Evolutionary theory, as it is commonly understood by nonspecialists, has penetrated very deeply into the substratum of human thought. It shapes opinion and distorts judgment in almost every sphere, all the more effectively because it has become a kind of unconscious and therefore unquestioned bias. People readily assume that each generation is likely to be a little wiser (and possibly even a little better) than the preceding one; this assumption inherent in the idea of progress as it is commonly understood. If that were so, then the beliefs and ideas of earlier generations might reasonably be dismissed as obsolete. Religion would be no more than a vestige of primitive thought, and Christ might be considered, at best, as a man ahead of his time, a signpost on the evolutionary path. This appears to have been the view of Teilhard de Chardin, that misled and misleading priest.
We make certain deductions from the facts available to our senses in this thin slice of time. It is assumed that the people of earlier ages tried to do the same, and since they did not deduce what we have deduced from these facts they must necessarily have been our inferiors. It is taken for granted that their beliefs were based, as ours are, upon the observation of physical phenomena. They were not very good observers and persistently drew the wrong conclusions from such facts as they did observe; they belonged, it is said, to a “pre-logical” stage of human development.
This is, in the first place, a childish attitude. It is common enough for children to enjoy a sense of superiority over adults who cannot climb trees as they do or who make a mess of a jigsaw puzzle which presents no problem to an eight-year-old, and a child may reasonably wonder why a grown-up who can afford to buy ice cream or chocolates every day of his life does not do so, just as we are puzzled that the ancients never developed effective techniques for the exploitation of the earth’s riches. Grown-ups, however, have a different order of priorities.
This childish aspect of modernism is nothing if not naive in its view of the past. It takes for granted that if all we want is ice cream or its equivalents, then this is all that people ever wanted. They did not know how to produce it quickly, hygienically and in quantity. We do. They were not clever enough to invent motor cars and aeroplanes. We are (without ever asking ourselves whether our journeys are really necessary). They thought the earth was the center of the universe. We know better.
Arguments of this kind, however ludicrous they may seem, are at the root of a great deal of modern thinking, not, of course, among a sophisticated minority of scholars and intellectuals, but among ordinary people who have received the usual smattering of education and have been encouraged to believe that they know something worth knowing. What matters, from this point of view, is not the pure form of a particular theory but the form in which it has been popularized, processed through the educational machine and assimilated by the masses. Religious (or metaphysical) ideas, when they penetrate whole populations within a traditional environment, may adopt simplified and what might be described as “picturesque” forms without thereby sacrificing either integrity or effectiveness, but secular and scientific notions soon become slipshod and inaccurate when they are popularized.
.. to be continued ..
-Gai Eaton, “Knowledge and its Counterfeits”
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Two things:
1- It’s astonishing how many Islamic activists/speakers/writers are described in that excerpt.
2- I predict a brotherly email chastising you for quoting a perennialist, despite the eloquence of their critique of modernity.
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Salamu’alaykum
1) I thought the same thing!
2) Probably a good prediction.
I think with regards to Perennialists, they (may) have an opinion or two which is related to the environment in which they were raised, and its encountering of the East.
They themselves could not, it seems, completely escape modernity’s influence. I stick to reading the coherent part of their message. As it is, Hassan Gai Eaton may be one of the more orthodox.
I know of brothers who say that this man is definitely a wali. He has halaqat in London I believe…I hope on meeting him one day insha Allah.
I remember reading this book…and highlighting entire pages…page after page…
BTW this is from his book…king of the castle. Read it and reflect. I do dislike his all religions lead to God thing…and I dunno how many buy into it. I’ve heard perennialists are more underground now however.
AS
Hope your well old friend. It is important to highlight the problems with modernity and to be fair one may hold justly that the perennialist have uncovered some of the more problematic features with modernity. On the other hand, the past is gone. What that entails is that if it be the case that we do away with the world as it is today as return to the past in the traditional sense we would find this to be an impossible feat. So the perennialists are not helping us beyond the realm of critique and the solution they provide is fraudulent -a core religion beyond the particulars of diverse religions. Here one may ask, what is the difference between this as the Batiniyyah movement that Imam Ghazali (r) Hujjatul Islam argued against? That is a thesis to be explored.
