1. FROM PHILOSOPHY TO SCIENCE

In the introduction to his book "A Study of History" Arnold Toynbee grieves about the transformation in the organization of knowledge that took place during his lifetime -- from integrated comprehensive discourses to fragmentary periodical articles on limited and specialized topics. He has ventured to unify the history of mankind into an integrated analysis, but he also had to split the early civilizations into a dozen societies which he tried to synthesize in terms of gradual interactions among their kings and soldiers. Toynbee's complaint highlights the change in scholastic attitude that has taken place over the past nearly one century, the merits and demerits of which are, indeed, debatable. An orientalist, Idries Shah, in his book "The Sufis" lets out steam against the latest way of thinking in the following words:

"Modern science, however, instead of accepting the idea that experience was necessary in all branches of human thought, took the word in its sense of "experiment", in which the experimenter remains as far as possible outside the experiment."

The above splitting of the Urdu/Persian word `Tajurba' is also a classic example of the difference between a historian and a Sufi who is primarily concerned about how individuals feel. Obviously, Idries Shah, not being familiar with the esoteric morality or ethics of scientific research, has mistaken the "coolness" of scientific attitude as "coldness". Briefly, it can be stated that in scientific parlance truth becomes accuracy, honesty is called exactness, love is known as dedication and life is identified as growth or movement. The need to produce unbiased observations necessitates an attitude of temporary detachment, just as a judge can not afford to be emotional. Similarly, many opinions are not expressed simply for the fear of appearing partisan. The various postulates that one comes across in the study of modern science are not prophecies but compulsive assumptions that are necessary to accommodate a line of reasoning with observed facts. Only a qualified scientific mind would comprehend the burden this author is carrying due to the many approximations being presented in this book which, of course, are necessary for the purpose of this publication which seeks to expose the subtlety rather than the rigidity of existence. Yet, an attempt has been made to remain as unequivocal as possible. It may be worth mentioning here that during my stay in the United Kingdom I discovered that whereas in the better educated communities the words professionalism and glamour were understood to mean objectivity and attractiveness respectively, among the less educated they denoted deceptive antics and pornography in that order. In the language used in this book an attempt has been made to ensure that the same impressions are created on all readers by a given set of facts or words.

Idries Shah's objections do seem sustainable in the case of social sciences. In social research, one needs to feel the way the subjects of one's study feel without getting carried away by those feelings. An attempt to develop social theories by remote observation of people's actions and reactions usually results in the formation of oppressive regimes of thought which may eventually develop into rather messy situations such as the misuse of the developing knowledge of psychology in Communist and Nazi dictatorships and the frequent exploitation of religion in some parts of the world. Perhaps a lot of mutual contempt among cultures and religions is the result of barriers which disallow the sharing of experiences. Similarly, the current democratic norm of allowing `popular' representatives to frame national policies constitutes a means of bridging the gap between suspecting socio-political groups who think that they do not feel alike because their levels of affluence, lifestyles or ethnic attributes differ.

Even in basically identifiable cultures, one finds diverse sub-cultures based on the misunderstanding of its fundamental literature. Roomi's parables were intended to give hope to the desperate. The various anecdotes illustrate how one can recover from a seemingly hopeless situation by responding positively to an accidental turn in events and achieve astonishing success and glory. But unfortunately the noble message has been grossly misinterpreted resulting in the development of cults among his followers based on such common traits as procrastination, lust and opportunism. Similarly, the following verse of Iqbal has been exploited as the perverse justification for antisocial connivance in his homeland.

"Too he nadan chand kalion per qina'at kar gaia

Warna gulshan men elaj e tangi e daman bhi tha."

Translation:

How foolish of thee to be content with just a few buds,

While the blossoming garden had means of carrying much more.

The misinterpretation of wisdom is a glamorous vice that spreads like an invisible virus and causes social disasters of epidemic proportions. Hence it is imperative that while putting forward ideas with popular appeal a spade must be called a spade and nothing else; no matter what the risks in doing so.

