Contrary to the practice of religious scholars at that time, Bediuzzaman himself studied and mastered almost all the physical and mathematical sciences, and later studied philosophy, for he believed that it was only in this way that Islamic theology (kalam) could be renewed and successfully answer the attacks to which the Qur’an and Islam were then subject.

In the course of time, the physical sciences had been dropped from madrasa education, which had contributed directly to the Ottoman decline relative to the advance of the West. Now, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Europe had gained dominance over the Islamic world, and in efforts to extend its dominance, was attacking the Qur’an and Islam in the name of science and progress in particular, falsely claiming them to be incompatible. Within the Empire too was a small minority which favored adopting Western philosophy and civilization. Thus, all Bediuzzaman’s endeavor was to prove and demonstrate the falseness of these accusations, and that far from being incompatible with science and progress, the Qur’an was the source of true progress and civilization, and in addition, since this was the case, Islam would dominate the future, despite its relative decline and regression at that time.

Nursi on God

The modern world’s rejection of God is one of the most harmful aspects of the so-called “modernity”. This philosophy has become to be known as the existential approach to life, which denies and rejects the religious and spiritual side of ethics and moral values.

If we consider it from the point of view of neo-liberalism, do such problems express any meaning for an individual or society which espouses a world-view dominated by a mass of hypotheses which do not accept that there is an order and harmony in nature or any ecological system and balance; which take its fundamental principle to be conflict and transgression against the weak, deem self-interest to be the most important principle in life, and consider it licit and fair to sacrifice not only the environment, but people even, for these benefits and interests? Can it be expected of someone who does not believe that he comes only once to this world and then will depart for the next world; considers force to be the sole measure of right and truth; and that the only purpose of life is the unlimited satisfaction of the limitless desires and needs of his/her soul – can it be expected that he/she should feel concern at environmental problems or bother himself with the rights of forthcoming generations, or with extinct species, or injustices, poverty, etc; for example? These questions are debatable.

But the answer given by the contemporary thinker and historian Arnold Toynbee was negative. Toynbee describes this as follows:

People, carried away by greed and materialism, narrow-mindedly say: after me the storm. They should know that if they cannot limit their greed, they are condemning their children to extinction. They may love their children, but their love may be insufficient to allow them to sacrifice a part of their wealth in order to guarantee their children’s futures. In my opinion, so long as this goal is not bound to a form of religious belief (using the word religion in its widest meaning), it will not be possible to persuade the modern generations of the advanced countries to make any sacrifices to their own cost (ecosystem).

It was for these reasons that in order to be saved from the nihilist, absurd world-view which takes force as its absolute point of reference, and to have a meaningful life, Said Nursi declared: “Knowledge of the Maker is man’s sole refuge and point of support.” In the early period of his life, he said:

If man does not believe in the All-Wise Maker, Who performs everything wisely and with order, and unthinkingly attributes everything to chance; and if he thinks of the inadequacy of his power in the face of those calamities; it will result in a hellish and heartrending state for him, of compounded fright, fear, alarm, and anxiety. Being the noblest and best of creatures, he will be more wretched than anything, thus opposing the reality of the perfect order of the universe.

In the Risale-i Nur, Said Nursi on the one hand attempted to reply to the challenges of modernity, and on the other, offering a new understanding of Divine revelation, he emphasized above all else the order, harmony, measuredness, and beauty of the world, which he called the book of the universe, and in this way set out to demonstrate God’s existence together will all His Most Beautiful Names. Thus, in the very place that modern materialist philosophy attacks belief and instills doubts, he demonstrates convincingly foremost God’s existence, the hereafter, and prophethood.

In Nursi’s philosophy, as it has been noted, this world in the sheer sense is a clean being. The reasons for this may be reduced to two:

• This world is the work of God. It receives its existence from Him. It is also evidence for His existence.

• This world was given to men by God so that they might win clean livelihoods from it.

This article has been extracted from Dr Kamran Mofid’s paper “To Heal Our Broken World: Bringing Economics, Religions and Spirituality together for the Common Good” presented at the International Conference on Spiritual Dimensions of Said Nursi’s Risale-i-Nur, in Istanbul, August 2005.

In order to maintain the effective use of power resources to reach a target, researchers divide them into various subgroups according to different criteria. For instance, capital is categorized into such groups as material, emotional, morality and virtue, intellectual, knowledge (know-how), and consciousness of opportunity and favor. Each one is highlighted by being given a separate name. In addition, various scientific concepts are used as metaphors to imprint on people’s minds the importance of those factors that help a community or nation develop. This is done because the human brain can think more easily through metaphors and understand a fresh and novel point of view.

The definition of social capital draws attention to an important – but often ignored or underemphasized – source of wealth for national development. This concept expounds why developing countries cannot achieve Western standards of development. While financial power and knowledge (intellectual capital) constitute the fuel and mechanical parts of the car of progress, social capital functions as its lubricant and oil. An old car that lacks lubrication cannot take you very far, just as a nation whose social capital has been exhausted or broken cannot progress.

So just what is social capital? Which national riches can be seen more clearly through the lens of social capital?

Defining social capital

Social capital is defined as the individual’s capacity and ability to benefit from and take advantage of public and private institutions through membership. Social capital forms bonds between neighbors, families, individuals, and communities. The society’s civil organizations need social capital to coordinate their existing resources more effectively. The sense of belonging to a society and a nation, and the people’s ability to make use of their various capacities, are involved in social capital. At each society’s base of interpersonal relationships and institutions, all of a person’s opportunities and duties comprise social capital.

Being a member of a social group brings both responsibilities and advantages. Social capital is formed by social structures and institutional characteristics (e.g., reliability, norms, networks of relationships, and systems of facilitating coordinated actions). It facilitates some actions within the structure and makes some benefits available, such as the material gains that accrue with group membership opportunities and chances, as well as the support brought about by relationships within the organization.

If the essence of a relationship is mutual trust and reliance, a system containing expectations and responsibilities arises. This mutual trust and reliance between the members of a civil organization oils the wheels of socioeconomic interactions, reduces costs, maintains the circulation of confidential information among group members, and enhances the availability of chances offered by the group. All of the values and norms needed to erect and maintain a healthy society can be defined as social capital.