The Perennialist definition & “understanding” of tradition has to be readily clarified and its differences highlighted so that we do not confuse and transfer its sense to the idea of Islamic tradition. Unfortunately, I believe we are late on the seen and much damage has been done by employing the logic of perennialists and their literature and selling it to unaware Muslims in the package of Orthodoxy. At the end the traditionalists (perennialists) do not help Muslims to work through modernity for they themselves have not come to term with it rather they are the spiritual face of modernity perennialism is another manifestation of the Cartesian ego given that it recognizes itself to be true.
The way to deal with modernity is by means of the Qur’an and reviving Aqeeda studies as Maulana Thanwi (r) suggests in “Answer to the Modernism” and as Shaikh al Islam Mustafa Sabri (r) attempted. Perennialism helps us a destroyers but not as builders in many ways they are they are esoteric fundamentalist who would like to destroy not only the World of today but also the who notion of Prophecy as understood in Islam. Rather than transform than world of today and transcend its limitations through revelation and live by revelation in the world with others from a profound realization (khalwa fi al jalwa) they cast aside the experience of the Prophet (saw) with Jahilia and instead claim to have uncovered a new path to Allah one beyond the path of Muhammad (saw).
Allahu al- Haq wa al-Hakim wa Deen-u-hu as Siratul Mustaqeem ilaa Yaumu Deen
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Indeed, I agree, their solution is either not provided or inaccurate, so I am not representing their solution here, just the critique of modernity.
What many of parties who critique modernism do is that they forget the principles of their critique when considering what to do regarding a solution.
For example, if it accepted that there is saintly knowledge which is transmitted through tradition, initiation, struggle against the self, and is connected to the Prophet (S), then one simply has to follow those living saints manners in living and engaging in modernity. End of discussion.
AS
Akhi. I hope you are well and in good relations with al Mawla Tabaraka Wa Tala. One can agree that the critique of the perennialist has value but sadly many have not declared what you just did that they are using the critique without taking the path in its entirety. On the other hand, the imperative to just follow tradition in modernity is their position, in fact. In Islam as you know understanding is key and Allah calls us to that in the Qur’an it is the counterpart of submission.
Understanding is a pre-requisite to submission to Islam and further to fana. The Imams of Ahl as Sunnah teach us that there is no obligation in Shariah (taklif) when one is ignorant or has no presence of intellect or reason this is based on a Prophet Tradition about the pen and responsibility) the least to be read in this is Imam Ghazali’s (r) works. Iman-Islam- Ihsan. Lack of understanding is partly to blame for the state of the majority of Muslims which is spiritual and intellectual illiteracy. Knowledge from Books is necessary but must be coupled with the oral teaching of verified scholars both go hand in hand and have always gone hand in hand since the Revelation of the Qur’an and hadith. The evidence for this is in the way both the Quran and hadith have been transmitted and also the way scholarly works have been passed on the book and Shaikh go hand in hand.
But spiritual insight and guidance defy reason to some extent and the realm of the senses but must never defy Revelation. The problem is articulating this matter in an understandable way and this was done to a great degree by Imam Ghazali and others (r) but it has not been done today in relation to modernity which denies Revelation authority on its own, as you know. In any case, you raise an important point but there is a problem in it with regards to epistemology (theory of knowing and knowledge). It is an old problem and that is how do we account for mysticism or mystical knowledge in a principled theory of knowledge. It is unfortunate that few Sunni Mutakalimun have attempted to deal with this matter in dialogue with Western thought, Modern and post-Modern but a Shi scholar of Kalam and philosophy has. In,The Principles of Epistemology in Islamic Philosophy, Ayatullah Yazdi Hairi has presented a philosophical justification and explication for mystical knowledge what is called Irfan in their tradition and Marifa in ours. This is the reason we need to invest in learning and renewing learning and the way of companionship of the scholars and in practical implementation of theory.
