Islamic Answers to Philosophical Questions: Part II



Dr. Jaafar Shiekh Idris
Translated by Riaz Ansari
The Sources of Knowledge

All realities, whatever type they may be, have two sources only, with no third category: existence and revelation, or, let us say, the creation of Allah and revelation of Allah. If a person makes a claim without supporting evidence from one or both of these sources, his claim is false.

Allah the Exalted said, Say: Have you seen your partner-gods to whom you pray beside Allah? Show Me what they have created of the earth! Or have they any share in the heavens? Or have We given them a scripture so that they act on clear proof therefrom? Nay, the evildoers promise one another nothing but delusions. [Al-Fatir, 35:40]

The worship of those people which they directed to other than Allah contains the proposition that they are arbab (pl. of rabb). A rabb must necessarily be a creator. Knowledge that someone is a creator may be known either by witnessing what he created in the universe or by revelation from the deity who has been established to be a creator. If this claim has no support either in the observable universe or in the word of the deity who is the creator, it is necessarily false.

The Islamic conception of the sources of knowledge differ, then, from the conception of materialistic atheism, which makes existence its only source and cannot conceive of a methodology of knowledge except that by which the realities of the physical universe became known. However, it also differs from the other religious metaphysical conceptions. The pivotal difference between it and these other systems is that the latter establishes proofs from the observable universe for its claim that there is a second source of knowledge, i.e. revelation, while the materialists deny this reality, which is indicated by the source of knowledge they acknowledge, which places them in contradiction; the proponents of other religious metaphysical conceptions believe in sources for which they possess no trace of proof for their authenticity.

When Muhammad (pbuh) spoke to his people among the Arabs – and they were very intelligent people – many of them raised objections to his claim, using every objection a person could muster. They left no new objection for a person after them to employ. However, Muhammad (pbuh) answered all those objections with evidence and proofs which were the epitome of logic and rationality.

Here are some examples:

Some said they didn’t believe in his prophethood because they didn’t believe the universe had a creator. The answer was: The how did you come into being? From pure nothingness? That is impossible. Or did you create yourselves? However, this is also impossible. No other possibility remains except that you have a Creator Who was not created nor did He beget nor was He begotten. Were they created from nothing, or are they the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Nay, they are sure of nothing. [Al-Tur, 52:35-36]

Some said they believed in the existence of the Creator, but didn’t believe in the possibility of resurrection after death. The answer was: If you believe that Allah created the human being after a time when he didn’t exist, how can you deny His ability to restore him after death, even though that would be easier? Moreover, you see in this universe before you tat Allah the Exalted brings the earth to life with vegetation, then causes it to die with drought, then He brings it to life again another time. The One Who revives the earth after its death, how could He be incapable of reviving the human being after his death?