Social capital also can be defined as the existence of institutional and inter-institutional participation and cooperation that keeps the individuals grouped around a common purpose and which acts as an adhesive that makes it possible to construct a society or a team. Given that religion and moral education form such values as charity, self-sacrifice, trust, and reliability, it follows that religious and moral teachings play primary roles in constructing social capital. Social capital has yet another meaning: those norms that influence a society’s productivity and health and social networks, as well as interpersonal relationships, respect, trust and credibility. Social bonds can boost efficiency by reducing the cost of work and production and facilitating the coordination and cooperation needed for production and marketing.

Social capital, an indispensable component of society and progress on both the micro- and macrolevels, includes all of the norms that shape the quality and intensity of a society’s social interactions. In this respect, a large amount of social capital allows more resources and opportunities to be mobilized in the pursuit of common goals. Social capital, however, has both positive and negative sides. For example, social clubs exclude non-members from their services by forming an internal social capital. Thus, poor and rich social sectors have different social capitals. The social capital of poor people is built around trust and the exchange of goods or property. The critical point of social progress is making public opportunities and chances available to the poor by reducing the exclusivity of the social capital available to the rich. The Islamic institutions of zakat (the prescribed alms) and interest-free credit practices are quite significant here.

The social capital of socially harmful groups (e.g., drug cartels and corrupt people) prevent socioeconomic progress. In this respect, the social capital value of a society’s subgroups and civil organizations determines whether the net value of its social capital is positive or negative. The value of an institution’s social capital is determined by the levels and degrees of the following: the development of an institutional identity among staff members; the sense of belonging; the extent of common thoughts, visions, and goals; being informed of the chances and opportunities inside or outside the institution; staff members’ respectability in the institution and the institution’s respectability in society; its ability to offer equal opportunities without getting entangled in religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences. In addition, participation in managing a society’s institutions and establishments also strengthens social capital. Thus, we can say that social capital can be defined in many ways and represents the group of differences called capital.

We should distinguish the resources of social capital from its outcome. We can list the following among its outcomes: social control, preservation of family and kinship ties, preservation of the society’s unity and solidarity (both material and spiritual), and the capacity to put forward common ideas and targets due to the unity and harmony of society. All of these are vitally important for economic progress and sustained growth and development.

Social capital also makes an important contribution to forming a sociopolitical environment that allows certain norms and standards that shape society in order to improve it. Unlike economic capital, social capital cannot be bought from another community or nation; every society has to build it up with its own faith, tradition, and education system. Civil organizations play a major role in the rapid construction of positive social capital. The value of social capital directly affects the government’s functioning, as well as that of the justice system and the use of rights and freedoms. And, socioeconomic development is directly related to the common goals and principles determined by the social capital accumulations of subgroups

and institutions. As networks of relationships that are limited to a person’s family and neighbors have a small amount of social capital, they are deprived of chances and opportunities to improve themselves. Those with a larger network of relationships, due to their membership in civil organizations, as well as professional and social clubs, have more social capital and a better chance of enriching and making individual progress.

Social and other types of capital

Social capital is a means of investing in your future. People with a high social capital value are honest, trustworthy, possess professional honor, function as a member of a team, and are sought after in all sections of life. Individuals and institutions that maintain their social capital above a certain value can acquire knowledge, power, and opportunities of critical importance. A collective group identity that increases the capacity of collective action can be enhanced only by building up social capital. As material capital can be used for reaching various objectives, social capital can be used to access critical information or to receive sound advice. Certainly, the advantages of a person’s position within society or a group can be transformed into economic gain. Material capital, the most fluid and that with the highest value of convertibility among all types of capital, can be used to improve men and women, culture, and social capital. However, the convertibility of social capital to economic capital is lower, for social capital, which keeps the common values that make up the society together, is less transferable.

When necessary, social capital can function as other types of capital or can compensate for their absence. For instance, the lack of financial or human capital can be eliminated by introducing strong social relationships and connections. Furthermore, the efficiency of social capital can be raised by reducing operation costs. Research reveals that people with a lower social capital value are less reliable and less receptive to institutionalizing and organizing.

Social capital needs protection and continuity, just like physical (e.g., clean air, water, and environment) and human capital do. In other words, existing social ties among people need to be refreshed and confirmed periodically to maintain their efficiency. The value of social capital increases, instead of decreases, as we use it. For example, the social capital of people who rely on each other and inspire mutual trust increases daily. Thus, dialogues and interactions between different civil organizations and cultures, as well as interfaith dialogues, are important infrastructural activities that enable the construction of social capital.

Social capital, like physical capital, is advantageous for the public and requires that all people work to save and improve it. Such an understanding allows us to comprehend the wisdom of the Divine Order, which wills that every society contains a group that calls for good and prohibits evil. Fresh air and water decrease in proportion with their usage; social capital increases in proportion to its usage. Individuals equally run the risk of not making use of social capital’s potential in an equal manner. Social capital is usually constructed by its relationship to a club or a community. Thus, people who are not members cannot benefit from the opportunities.

Social capital is not held by a person or an institution, but emerges within the network of interpersonal or inter-institutional relationships, and continues to grow as long as the relationship lasts. In other words, the construction of social capital depends upon mutual trust, dialogue, and cooperation. Since social capital emerges within the network of social relationships, it cannot be transferred. Each society has its own methods of operating and achieving success.

All of the cultural elements that motivate a person, generate opportunities, or facilitate the utility of talents and capacities play a role in the construction of social capital.

Measuring social capital

Several criteria are used to measure the value of social capital: the degree of trust and respect for the state and its institutions, the level of people’s participation in making those decisions in which they have a role to play, the extent of their presence in civil organizations, and the average of monthly voluntary service hours, as well as the level of help, support, and self-sacrifice between individuals and neighbors. For example, social capital strengthened by the active support of local citizens and families enhances the quality of education, for students are more successful when teachers improve themselves, take their jobs seriously, and establish a good relationship with the students. Doctors and nurses who work in citizen-monitored and supported health institutions are sure to be more attentive in their jobs. Building a healthy society depends on social capital being rooted in interpersonal trust and assistance.