Maybe you and I may agree the discussion can end but does it we need evidence to have closure from both Revelation and Reason before we can call people to accept personal experience of the spiritual world as an evidence. This was the path of Imam Ghazali I believe and Imam Junayd was it not?
Bismillah
Br. Abul-Hussein’s argument is really on point, if it’s directed at scholars and students seeking to become scholars.
But I don’t see the value of it for the majority of Muslims. Are Ahmad the autoworker or Bilal the butcher supposed to delve deeply into these subjects to find their understanding of the truth? Of course not. Neither should they think themselves capable/responisble to do so. That would be as useful as the popular Salafi position last decade about taqleed.
What would benefit Ahmad and Bilal is to take the hand of a sheikh, as religious people have done throughout our history, and accept his guidance.
I think that was Yursil’s point and it’s one that, barring prejudice, seems difficult to reject.
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Exactly.
Formulating a theory of knowledge which is palatable to the intellectual desires of ‘students of knowledge’ in order to placate the same, is a decidedly obtuse and presumptuous discussion for those that enjoy spending time while using mystical vocabulary.
To accept the existence and appreciation of ‘wisdom’ is quite a simple concept that a child learns from his parents.
The ability for the inheritors of the Prophet (S) to demonstrate expertise in Prophetic wisdom in their way-of-being is quite clear.
This approach appeals to the intellectual and to the layman and cuts across class-lines and literacy rate demographics.
It is the power of speaking from heart to heart, and this is an expertise the Prophet (S) passed on to his inheritors.
AS
Hope all are well. We have an interesting point here one that needs to be brought forth given its gravity. Each individual Muslim is obligated to learn. The problem we have in the West is the phenomena of claiming to be a layman to escape the demands and rigor of knowledge while expounding on the Deen. Let us set aside the whole notion of layman and go with a more scholarly notion and one that disciplines the desires there are two types of people in Islam.
1.) Student of knowledge
2.) Scholar
This dyadic relationship and dual categorization solves the problem. In order to practice we have to learn and in order to speak we have to learn lest we fall into the sin of failing to worship properly while denying the need to learn to practice and lest we fall into the sin of speaking with no knowledge. Knowledge is not a set of facts nor personal experience it is understanding and then practicing revelation. This is why our Imams considered learning without action ignorance.
Simplicity is key but this is a false notion when universalized the Prophet (saw) spoke to people according to degree so people vary in rank and understanding. The command to “iqra” to literacy is a command to grow out of jahillia and come into the Qur’anic self which is not only a spiritual self but also and reflective self. Whether we like it or not there is no path to practice without struggling with learning Imam Ahmad Zarruq (r) teaches us there is no spiritual path without struggle as there is no spiritual path without knowledge. Without intellect there is no “taklif” no responsibility before Shariah. All in all the literacy that we need is to return to the way of our elders and they exerted themselves in learning and practice and settled for nothing less.
Allahu Al’am
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
To see the world divided this way is an unfortunate state.
It is the very definition of ‘knowledge’ that is problematic and requires you to rethink your perspective. To use it to mean that which is learned through books or understood through rote memorization vs that which is given to the heart through self-awareness is the problem.
From your perspective knowledge is contingent, then, on time spent in reading, whereas for me, knowledge is contingent on character and control of the self.
The verse of Iqra has been expounded upon much deeper than simply a call to literacy, especially by those who turned to their own selves.
Two Hadith:
Literacy will increase as Judgment draws nigh.
(Ahmad Diya’al-Din al-Kamushkhanawi, Ramuz al-Ahadith)
Near the establishment of the Hour there will be days during which (religious) knowledge will be taken away (vanish) and general ignorance will spread…
(Bukhari)
Literacy increases while knowledge decreases.
AS
Sure there is a fundamental difference in approach and method for inspiration has a lesser role that revelation. Iqra means recite, contemplaten, reflect, think and be in awe and its involves reading the Creation (universe and self) as well as reading the Qur’an and hadith (revelation).