Modern science owes much of its respectability to its adroitness in expressing the observation and understanding of natural phenomena or the rules of their occurrence in terms of precise mathematical expressions or formulas which can not be interpreted in more than one ways and whose validity can be tested or demonstrated by visible experiments that produce measurable and recordable results that, in turn, can be repeated in any part of the world by individuals who may or may not have any special training in the particular branch of science. Indeed, in some scholarly circles, a scientific achievement is not recognized as a `contribution' until it has been independently verified by others and unless a laboratory experiment based on it can be used for the instruction of students.

However, Science is not entirely averse to conceptual compromises if they can contribute to the achievement of positive results. One case in common knowledge is the square root of minus one known as the imaginary quantity which, in spite of having no physical significance in a perceptory sense, plays a key role in the solution of equations, the results of which can be verified by perceptory means. The negative quantities so often encountered in contemporary mathematics are, in a sense, a manifestation of the phenomenon of egocentricity or assuming the origin of the coordinate axes to be located at the central point of the event under investigation. If on the other hand, the origin of the coordinate axes is taken a convenient distance away, then it would be possible to operate in a totally positive environment or field or space or universe or whatever one elects to call it. Commendably enough, modern Computer Scientists and Engineers have managed to rise above the negativistic datum by taking five volts as the zero state and twelve volts as the unity state. The absolute zero of the temperature scale, which could be called thermal potential, has already been found: Could there be a limiting value of voltage i.e. electrical potential or charge also? In the case of all-positive charge system there would have to be a critical value which would have to be subtracted from both interacting charges. Thus a negative or positive product would be obtained indicating mutual attraction or repulsion.

It is also possible to develop a set of spatial coordinates which would always have positive values by joining the center of gravity of a regular tetrahedron with its four corners and extending the resultant lines. Space would thus be divided into four tetrahedral quadrants, each identified by a unique set of three coordinates. The negative sign would, indeed, continue to be used to denote reversal or subtraction.

Another example of compromise is the acceptance of multiple solutions to higher degree equations as the final answer rather than looking for the additional condition that would identify the unique solution, although the more discreet scientist is apt to make some sort of a symbolic or literal notation to reflect its provisionality. The physical universe is invariably three dimensional, and the solution of any problem in a two dimensional frame is tantamount to projection and dealing with shadows. Similarly, time as we usually visualize it is the measure of the angular movement of the earth on its axis; although Mathematics so far does not recognize angle as a dimension. The argument can be related to the Sufic concept of `La Makan' or a vacuous location at an infinite distance which can never be physically observed as anything but a point, and the angle subtended by any geometrical interval at that distance would constitute an infinitesimally small angle leading to the disappearance of time. Obviously, we need some tangible definitions of space and time before we could exercise any meaningful control over them.

The beneficial application of the great formulas of pure sciences falls, chiefly, within the purview of technology or engineering, which has produced so many amenities in modern life, and which is rightly or wrongly blamed for most of the latter's ills. However, the application of scientific formulas for achieving practical results requires five essential elements in addition to construction, namely computation, measurement, actuation, monitoring and control (or feed-back). A virtually fixed point of reference, and often a means of anchorage to a virtually fixed location are also necessary. The engineer, sometimes, simply utilizes the laws of nature by building necessary constraints. One must salute the great scientists and technologists who have explored and exploited the intricate formulas of nature for the benefit of mankind. The only remaining question is: How do the formulas get applied in nature at large without human intervention? How does the velocity get squared when the wind bends the bough?