Social capital and social progress

Researchers have discovered that a nation’s ability to achieve healthy progress does not depend only on financial, structural and legal regulations. For example, the failure of the financial aid offered by the World Bank, as well as its advised structural reforms, to the developing countries raises the following question: What did we miss or undervalue? The resulting analyses and research so far have revealed that the interaction between labor and capital for progress is far more complicated than originally expected. Various types of capital were acknowledged (e.g., physical, geographical, human, cultural, moral, emotional, and social) and held to be significant for progress. Social capital was recognized as the primary prompter and sustainer of development and progress.

Recently, researchers have begun to focus on the need for developing countries to have social, rather than financial and labor, capital. They underline that existing corruption, bribery, and monopolies can be dealt with only by enhancing social capital. We hope that this article helps administrators, who are at the steering wheel of national ships, realize the contribution of our religious, moral, and cultural inheritance to establishing a high-quality social capital, and encourages them to consider social capital in their projects.

References

– Hwe P., and A. Shiell. “Social Capital and Health Promotion: Review.” Social Science and Medicine, no. 51 (2000): 855-871.

– www.worldbank.org./poverty/scapital/whatsc.htm.

But it was not always this way. Centuries ago, when most of Europe was enduring the appalling ignorance and superstitions of its Dark and Middle Ages, when not even the thought of America existed, Islamic civilization burst upon the international scene. Like a magnificent rose unfolding layer upon layer of petals in the form of religious and scientific insights, scientific discoveries and progress, and a passion for justice and improving life for everyone, it flourished in lands that had never had a high civilization, such as the Arabian peninsula, Central Asia, and Spain.

Absorbing the accumulated knowledge of Greece, Rome, and the earlier civilizations that came under Islamic rule, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scholars and scientists working within the Islamic worldview translated their works and absorbed their useful knowledge. However, contrary to popular Western belief, those scholars and scientists did not just transmit this knowledge to Europe. Rather, they built upon it, developed methods of observation and experimentation unknown to the earlier civilizations and now considered ‘modern,’ and made original contributions in many scientific fields. In other words, the West based its modern scientific foundation and Renaissance upon the knowledge it acquired from the Islamic world.

Unfortunately, due to the hostile relationship between the Catholic church in Rome and the newly emerging class of European scientists, much of modern science was based upon a materialistic worldview. The resulting side effects are still with us: a terribly polluted environment; the belief that science should progress regardless of the resulting controversy (e.g., cloning, developing nuclear and other horrifying weapons, and genetic engineering); and the illusion that humanity has no need for God.

Our main article discusses the contributions of those scientists who worked within Islamic civilization and its worldview regardless of their ethnicity or religion. The author relates some of their accomplishments and how they laid the groundwork for Europe’s Renaissance. This topic is supplemented by several other scientific articles, each of which shows us the amazing nature of life and the universe, thereby reminding us that humanity does need God.

Another article shows us the reality behind the cliché: ‘It’s a small world.’ In these days of fear and pain in many lands, we would be well-advised to take its message to heart: Between any two people, there are, on the average, only six steps of separation. Thus, we are not separate from a starving child, a dying man, or a grieving woman, regardless of any artificial man-made considerations. All of us form one large extended family interconnected by interweaving ties of blood, acquaintance, friendship, and love. All revealed religions know this truth and call their followers to live according to it so that peace, love, and personal and social well-being will prevail.

Having recognized this truth, we should turn to God and implore Him to enable us to live as individuals overflowing with love and concern for their family members and neighbors, working together to ensure that everyone enjoys modern society’s benefits, and to help us to prepare for our eternal existence in the next world. Our first article, ‘Time to Pray,’ is an eloquent appeal for us to petition God to enable all of us to do exactly that.

A little note for our online readers. The Fountain’s new web site is ‘www.fountainmagazine.com’.

[Humanity has been created on the most excellent pattern and given the most comprehensive abilities. As a result, all of us have been cast into an arena of trial and examination in which we may rise from the lowest of beings to the highest, from the Earth to the Divine Throne, from minute particles to the sun. We have been sent here as a miracle of Divine Power, the result of creation, and a wonder of Divine art. Each of us must choose a path leading either to infinite ascent or to infinite descent.]

First Remark

Our needs do not differ markedly from those of all other beings, to which we are connected. Our needs spread throughout the world, and our desires extend to eternity. Just as we want a flower, we want the spring. Just as we desire a garden, we desire everlasting Paradise. Just as we long to see a friend, we long to see the All-Beauteous One of Glory. Just as we travel to visit our beloved, we need our Beloved’s door to be opened. Just as we seek to visit the 99 percent of our friends who have saved themselves from eternal separation by traveling to the intermediate realm, we need to seek refuge at the Absolutely Powerful One’s court. This One will close this world’s door and open that of the Hereafter, which is an exhibition of wonders. He will remove this world and establish the Hereafter in its place.

For those people in this position, the only True Object of Worship will be One Whose hand holds the reins and treasuries of all things; Who sees all things, is omnipresent, beyond space, All-Powerful, and without fault or defect; an All-Powerful One of Glory, an All-Compassionate One of Beauty, and an All-Wise One of Perfection.

O humanity, if you serve Him alone you will earn a place superior to all creatures. If you do not, however, you will become an abased servant to impotent creatures. If you rely on your own ego and power, thereby abandoning reliance on God and supplication, you will deviate into pride and boasting. In such a case, you will fall lower than an ant or bee in regard to goodness and creation, and become weaker than a spider or a fly.

O humanity, you have two aspects. The first one is that of creation, good, acts, and positivity; the other is that of destruction, non-existence, evil, negativity, and passivity. In regard to the first aspect, your capabilities cannot exceed those of a bee or a sparrow, and your talents are weaker than those of a spider or fly.

In regard to the second aspect, you surpass the mountains, Earth, and skies. You agreed to assume a burden after they said they could not do so and so shrank from it. You assumed a sphere that is more extensive and vaster than they are. When you do good, you can do so only to the extent of your own power and strength, and to the degree your hand can reach. When you commit evil and destruction, your evil is overwhelming, and your destruction spreads.