Is there knowledge of self without revelation? Inspiration (ilham) and dhawq (tasting) are less in degree than revelation. The early Sufis spent much time reading. They lived with the Qur’an it was their dhikr and they spent the rest of their time practicing it. In fact, Imam Nawawi records some of the early scholars finished the whole Qur’an every three days and then they went back for more for being close to Allah through reciting his Word! and staying up late in the night looking for Him, speaking to Him (subhanAllah). If reading was not important there would be no Bukhari it would be useless he would not have gathered the sayings of Muhammad for us to quote.
In the last days people will take ignorant people as leaders…
This last of this Umma will not be corrected except by that which the first of this Umma was corrected by -The Book and the Sunnah (revelation).
Near the establishment of the Hour there will be days during which (religious) knowledge will be taken away (vanish) and general “ignorance” (jahil) will spread…
(Bukhari)
Literacy means much more than bookish knowledge and it is much more than talks that inspire emotion it is to embrace revelation and be humble before the scholars and take from the inheritors of the Prophets.
This is not a battle between me and you and your way and my way there is no my way there is only the way of Muhammad (saw) may we aspire to that and find respite with Allah (swt). Imam Bukhari has a chapter heading in his sahih –knowledge before action, The Sahaba (r) Kiram took a few ayaat of the Qur’an memorized them, learned their contents and implications and then practiced them and then continued that process.
As a matter of method the Ulema (r) do not make a thesis out of one hadith or ayat before we can speak about a matter with authority we have to gather all the ayaat and ahadith on the topic. To quote by cut and past method is risky for we might quote something that is general but is specified by another proof or something abrogated or something which needs qualification or take something literal which is meant to be encouragement and not an obligation or a warning and not a predication.
Love you bro
Abul-Hussein
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Salamu’alaykum,
Reading and literacy has its role and its place and, yes, even importance -*for some people*. But to make knowledge which is universal, contingent on such reading and literacy is a different matter. What that does is emphasize the primacy of information over knowledge. This is the crux of my issue in your language.
Is there knowledge of self without revelation? What I know is that revelation is not also contingent on literacy. Through the sunnah of a living example, the impact of revelation was and has been communicated and shared in action and practice and living.
Data is not knowledge. When you make information important in defining knowledge, or equate information to revelation, then quite a few things change in meaning. For example, the hadith you gave about the ignorant leaders.
Does this mean an engineer, by means of his additional information on a certain topic, is more suitable for leadership? Does this fall in line with the sunnah? Or could we take the hadith to understand that the ignorant leaders the Prophet (S) was speaking about was ignorance of Allah, the heart, and the self?
Redefining literacy to mean more than it does is not the answer.
Narrated Ibn ‘Umar: The Prophet said, “We are an illiterate nation; we neither write, nor know accounts. The month is like this and this, i.e. sometimes of 29 days and sometimes of thirty days.” (Sahih Bukhari)
Further, when the Prophet (S) is telling us that literacy increases while knowledge decreases, it demonstrates an inverse relationship, not a contingent one.
I have my position, shared by my teachers, you have yours. I believe my way is the way of the Ummi Prophet (S).
We have differences, and apparently we won’t come to an agreement on my blog.
To each his own.
AS
Hope your well. Yes we agree to disagree and that is a step forward in any case. I would disagree strongly with you as will the majority of scholars that Qur’an is information. As said before inspiration is not evidence if we run with your thesis we should throw out the words of any Shaikh given that that is information not knowledge. Knowledge to be defined so easily is strange given that Imam Ghazali and many Imams have concluded not to come to an agreed upon definition. In any event yes it is clear you hold inspiration and spiritual tasting to be ultimate knowledge and again we ask do you think it is higher than revelation -the Qur’an and Sunnah for these are in books.
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
It is up to us whether we turn information into knowledge, whether it is Quran recited from the mouth of a Qari with beautiful voice, a knowledgeable Shaykh, or read from a book. We see its proof in its impact in our daily lives.
-Yursil