knowledge. The body and the mind are the means for ilm ul ibara.
The heart (qalb) is the seat of awareness, feelings and emotions. There are four parts to the heart: the outer heart (sadr), the heart (qalb), the inner heart (fuad) and core (birr). The heart is the seat of ilm ul ishara, the intuitive and infusive knowledge,
The Nafs (soul) is the hidden motive power of insan, the medium of cognition, judgement, responsibility, will, belief or disbelief. The term Nafs is also used to describe an individual.
Insan (the human) is a composite term that includes the body, the mind, the heart and the Nafs.
The Spirit (ruh), bestows life, knowledge and power on the human. The Nafs is from God and returns to Him upon death (“Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilayhi Rajeoon”). We know but a little about it. When it animates the body, the human is alive and is a witness to the majesty of creation. When it departs, life, knowledge and power depart with it and the body is dead.

We are now ready to ask the question that we asked at the outset: Just as there appears to be a “God-particle” that unifies space-time, gravity, electromagnetism, weak atomic forces and strong atomic forces, is there a building bloc that unifies faith and reason?

The Qur’an accords the Ayahs (Signs) in nature and history the same sanctity as the revealed Word. “We shall show them Our Signs on the horizon, and within their own souls, until it is clear to them that it is indeed the Truth.” (41:53) God reveals His Word through the Books as well as through Signs “on the horizon”. The heavens as well as the human soul become the tablet on which the Pen writes so that the human become aware of Him and cultivates faith with certainty.

The goal of knowledge is to find the Truth. God is the Truth (al Haqq). The man of faith finds the Truth by the certainty of iman in his heart. The man of science finds the Truth through the Signs (Ayahs) in nature. The historian finds the Truth through a study of the majesty of human interactions. For the scientist and the historian, reason becomes a process for finding the Truth. The Awlia (the Gnostics) find the Truth through an understanding of the Signs in the human soul.

Thus the Ayah (Sign, symbol) is the common building block, the unifying factor for faith and reason. Each passage in the Qur’an is an Ayah. Every atom manifests itself as an Ayah. All creation is a mystical wonder which is like an arrow pointing towards the Throne.

Hence, the study of nature and of history becomes mandatory for the believers just as is the study of the revealed Word. Beautiful is God’s creation which changes every moment revealing the Most Beautiful Names. (“Whatever is between the heavens and earth ask; He bestows every moment with majesty”, 35: 17). The Signs in the deep recesses of the soul also point to the transcendence of the Creator. A study of the inner dimensions of human nature, the attributes of the heart and the soul, becomes mandatory for believers. An Alim is not just a person who studies the Qur’an in a seminary. The honor is also due to one who studies nature (a scientist like Ibn Sina), history (a historian like Ibn Khaldun) or is a master of the sciences of the soul (a Shaikh like Shaikh Abdel Qader Jeelani).

The Qur’an integrates faith and reason. Nature is not compartmentalized as it is in the secular perspective. It is a stage for the manifestation of His Signs. Similarly, the soul is a platform for the manifestation for the majesty (tajalliat) of Divine Names. In this perspective, reason remains the supreme power for understanding nature but it becomes a servant of faith in the domain of the transcendent. It leads humankind to “the junction of the two seas” but then it bows out, the light of reason becomes dim, and humankind must advance further with the light of the heart. (O Assembly of jinns and humans! If you can penetrate the layers of the heavens and the earth, then do so. Not without authority shall you be able to do so 27:33). It is significant that humankind cannot reach “the junction of the two seas” without reason. By the same token, it cannot advance beyond this junction with reason alone; it requires the light of faith of which the heart is the reflector.

The Ayat serves as the building block for the message of the Qur’an and provides the linkage between faith and reason. According to the Qur’an, all creation is a symbol. The Qur’an must therefore be interpreted as a grand scroll of divine symbols. A prosaic, literal interpretation of the Qur’an leaves one thirsting for more knowledge. Similarly, nature must also be looked upon as a majestic panorama of symbols. The Signs in nature and history act as evidence for the Truth and in their collective thrust foster certainty of faith.