It seems that even the prehistoric philosophers were convinced that in order to function stably within life sustaining limits, the Universe requires a supervisory system. Consequently, numerous models of the probable supervisory system were put forward in different parts of the world and came to be known as religions. The Greeks had a god for everything. Indian religious literature speaks of a million great souls (Mahan atman) who reside in the Himalayas and control every thing that happens in the world. Islamic traditions even give names of angels who are assigned the management of various worldly functions such as communication, arranging rains and crops, and taking lives etc. The mathematical concept of God is one of a universal origin. One simple example is the origin of a graph where the coordinate axes intersect. All the processes and equations exist at this point, but the values of all the variables and functions are zero. At the same time, no point in the system can be defined without reference to the origin. Hence the frequent references to God (Insha Allah) by those with a strong sense of religion. However, in most communities, closed institutions were formed which claimed to have access to the supervisory system and began to make demands on their respective communities that would place the former in an unreasonably comfortable and dominant position in relation to other fellow beings in return for solving their problems by communicating with the supervisory system. As time passed, it became obvious that many, or perhaps most, of these institutions were nothing more than facades to extort undue benefits, and their `miracles' were merely tricks and sleight of hand. On the other hand, the seemingly genuine ones were so tyrannically choosy in allowing new aspirants to join their circles of study, or the initiation rites and initial courses were so atrociously discouraging that very few would have the patience to pursue the discipline for long. So, failing to break the closely guarded circles, the more intelligent and resourceful group decided to find its own access to the universal supervisory system by identifying and tapping into its components or subsystems through the conduit of scientific investigation. Soon the scientific institution, by virtue of its ability to heal and comfort, itself became a power axis and conflict between the two became inevitable. Before long, the antagonism grew to such a large extent that the two contenders began to needlessly deny the virtual basis of existence of each other. The result was that the development of both was hindered and, perhaps, even disoriented. An interesting account of confrontations between the seekers of knowledge and policy makers of faith can be found in Hoodbhoy's "Muslims and Science". The modern educated man's ability to believe only selected parts of his own knowledge is indeed an achievement in the area of self-control which far exceeds the ancient mystic's ability to believe in the unknown.

Once we accept the existence of a supervisory system for the Universe and that things happen in this world according to a basic plan, it is possible to develop a coherent scenario spanning the past and future of life on Earth. Almost all religions agree that before the emergence of plant-animal life, the earth was dominated by some sort of spiritual life forms who possessed very little physical strength and ability in spite of great knowledge and cognitive powers. They designed and developed plant and then animal species through a process of organic evolution that culminated in the domination of the Earth by civilized mankind who possess much greater physical strength and ability than their originators. Whether or not that spiritual race exists today, we do not know as they are beyond our perception. Human civilizations have been working over the past four millennia or so and developed a new life-form in the shape of stationary and mobile machinery that possess even greater physical strength and ability. When the wheel was first invented, man used to push or pull a cart; now a man sits unnoticed in gigantic mobile mechanical devices that perform extraordinary feats. With the rapid development of computerized robots, a time may come when the world may appear to be entirely dominated by mechanical life with human beings invisible in the background controlling their destiny.

Could it be that space probes being launched towards other planets and solar systems are and would be used by spiritual beings to transport themselves? Until we find scientific proof of their existence, this would only be a thought.

In modern times there exists a third, secular school of thought. The secular thinker may be totally ignorant of science, and may even practice some religion whether or not he has studied it, but he is opposed to any role of religion except as one of many tolerable personal vices. Secularism seems to have arisen out of protest against the exploitation of the sentiments of honest faithfuls and the occasional show of intolerance and violence by the more faithful, and portrays a fundamental difference in attitudes. Whereas religion insists that human social conduct should be based on a sense of moral duty, secularism believes in the supremacy of law and assertion of rights. However, the universal charter of human rights is hardly a match for the eternal charter of human duties embodied in the Qur'an -- the culmination of human and Divine religious thought. In the secular system rights imply duties, but in the religious system duties generate rights which is a more positive way of ensuring equity and harmony. In a religious system one tries to acquire implements that would help to discharge one's duties and please others; in a secular system one tries to amass possessions that reinforce one's confidence and help in asserting one's rights by intimidating others. In some communities a compromise has been reached so that most of the strong and affluent citizens are only concerned with asserting their rights and making large profits, but they do not interfere with the activities of a religious group that considers its duty to help the weak and poor to survive. There are also those who assist others in asserting their rights for a price or share in their fortunes. There seems no reason why modern state management techniques can not be reconciled with religious doctrine and vice versa.

Before we move on to the study of the development of science and technology, the reader should be reminded of their humanitarian aspects. It is true that the invention and availability of firearms, originally intended for defense against aggressors, has made it possible for the physically and mentally weak to kill healthy, normal and even noble human beings. Similarly, making and printing pictures has become so easy that even imbeciles can produce glossy prints of artless pornography. Yet, inventions should not be looked upon as mere individual achievements of people which also made them famous and rich. There is a very significant social and communal aspect of inventions which have drastically changed the way people live and think. Moreover, the instantaneous and pervasive optimism and elation that must have engulfed communities is bound to have spurred them on to noble ideals. The thought can best be illustrated by examples.