For example, unblief is an evil, a destruction, an absence of affirmation. A single sin as it may seem, it implies an insult to all creation, debasement of all the Divine Names and degradation of the whole of mankind. For the whole of creation has a sublime rank and important task, each being a massive of the Lord, a mirror of His Glory and an official of His Divinity. Unbelief denies them the rank bestowed by those functions, and reduces them to the state of play-things of chance, to the level of being insignificant, unless and worthless objects doomed to decay and decomposition.

Unbelief, through denial, also insults the Divine Names, even though their inscriptions, manifestations, and beauties are seen throughout the universe and in the mirrors of beings. It makes humanity more abased and weaker, more powerless and needy, than the lowliest transient animal. And this despite the fact that humanity is God’s vicegerent on Earth.

Unbelief denies that humanity is a well-composed ode of wisdom proclaiming the Sacred Divine Names’ manifestations; a seed-like self-evident miracle of Divine power containing within itself an entire eternal tree; and that part of creation that assumed the “Supreme Trust” and thus rose to a higher level than the Earth, sky, and mountains-and even gained superiority over the angels. Unbelief reduces this glorious creation a common sign-board without meaning, something confused and decaying swiftly.

In short: The evil-commanding soul may commit infinite harm through its destruction and evil, whereas its power for creativity and good is extremely small and partial. It may destroy in one day what it took 100 days to build.

However, if the soul gives up egoism and seeks good and existence from Divine assistance, foregoes evil and destruction and relying on itself, and seeks forgiveness so that it can become a true servant of God, it will manifest the meaning of the verse: God will change their evil into good (Qur’an 25:70). Its infinite capacity for evil will be transformed into an infinite capacity for good. It will acquire the value of the Most Excellent of Patterns and ascend to the highest of the high.

O heedless humanity, see the Almighty’s munificence and generosity. Although it would be entirely just to regard an evil as 1,000 evils and a good deed as one or perhaps nothing at all, He records one evil as one and a good deed is multiplied by 10, and sometimes by 70 or 700 or even 7,000. You also will understand from this Remark that being sent to Hell, which is so dreadful, is a just retribution for the evil deed, while being sent to Paradise is pure generosity.

Second Remark

Humanity has two faces. One is the human ego, which looks to the life of this world. The other is that which worships and serves God and looks to eternal life. In the first case, we are beings with a partial freedom of choice, a very weak power, a fast-dying flame of life, a very brief and fleeting lifespan, and a swiftly decaying physical body. Thus we are delicate, weak individuals among innumerable other individuals of the various beings inhabiting the universe. In the second case, especially with regard to our impotence and poverty that are turned toward worship, we have a truly great breadth and vast importance. The All-Wise Creator has included in human nature an infinitely vast impotence and boundlessly large poverty. He has done so that we can be extensive mirrors containing the innumerable manifestations of an All-Powerful and Compassionate One with infinite power, an All-Generous and All-Rich One with boundless wealth. Humanity resembles a seed. This seed has been given a great potential by Divine Power, and a subtle, valuable program by Divine Destiny. Using these, it may work underground and, emerging from that narrow world, enter the broad world of the air. At this point, it asks its Creator in its own way to be a tree so that it can find a perfection worthy of it. If, due to bad temperament, the seed uses its potentialities to attract harmful underground substances, soon it will rot and decay in that narrow place without benefit. But if the seed conforms to the creational command of: God is the Splitter of the seed-grain and date-stone (Qur’an 6:95) and uses its potentialities correctly, it will emerge from that narrow world and, by becoming a large fruit-bearing tree, its tiny particular reality and its spirit will assume the form of an extensive, universal reality. Similarly, great potentialities and valuable programs have been deposited in our human nature by Divine Power and Destiny. If we use them to pursue our soul’s desires and on minor pleasures under the soil of this life in the world’s narrow confines, we will decay and decompose amidst difficulties during our brief life in a constricted place, just like the rotten seed. Then we will load the responsibility on our unfortunate spirit and depart from this world. If, however, we nurture the seed of our abilities with the water of the right path and light of belief, and under the soil of worship and servitude to God, and in conformity with His commands and turn our faculties toward their true aims, we will produce branches and buds in the World of Similitudes and the Intermediate Realm. We will be seeds of great value, shining machines containing the members of an everlasting tree and permanent truth that will lead us to innumerable perfections and bounties in Paradise. And, we will be blessed and luminous fruits of the Tree of the Universe. True progress is to turn the faces of the heart, spirit, intellect, and even of the imagination and other subtle human faculties toward eternal life. Each item should be occupied with the particular duty of worship worthy of it. Progress does not consist, as the misguided imagine, of plunging into this material life as deeply as possible to taste every pleasure, even the basest; to allow our evil-commanding soul to command all our subtle faculties, and the heart and intellect, to assist it. This is not progress; it is decline.

Consider the following analogy. I entered a large town that was full of palaces. At the doors of some palaces was merry-making that resembled a brilliant theater. It captured and held everyone’s attention. I looked carefully and saw that the palace owner was at the door playing with a dog. Ladies were flirting with ill-mannered youths, women were organizing children’s games, and the doorkeeper was directing the others. I then realized that the palace’s interior was completely empty, for its refined duties were not being done. The morals of its inhabitants had declined so much that they had taken on these roles at the door. I passed on until I came to another palace. I saw that a faithful dog was stretched out at the door to serve as a stern and taciturn doorkeeper. Its appearance was undistinguished. I wondered what was going on, so I went inside. I saw that the inside was very merry. Its inhabitants were busy with their particular refined duties. The men in the first apartment were overseeing the administration and running of the palace. In the apartment over it, girls were teaching children. Above that, ladies were occupied with fine arts and beautiful embroideries. On the top floor, the owner was exchanging news with the king. In addition, he was busy with his own elevated duties connected with maintaining the peoples’ tranquillity and his own attainments and progress. They did not stop me, since they could not see me, and so I wandered around. Then I came out and looked around.

Everywhere in the town resembled the inhabitants of one or the other palace. I asked about this, and was told: “The palaces that appear happy but are empty inside belong to those foremost in unbelief and misguidance. The others belong to honorable believers.” Then in one corner I came across a palace bearing my name. I was curious. I looked more closely, and it was as if I saw my image on it. Calling out in utter bewilderment, I came to my senses.