“These are Signs from the Qur’an. Verily, a Book, illuminated, giving guidance and good news to those who have certainty of faith.” (27:1-2)

The Qur’an refers to itself as a collection of Ayahs. Only a symbolic representation gives the latitude to interpret the Ayahs for application in space-time, in different cultures and locales. “If the ocean were ink for (writing) the Words of my Rabb, then, the ocean will be exhausted before the Words of my Rabb are completed, even if We bring another ocean to help it.” (18:109). A literal interpretation constrains the freedom of interpretation and may lead to stagnation, dogmatism and extremism which are contrary to the dynamism of faith.

“Do they not see on the earth how much of every blessed kind We have grown therein, in pairs. Indeed! In it there are Signs! But most of them have no certainty of faith.” (26:7)

The flora and fauna of earth offer boundless Signs for man to witness and contemplate its majesty. These Signs form the basis of the physical, biological and geological sciences.

The universe is a mystery. It must be looked at with awe and wonder. It is a means to an end, not an end itself. “Lo! We created not the heavens and the earth and what is in between, for amusement.” 21:15). A scientist must keep the symbolic nature of the physical world in mind. Science does not tell us the absolute Truth. It is a symbol for a higher truth. This is confirmed by the Sufi and the scientist alike. As an example, Heisenberg’s principle of uncertainty in quantum mechanics affirms this. It states that the more precise our knowledge of a particle, the less precise is our knowledge of its momentum. And yet another example, the “observer effect” predicts that it is not possible to know a system without affecting it thereby denying us its pristine attributes. In other words, “the thing in itself” is forever hidden from us. What is known is only its relational behavior within the framework of assumptions made.

“And among His Signs (are) the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the differences in language and color. Indeed, in that are Signs for those who are perceptive. (30:22)

The sheer expanse of the universe baffles the imagination. The eye stares in wonderment at the cosmos and comes back tired and humbled (67:4). These Signs form the basis of the astronomical sciences and astrophysics.

The Nafs is a composite term that includes the body, the mind, the heart and the soul. The Nafs is the repository of perception, the owner of human will, and the knower of right and wrong. When it is purified, it becomes a vehicle for the manifestation of Divine Names. When it is corrupted, the human insulates himself from Divine light. The attributes of the Nafs are the basis for tasawwuf, the sciences of the soul.”

“And when the people of Noah rejected their Messenger, We drowned them, and We made them a Sign for humankind.” (25:37)

The lessons of history are Signs for humankind. When humankind obeys the universal laws of justice and strives to find the Truth and serve Him, it prospers. When justice is violated and humankind exceeds its limits, it destroys itself. The rise and fall of civilizations can be explained through the conformance or discordance with divine laws. “And the heavens have we raised up and established dynamic balance therein, so that you do not violate justice in your own lives 27:7-8).

Time is a sense built into the cosmos as well as in the human. It is neither real nor is it unreal. It is the process that governs all creation. It serves its purpose for the fulfillment of the commands of Allah, and it provides an opportunity to know Him through His attributes manifest in creation. A Hadith e Qudsi states: “I was an unknown treasure, I willed that I be known, so I created.”

The guidance of the Qur’an is both empirical and inductive. Numerous are the Ayahs which draw the attention of humankind to Signs (Ayahs) in nature (2:29; 3:190; 6 38; 6:95; 6:97; 6:99; 6:101; 10:5-6; 10:31; 10:101; 13:2-4; 13:65; 15:16; 16:10-16; 20:50; 24: 41; 29:19; 30:11; 31:28; 50: 6; 51:20-21; 78: 6-7; 87:2) and history ( 3:137 ; 6:6; 6 42; 12:110-111 ; 14:5 ; 29:20).

In the Qur’anic approach reason is accorded its dignity as the queen of the empirical and rational sciences. However, it is tethered as a means, a process to find the Truth, and to develop certainty of faith. It is not allowed to roam like the unfettered reason of modern man who has separated faith from reason and finds himself wandering alone in the wilderness of disbelief, dangling between heaven and earth, with his feet planted neither firmly on the ground of faith nor his reason reaching up to heaven. He is lost to the peace that comes with the presence of God.

Faith and reason are two seas. At the junction of the two seas stands the Ayah, that transcendent “God-particle” of Revelation. It is the missing link in the faith-reason discourse.