Think of the time when eye-glasses were not invented and people with weak eye-sights lived a life of deprivation. The invention of spectacles must have reactivated tens of thousands of people as useful members of the community producing a completely new approach to life. This author has experienced cataract in both eyes and knows how ugly and distorted this world must appear to people in old age suffering from cataract. The relief one feels on regaining normal sight can hardly be described in words. The invention of the printing press was another landmark in the process of civilization. It made the arduous task of dissemination and acquisition of knowledge very easy and resulted in a phenomenal increase in literacy and education aided by such other innovations as paper and fountain pen. Similarly the invention of street lamps was a turning point in the lives of people at large. It not only made emergency traveling at night easier but also lit up the paths for night work and night entertainment. Combined with the invention of power-producing engines and work-facilitating machines, the concepts of productivity and leisure were completely revolutionized. The invention of photography and cinematography made it possible to preserve and propagate pictures with great precision and detail with immense educational value. Combined with radio and television broadcasting it also led to the development of the soft technology of impression synthesis which opened up new channels of consumption acceleration and money circulation. We can only understand how fortunate we are if we look at the world which did not, or does not, have what most of us in the relatively developed world regard as basic amenities.

This is not Cricket

The whole cricketing world is ceased with a new match-fixing scandal which took place in London during the 4th test match between England and Pakistan apparently machinated by the English betting and match-fixing mafia. The scandal was reported by the sensational tabloid News of the World that specializes in such things. The news paper should disclose the identities and backgrounds of the reporters and other members of the team who produced a well choreographed movie and sensational report. If the NOTW team had any Indian or extremist Christian connections then that is a different story.

The sequence of events is that on the first day within an hour the English team slumped to 40 odd runs for 5 wickets. The betting odds went heavily against the English team.(Could it be that the English batsmen intentionally threw away their wickets to create the betting pattern? A patriotic English newspaper would obviously not raise that issue.) Even as the slump was going on two Pakistani bowlers overstepped and no-balled once each allegedly on instructions of a match fixer and all the Pakistani bowlers lost their rhythm. This resulted in two English tail enders making a world record partnership. The Pakistani batting collapsed in the subsequent two innings and lost pitiably. Those who had made bets on England at the high odds when the English team was slumping made a fortune. It should not be difficult to trace out the beneficiaries. It is obvious that NOTW held back on the rest of the deal between them and the crook Mazhar Majeed. Did anybody from NOTW make a fortune from the match?

If the match was fixed for betting purposes then it seems that at least 22 players were involved and the ICC enquiry should treat all of them equally and investigate all of them.

No cricket match ever played in Pakistan has been suspected of match-fixing. This abomination only takes place in countries like Australia, England, India and South Africa where social and economic conditions encourage it. It is a pity that the UK Border agency and the ICC failed to warn the inexperienced Pakistani players of the dangers of coming in contact with match-fixers who abound in that country.

If this is how cricket is played these days then I am glad that I have not touched a cricket bat in years.

More Definitions - 4

Bagram Airbase = Afghan equivalent of Iraq's Abu Ghoraib prison.


Blair’s dossier = A baseless deception used to justify criminal or sadistic action which becomes exposed in due course.

Dr. Afia Siddiqui = MIT and Brandeis scholar and first renowned Muslim woman who became a victim of the new breed of American military brutality and Christian extremism, her case demonstrating the fragility of the American justice system.

IRA = Irish Republican Army, the pioneer terrorist organization of Catholic Christians formed to liberate Ireland from British occupation.

Knee-capping = Technique of torturing people by drilling a hole in their knees with an electric drill developed in UK by Irish extremist Christians.

Northern Ireland = Province carved out of Irish Republic and made part of the United Kingdom because its population is predominantly Anglican and would prefer to be within the British kingdom, the home of Church of England.

Suicide-bombing = Technique of murder developed in India to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi and exported to the rest of the world.