And now I shall interpret this for you. The town was humanity’s social life, and civilization. Each palace was a human being with its various inhabitants: such subtle human faculties as eyes, ears, heart, inner heart, spirit, intellect, and things like the carnal soul and passions, desires, and anger. Each human faculty has a different duty of worship, and different pleasures and pains. The carnal soul and passions, desires and anger, are like the doorkeeper and the dog. If you make the elevated subtle faculties subject to the carnal, thereby causing them to forget their fundamental duties, this must be considered decline, not progress. You can interpret the rest for yourself. Adapted from Bediuzzaman”s Twentythird Word, Second Chapter

It is true that almost all of the nineteenth century Western philosophical theories were based on the idea of ‘progress’ and ‘evolution’. As everyone knows, the roots of the Darwinian theory of evolution lie in the theory of Malthus, an eighteenth century Anglican priest, who was interested in the influence of demographic factors on economics. According to his theory, only those who are able to produce have a right to survive, while the others-the poor, the sick, the disabled, who are not able to produce-are condemned by nature to be eliminated. Having much appreciated this socio-economic theory of Malthus, Darwin put forward, as a scientific theory, that selection is an overall law encompassing the whole of nature, according to which only the powerful can survive; the weak are cleared away in the course of time. Maurice Bucaille, a contemporary French scientist, says that he has not been able to find, in the work of Darwin, a single scientific proof although Darwin made plenty of observations to support his theory, and that his is more of a philosophical, not scientific, theory. If, then, some socio-economic worries lie in a ‘scientific’ theory, one which has shaken the circles of science for the last two centuries and been used as a ‘weapon’ against religion, why should it be unfair to seek a political purpose behind some philosophical ones?

It may well be asserted, albeit difficult to affirm in a brief article intended for a magazine, that the Western philosophies of history, especially those put forward in the nineteenth century, had some political intentions and functioned as an ideal precept for the nineteenth century Western imperialism. Almost all of these philosophies suggested that mankind were in an irreversible flow towards good and nothing could stop this flow. This was an assertion of continuously forward movement of progress. The sociology of Spencer, for instance, is a continuation of the theory of Darwin. According to Auguste Comte, mankind had already passed the stages of metaphysics and religion, and reached the last and happiest age of progress by entering the stage of science. We can find the same notion of progress in the historical philosophies of Herder, Fichte, Hegel and Karl Marx.

Hegel’s philosophy of history can be defined, according to Abdu-Hamid Siddiqi, as a composition of conflicts and contradictions. As a matter of fact, Hegel holds that each period in the history of social civilisation represents an independent unity. This unity, which is thoroughly of its own, gives rise to it antithesis over time, resulting in a thesis-antithesis conflict. After a while, the sides agree on a ‘synthesis’, which finally ends in a new conflict of thesis and antithesis. As a result of this conflict, a new thesis is brought about which encompasses both its thesis and antithesis. This tripartite system causes ‘thoughts’ to progress, until it attains to the ‘Geist’.

The ‘Geist’ is, in the philosophy of Hegel, who appeared to be under the influence of the Indian philosophies, a spirit-the universal spirit-which manifests itself through concrete events. Each event, together with the philosophy accompanied to it, is a stage in the evolutionary course of this spirit, and because of this no philosophy is not to be criticised as being wrong. Every event is planned by an absolute, determining will, and all of the desires, inclinations, efforts and conflicts are the means which the Geist employs in self-realization. Everything in the world, therefore, happens irrespective or independently of man’s free will and man is nothing more than a plaything of an all-powerful will. That being so, only those who can perceive the demands of this will or, more clearly, the course of events, and act accordingly are the heroes of their time to be absolutely obeyed.

His theory mostly based on the atheism of Feurbach, the evolutionist theory of Darwin and the dialectics of Hegel, Karl Marx, in his own words, stood up the Hegelian man who stands on his head, upright on his feet. (To this, an Egyptian Muslim thinker responds: ‘Is man really a being who ‘walks on his head’) According to Marx-in all his views whether philosophical or historical, sociological or economic-man is a being ‘walking on his feet’, that is, whose mind is directed, commanded by his ‘feet’.

Marx maintains that man is an outcome of the legal relationships between himself and the tools of production that he must originally have found present in nature and then developed in the course of history. What we call ‘human thought’ is the reflection in his mind of the relations between himself and his material, economic life and the tools of production he uses. For this reason, the only true knowledge is, according to Marx, that which will come out in human mind when the legal relationships between man and the tools of production are established in a communist system according to the principles of communism. We can rightfully conclude from this argument that all the Marxist theories are substantially false because Marx himself conceived them all in a capitalistic system. Again, to Marx, all the human life or history on the earth consists of the conflicts between individuals, classes and peoples for the economic reasons. This conflict, which is inevitable, after passing through the primitive feudal and capitalistic stages, is certain to result in communism. For this reason, all these stages are not to be criticised.

As to historicism, which was once quite widespread, because sociological laws vary according to time and place, we cannot find a long, stable period in human history by which we can come to long term general rules. History never repeats itself at the same level. We cannot make true predictions about ‘tomorrow’ since the relationships between events are very complex. This is truly so, but, in historicism, activity has a great importance, although what we conceive of is impossible to realise unless they are in conformity with the main course of history. This main course, however, depends on certain blind and irresistible laws. So, only when man acts in accordance with these independent laws and the urgent, inevitable changes they impose, man means to have acted reasonably. What falls to man, then, is to give a hand to the changes or attempts that he is expected to accept because it is completely unreasonable to desire to give a better shape to the world.

To sum up, we can list the outlines of the philosophies of history summarized above, as follows;

a. Mankind is in a continuous progress towards the final happy end.

b. This progress depends on the fatalistic, irresistible laws of history which are completely independent of man, so a man must, in any case, obey these laws, otherwise he is certain to be eliminated.

c. All the stages, primitive, feudal or capitalistic, through which mankind inevitably pass in the course of time to the final happy end should not be criticised, because mankind have nothing to do other than passing through them.

What is implied concerning the political conditions of time by all such philosophies of history may be this: The present socio-economic and even the political conditions of the world are inevitable, because they were dictated by nature, which decrees that only the able and the powerful can survive. If the laws of history dictated by nature are in favour of the west, the communities that choose to survive must concede to the dominion of the West.

Is it ever possible to approve this while we clearly see that any age contains ‘ages’- while some people are living in the age of electronics in some parts of the world, some others are suffering the conditions of the middle, or even primitive ages, which is equally true also for individuals-and history, rather than moving forward along with a straight line, advances by cycles, and that man is the being who, much more than a plaything of some laws of only nominal, not external, existence, makes history by enjoying free choice. Also, it is not morally, even scientifically and historically, possible to approve the injustices, no matter whenever and under what circumstances they are committed. Further, we have a right to ask those who side with such philosophies of history whether they can concede to the spread of Islam at the expense of Christianity, and why they would prefer to try their hardest and resort to every kind of means to maintain their dominion, rather than leaving everything to the fatalistic laws of history?

Like every other incoherent and false philosophy, the above mentioned philosophies of history did not last long. When the twentieth century came in, the atomic physics had already dethroned the mechanical physics, which resulted in the obsolescence of the gross materialistic and positivistic world-views together with the ever-evolutionist conceptions of history, like the money which is no longer in circulation. The places of such conceptions were taken by the philosophies of history which were anxious about the future of the West and did not put absolute confidence in science and technology.

Of these, according to Danilevsky’s philosophy of history a civilisation is not transformed into another, and no civilisation cannot be saved from dying. A civilisation is the further step of a culture and each culture develops one or more than one values of humanity. The present Western civilisation is based on science. Any civilisation cannot claim superiority over the others in all respects. A people that have reached the stage of civilisation are doomed to collapse after a long period of decline; because of this, the Western civilisation will one day become a thing of the past.

There are many cultures according to Oswald Spengler, a German sociologist whose work The Decline of the West shook the West in the early years of this century. Each great culture is unique and none of them can, as with Danilevsky, claim superiority over the others. A civilisation manifests itself in big cities as the inevitable result of a culture. Over time, the desire for living dies away and women no longer bear children. Faith is replaced by scientific irreligion or dull metaphysics. Any civilisation that has entered upon this stage either gives birth to materialism, love of money, passion for power, sex and class conflict as its fruits, or results in imperialism, and finally collapses. Spengler holds that the present Western civilisation, with all its big cities, railways and skyscrapers, will in a near future, turn into an etnographic museum.

The ideas of Arnold Toynbee can be traced in Ibn Khaldun. A civilisation is, Toynbee maintains, the work of a creative minority in a propitious clime, and it falls into decay as the founding minority lose their charm and become unable to find solutions to new problems. According to Ibn Khaldun, who influenced, to some extent, almost all the philosophers of history in the twentieth century, a civilisation-he calls it ‘Umran-is based on tribal solidarity which is the distinguishing mark of nomadic life. Nomads lead a very simple life and do not know anything of luxury.

Ibn Khaldun also holds that human beings feel an intrinsic need to live together, but, since some people are of an aggressive disposition, co-existence calls for some sanctions. These sanctions are either put by a powerful individual or tribal solidarity determine them naturally. Thus, the need for a common authority results in the establishment of the state.

The social solidarity is, Ibn Khaldun maintains, much stronger in nomadic tribes. If united with religion, it becomes an irresistible power. Nevertheless, as the state is established more firmly, the social solidarity becomes no more needed and, due to the established (settled) living, people indulge in luxury. Luxury dissolves the solidarity and the ruler, in order to strengthen his authority, forms a council and a troop of royal guards. But nothing keeps the state or civilisation from collapse: increasing extravagance, luxury and indulgences of every kind, and heavy taxes bring about the ruin of the civilisation

What distinguishes the Qur’anic concept of history from other philosophies is that, first of all, while philosophers of history or sociologists build their conceptions on the interpretation of past events and present situations, the Qur’an deals with the matter from the perspective of unchanging principles. Second, contrary to the fatalism of all other philosophies, including even Ibn Khaldun’s, the Qur’an lays great emphasis on the free choice and moral conduct of the individual. Although Divine will, emphasised by the Qur’an, could be regarded as, in some respects, the counterpart of the ‘Geist’ in the Hegelian philosophy and of absolute, irresistible laws of history in other philosophies, the Qur’an never denies human free will. God, according to the Qur’an, tests man in this life so that man himself should sow the ‘field’ of the world to harvest in the next life, which is eternal. For this reason the stream of events-successes and failures, victories and defeats, prosperity and decay-all are the occasions which God causes to follow one another for mankind, to the end that the good may be distinguished from the evil. Testing must evidently require that the one who is tested should possess free-will to prefer between what is lawful and unlawful or what is good and bad. Thus, according to the Qur’an, what makes history is not a compelling Divine will, rather it is man’s own choice, the operation of which God Almighty has made a simple condition for the coming into effect of His universal will. If this point is understood well enough, then it will be easy to see how groundless are the Western philosophies of history especially with respect to their conception of ‘inevitable end’.

A possible question; If civilisations are not, essentially, subject to an inevitable end, why, then, was none of the past civilisations able to resist decadence and the ‘corrosive power of time’?

The core of the matter lies in the answer to this important question. What, indeed, caused the philosophers of history such as Ibn Khaldun, Toynbee, Spengler and the like to form a wrong conception of history is that they, rather than trying to discover the real dynamics of historical movements, attempted to explain the apparent causes of the establishment, flourishing, and decay of civilisations. Whoever looks back to the past couldn’t help arriving at the same conclusions. But that no community has so far been able to remain at the peak it climbed does not mean that this is an inevitable end, a determinist grip on the fate of nations. The past civilisations collapsed because they did not heed the warnings of what had happened to peoples preceding them. To accept a historical determinism means to nullify human free will and to regard as useless, even an absurdity, all the warnings and advices made to living people by both Divine scriptures and social sciences.

As stated before, man is tested in the world. He has a carnal soul which is the source of all desires and animal appetites. In addition, man has a natural inclination towards living together with his fellow human beings, and also he is in a complex relationship with his natural environment. This requires that man’s carnal desires should be limited and his relations with both his human and natural environment be based on ‘justice’ so that he may be at peace with himself, his environment and nature. Nevertheless, as history witnesses, some people may, under the instigation of his carnal desires, not be pleased with his share in the society and attempt to dominate others. If such people realise their ambitions, they, this time, in order to justify their actions, make a constitution to govern the people. It is indeed, easy to have the people to ‘vote’ for their constitution.