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui

The case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, ex-Professor of Neurology at MIT reminds me of an article by George Bernard Shaw or his comments contained in the prologue of one of his books such as Man and Superman or Pygmalion or some other that I read in the early seventies. In it Shaw had lambasted the British Army over the trial of an Egyptian peasant woman who was charged with attempting to kill British soldiers. The woman had wounds in her private parts which were certified by the army surgeon as bullet injuries suffered during gun battle with the Royal Army. All the evidence presented by the army was discussed and exposed to be as ridiculous as it really was by Shaw. Unfortunately, there is no G.B. Shaw in USA of today and the moral standards of the US army can hardly be considered superior to their ancestors. The fact is that the standards of soldiery have been constantly on the decline and the motivation has shifted to terror, sadism and greed from the old concepts or honor and chivalry. It seem to be one of the many cases where the army men connived to avoid court martial and put their victim on trial in a questionable court whose jury were locked in a room for days and not allowed to come out until they gave a unanimous verdict of guilty on all concocted and unsustainable charges.


The US government, perhaps acting on Indian advice has made a serious mistake. The young people in the Muslim world are wondering that if someone as learned as Dr. Aafia supports Al-Qaida, it couldn't be so bad after all. There are others who are wondering that if the Americans can so badly brutalize a lady who for years worked and contributed to a humanitarian science in their country and ruin the life of her young children, what humanity can anyone expect from them?

India's Cyber War

During my recent travel I had to depend heavily on internet news. The remarkable thing about internet news is that on most reputable forums such as CNN, Times, Yahoo etc, the news item is followed by a discussion forum in which thousands of readers state their views on the news. I was amazed to note that in almost every discussion there were quite a few comments by people with Hindu names or Christian names with obvious Indian links in the text which may or may not have been related to the topic of the news but essentially contained acrimonious propaganda against Islam and Pakistan. It appears that the Indian government and private extremist Hindus have been waging a vicious cyber war against Islam and Pakistan ever since the internet has come into being. Or maybe the campaign is orchestrated by the Indian military which does not want to give up the comforts and benefits of Kashmiri occupation. In any case it seems very likely that the current wave of anti-Islamic and andi-Pakistani sentiments in the Western world are the result of incessant Indian propaganda. Now if they can go to such an extent, the possibility of Indian facilitation of international terrorist acts by Muslim extremists can not be ignored.

More Definitions - 3

Aramco = American equivalent of East India Company


Google = Internet search engine which became so common that it started being used as a verb to denote that activity.

India = Asian country originally populated by little black men and women, colonized and ruled by Aryan invaders for two thousand years, by Muslim invaders for eight hundred years, by British invaders for two hundred years and under Mountbaten's army since 15th August, 1947.

Israelism = A transient aberration common in Western world which makes crimes against humanity look good.

Microsoft = Original soul of the personal computer.

NATO = Arrangement for American control of armed forces of North Atlantic countries recued, liberated or conquered by American troops.

USSR = Defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics consisting of Eastern European countries and distant allies such as Cuba, India and Iraq under the leadership of Russia. It broke up after the Soviets were defeated in a war with Afghanistan and Pakistan which was materially supported by USA.

Afghan War

The war in Afghanistan is turning into a war between Christianity and Islam. Let us see what would happen if all the terrorist activities ceased and Christians and Muslims became the best of friends.

First of all the Palestinian problem will be solved in favor of the Palestinians. Secondly the Kashmir problem will be solved in favor of Pakistan. Thirdly the Chehcen problem will be solved in favor of the Muslims.


Obviously the terrorist activities of the Alqaeda and Taliban are against the interest of the Muslims. Also their cessation would be against the interests of some other parties who are easy to recognize

The Greatest Achievement of Science

Somebody once asked me what the greatest achievement of science was. I think I replied “moonwalk”, and that was the end of the conversation. But my thoughts did not stop there. The question had a meaning that I had missed. Moonwalk was an achievement of human beings, scientists to be exact. But what had science as an entity done to be adored as we do? After a long time the answer dawned on me and it surprised me. The greatest achievement of science was ‘democracy’.