This is what has always been where and when the Divine laws are abrogated. Where the people sincerely believe in one God as the Lord, Sovereign and Master of human kind, without concession to any intermediate role of some classes such as Clergy as in Christianity and Shi‘a Islam, and where they are really conscious of the meaning of Divine Unity, which, by delivering man from the humiliating slavery of carnal desires, worldly positions, or of other beings, and eradication of the false and artificial contradictions of the black and the white, clergy and laity, the ruler and the ruled, the employer and employed etc., elevates him so high to be the servant of only One God, no one does attempt to dominate others through the force of money, colour, race or weapons.

According to the Qur’an, all men are, on account of being the creatures of one God, essentially equal in the sight of God. Furthermore, man lacks the enough knowledge and power to establish the rules according to which at least the majority of people could live at peace with themselves, with each other and with the natural environment. Above all, man has to be at peace with his Creator and Sustainer. Because of these, only God’s exclusively is sovereignty both in heavens and on the earth.

What God asks of man-it is what we can conclude we must do through the exercise of our reasoning-is that man should build his wordly existence on three foundations: justice, religious-moral values and Divine laws of life and nature.

The Qur’an invites man, first of all, to believe in and worship One God, by which he may lead a balanced life: He may attain true inward happiness and peace and co-exist with his fellow human beings in accordance with the rules of justice, without being led astray by his carnal, evil-commanding soul. Second, the Qur’an lays some moral, also legal, principles-for example, it says:

Give to the kindred his due and the poor and to the wayfarer. But spend not wastefully in the manner of a spend thrift. Kill not your children for fear of poverty. We provide for them and for you. Come not near to unlawful sexual intercourse. Do not kill anyone which God has forbidden, except for just cause. Come not near the orphan’s property except to improve it. And fulfil covenant. Give full measure when you measure and weigh with balance that is right.

Also, the Qur’an prohibits usury, black marketing, hoarding, theft, gambling, and cheating etc. Besides, it is also a Qur’anic injunction to study nature, discover its laws and make progress in sciences. Moreover, there are some other vital principles, obedience to, or neglect of, which has a definite part in man’s ‘fate’. For example, patience and forbearance usually bring success and victory, and while working produces wealth, inertia and laziness are the causes of poverty.

Thus, man, according to the Qur’an, by neglecting or living in accordance with justice, religious-moral values and divine laws of nature, determines his own future. There is principally nothing, other than his free choice, to dictate his fate. If, then, a community, at least by majority, obey God and perform both His ‘religious’ and ‘natural’ laws, there can be nothing to prevent them from realizing peace, happiness and harmony in both individual and social life. Otherwise, no matter how glittering a community may appear, it is inevitable for them to fall into decay.

There is another point to be emphasized concerning the Qur’anic concept of history. The Qur’an does not accept ‘inevitable end’ for civilisations. Any civilisation, as long as it follows its ‘right’ way, it could remain at the peak, although no civilisation has so far been able to. And, any civilisation which is due and, on the threshold of, collapse because it has deviated from its course, could be saved from destruction and even realise a new rise if it reforms its way. Finally, history does not follow a straight and always forward course, rather, it advances by cycles.

First comment

Man has some relationship with, and stands in some need of, most of the species of creation. His needs spread throughout all parts of the cosmos, and his desires extend to eternity. As he desires a flower, so he desires a whole spring. As he wishes for a garden, so he wishes for eternal Paradise. As he longs to see a friend of his, so he longs to see the Graceful One of Glory. As he needs to knock at the door of his beloved friend in order to visit him, so he needs to take refuge in the court of an Omnipotent One Who will close the door of his world and will open that of the hereafter, Who will remove the world and establish in its place the world – to – come, in order that he should be delivered from unending separation from the ninety-nine per cent of his friends who have departed for the intermediate world.

The true object of worship of a being in this position can only be an Omnipotent One of Glory, a Compassionate One of Perfection, in Whose Hand are the reins of all things, in Whose possession is the provision for all things, in Whose sight everything, and in Whose presence everywhere, is, unbounded by space or time, free of all weakness or deficiency. For the one to meet the limitless needs of man can only be One with infinite power and all-embracing knowledge. Thus, He is the sole One worthy of worship.

Now, o man, if you see yourself as a servant of His, and of none else, you will acquire a rank above all creation. If you refuse to be such, you will become a mean slave to powerless creation. Or, if you rely on your selfhood and strength abandon prayer and trust in God, and arrogantly claim to have power, then you will fall lower than a bee or an ant, and become weaker than a spider or a fly, with respect to positive acts and constructiveness. In negative acts and destructiveness, however, you will weigh heavier than a mountain and be more harmful than an epidemic disease. This is your being; it has two aspects: one of them is positive and active and has to do with constructiveness, invention, existence and goodness; the other is negative and passive and has to do with destructiveness, non-existence and evil.

Regarding the first aspect of your being, you cannot in yourself match a bee or a sparrow, nor have the strength of a fly or a spider. Regarding the second aspect, you surpass mountains, even earth and the heavens, for you bear a burden from which they hold back because of lack of strength; and your acts therefore show their effect in a wider realm than theirs.1 When you do an act of goodness, or construct something, this does not go beyond the reach of your hand and your strength. Your evil and destructive acts, by contrast, are aggressive and expandable. For example, unbelief is an evil, a nonexistence of affirmation, and is destructive. Though it seems a simple, single sin, it implies an insult to all creation, an aggression against all the Divine Names and an affront to all mankind. For all beings in creation have lofty ranks and important tasks in virtue of their nature as letters of the Lord, mirrors of His orders. Unbelief denies them the rank bestowed by these functions, reduces them to the state of instruments of coincidence, to the degree of insignificance, valuelessness and nothingness, and makes them perishable objects doomed to decay and separation. An unbeliever denies and thus offends the Divine Names, Whose beauties, impressions and manifestations are observed on the mirrors of beings throughout the cosmos.

Man is a work of poetry, praising God’s wisdom and beautifully displaying the manifestations of all the Divine Names, a manifest miracle of Power like a seed that contains the members of an eternal tree, holding the rank of the Divine vicegerent on earth, superior to angels and in ascendancy over mountains, over the earth and the heavens by virtue of the trust he holds. Unbelief throws him into a degree that is lower than that of the lowest animal, more helpless, and impotent, and more wretched, and degrades him to the state of a speedily perishable tablet on which are scribbled meaningless, confused things.

To conclude: the concupiscent soul can commit numerous crimes in wrongdoing and destructiveness; but it has little power in goodness and constructiveness. It can destroy a city in a single day, but cannot build one in a hundred. However, if it abandons selfhood and requests from God goodness and fertility, if it turns from arrogance, wrongdoing and destructiveness, and accepts the form of a perfect slave of God, it then becomes the referent of the Qur’anic verse: ‘God will change their evil into good’ (25.70).

The infinite capability for wrongdoing inherent in man then changes into an infinite disposition to goodness, and he thus ascends to the highest of the high, and gains the value of the best pattern of creation.

Now, o heedless man! Behold the grace and munificence of God Almighty: while it would be perfect justice on His part to do the reverse, He records a single sin only once, and records a single act of goodness as ten, or seventy, or seven hundred, or seven thousand. Also draw from this comment, some understanding that to enter Hell is the punishment of crime and mere justice, but to enter Paradise is the result of His perfect grace.

Second comment

Again, man has two faces: one is related to his selfhood and turned to the worldly life; the other concerns his nature as a slave of God and gazes upon the eternal life. With respect to the former, he is so wretched a creature that he has nothing of free will beyond a brief and fast-ending period, and nothing of existence beyond a small, decaying body. In this state, he appears as no more than one of many feeble members of just one of the innumerable species that are spread over all levels of the whole of creation. With respect to his other, better nature, however, and by virtue of the impotence and poverty that lead him to worship, man has a comprehensiveness and a great importance. Indeed, the Wise Creator has purposefully included in him infinite impotence and poverty so that he should be a large and comprehensive mirror for the endless manifestations of the infinite power of the Compassionate One and the infinite richness of the Munificent One. In other words, man resembles a seed that is given ideal and important faculties by Power, and a delicate, precious programme by Destiny, in order that it will work under the ground to leave that narrow world of soil and enter the wide world of the air, request from its Creator through the tongue of its disposition to become a tree and to reach the perfect state that will befit it. If that seed, because of its bad temperament, employs the faculties that are given to it in attracting some harmful substance contained in soil, it will soon decay in that narrow place and become nothing. If, in compliance with the cosmic decree expounded in the verse- “It is God Who causes the seed-grain and the date-stone to split and sprout” (6.95), it uses its ideal faculties in their proper places, it will then emerge from that narrow world, become a big, fertile tree, and thus its small, particular nature will take the form of a great, comprehensive truth. The nature of man is likewise equipped with important faculties by Power and with precious programmes by Destiny.

If he wastes his spiritual means on this narrow world, under the ground of the worldly life and for the sake of his desires, he will leave from this world with a burden on his unfortunate soul that will be his responsibility before God. If, on the other hand, man waters the seed of his disposition with Islam, feeds it in the soil of worship, exposes it to the Qur’anic decrees, directs his spiritual means to their true purposes, he will of a certainty become a seed containing the essentials of a permanent truth and of an everlasting tree that extends its branches in the physical and intermediate worlds and yields endless blessings in the hereafter and in Paradise. He will, in fact, become a blessed, luminous fruit of the tree of creation. The actual progress of man is possible only by turning his heart, spirit, intelligence, imagination and other inner faculties to the eternal life, so that each of them will be occupied by its own kind of worship. For what the misguided imagine to be progress, which is to put one”s faculties at the disposal of the concupiscent soul in order to penetrate into all the details of the worldly life and to taste all its lowly pleasures, is not progress, but decline. I once observed this truth in a vision that was as follows: I was in a large city full of big palaces. Outside some of the palaces were spectacles to attract and entertain everyone.

As I came close to one of them, I saw that the master of the palace was at the door, playing with the dog. Women were absorbed in sweet conversation with young strangers, and grown-up girls were supervising children”s play. It was when I was the doorkeeper acting as the head of all the other people that I realized the inside of the palace was empty, and the important posts in the palace, obviously, had become so corrupted that their officials had left their duties and appeared in such a state outside the palace. I then came across another large palace. This time, a faithful dog was lying at the door, and beside it was standing a doorkeeper with a serious, stern and calm appearance. The palace seemed so quiet that I wondered why it was so, while the other palace was not. I entered the palace, and saw that the inside was, contrary to the outside, a scene of activity: one floor on another, different people with different, intricate tasks on each floor. Those on the first floor were conducting the management of the palace. On the second floor, girls and small children were studying; on the third were ladies occupied with fine arts and beautiful embroidery. On the top floor, the master of the palace was corresponding with the king in order to maintain the well-being of his people, and was also performing his own noble duties for his advancement and progress. As they did not see me, no one stopped me, so I was able to walk about. After I had left the palace, I realized that everywhere in the city there were palaces of these two kinds. I asked about this, and I was told that those palaces with empty insides and crowded outsides belonged to the notorious ones among the unbelievers and the people of misguidance, and the others to upright, eminent Muslims. Afterwards, I encountered another palace that attracted my attention, as my name Said was written on it. When I looked at it closely, I felt as if I were seeing my own shape on it. I was so bewildered that I began to cry, and at this point I woke up. I will now interpret this vision, may God make its outcome fortunate! That city is the social life of humanity and the terrain of human civilization. Each palace is the faculties and organs, such as eyes, ears, heart, spirit and intelligence, the self, desires, the sense of anger and carnal appetites. Each faculty of man has a different task in worship; it has also different pleasures and different sorrows. From among them, the soul and desires, the sense of anger and carnal appetites are like doorkeepers and dogs in the palace of the being of man. Thus, to put the other lofty senses at the disposal of the self and desires, and to cause them to forget their innate duties, is by all means a decline, not progress. You may now interpret for yourself the other details of the vision. R. Nur Collection (23rd Word)

References

1) The burden is described as the trust in the following verse: —Verily We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof. But man undertook it; he was indeed unjust and foolish— (Qur’an, 33:72), and one of its aspects concerns self as explained in detail in the Thirtieth Word. [Tr.]