Until the end of the sixteenth century or perhaps the beginning of the seventeenth century Europeans had no choice but to believe that what the king said was laws. Worldly laws were made only by kings. Laws of a divine nature were made by the top man in the church. Ordinary men could not make laws. But starting with Galileo’s rejection of Aristotelian ideas and the advent of modern science, things changed. There came a procession of laws made by ordinary mortals with no relation to royalty or the church. Newton’s Laws of motion and gravitation, Boyle’s law, Chales’s law, Dalton’s law, Ohm’s law etc. etc. And neither royalty nor the church could challenge or alter these laws.

Once the people of Europe realized that it was possible for them to make laws, the paradigm of politics and sovereignty changed. The people had to create a situation in which they could make the laws of the land as they suited them.

The reason why democracy eludes many nations outside Europe and North America is that people there still believe that lawmaking is the purview of the privileged and not common people. Once they acquire the taste for making laws they will achieve democracy.

1984

Way back in the early 1970s I read George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-four and nearly forgot about it when things in Britain didn't change much. Now that I am visiting the United States I am suddenly reminded of the book. There seem to be clear and subtle similarities between the land of 1984 and present day USA, Perhaps I shall read the book again when I return home and write about my observations of this journey.

Islam for the Perverted

By Naseem Mahnavi
naseem.mahnavi@gmail.com

As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man.
Matthew 24: 37-39

Say ye: "We believe in Allah and the revelation given to us and to Ibraheem, Isma`il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes and that given to Moosa and Issa and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord we make no difference between one and another of them and we bow to Allah (in Islam)." (The Qur’an verse 2:136

If Allah so willed He could make you all one people: but He leaves straying whom He pleases and He guides whom He pleases: but ye shall certainly be called to account for all your actions. (The Qur’an verse 16:93)

And the Jews say: The Christians do not follow anything (good) and the Christians say: The Jews do not follow anything (good) while they recite the (same) Book. Even thus say those who have no knowledge, like to what they say; so Allah shall judge between them on the day of resurrection in what they differ. (The Qur’an verse 2:113)

And the Jews will not be pleased with you, nor the Christians until you follow their religion. Say: Surely Allah's guidance: that is the (true) guidance. And if you follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you shall have no guardian from Allah, nor any helper. (The Qur’an verse 2:120)

O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah with the care which is due to Him, and do not die unless you are Muslims. (The Qur’an verse 3:102)


1. INTRODUCTION

All religions started with the common purpose of uniting and guiding people to a healthy and desirable way of life that would ensure social harmony in this world and peace even after death. They also provided a platform for coordinated thought and regulation of life. Unfortunately, ambitious religious leaders found it convenient to raise points of difference and divide the believers into churches, sects, schisms and temples. In modern times, religious organizations resemble tourist bus services to heaven. Buy a ticket, hop into one and the driver will deliver you to the gates of paradise. The sad part is that there is no insurance or money-back guarantee. Even more disturbing is the thought that if they deliver you to the wrong gates, there is no return or detour.


1.1 Bismillah

Islam literally means accepting a reality, and not surrender in the sense of laying down arms as is commonly mistaken. The meaning of the most frequently used Arabic sentence “Bismillah irrahman irraheem” can be best understood by translating the article “Al” as “the real”. The meaning then becomes “In the name of the real Master, the real beneficent and the really merciful.” That is the beginning of the search for truth.

The Holy Qur’an is the only religious book that states plainly that men and women were created from a single soul (verse 4:1), implying that spiritually they are equal and gives clear-cut instructions about moral and ethical principles. Prophet Muhammad in his last sermon categorically stated that the red man is not superior to the black man and vice versa. Much of mankind ignored these instructions for 1300 odd years after the revelation of the Holy Qur’an until Dr. Christian Barnard of apartheid South Africa unwittingly demonstrated the Qur’anic truth in 1969 by transplanting a woman’s heart in a man’s body that lived for months and trans-racial heart transplants followed. The world has changed considerably since then. Apartheid evaporated from South Africa and women and black people are no longer considered inferior in the Western world. The advancements of science have many indicators to divine truths that seem to be ignored by most educated people.

The Qur’an contains all the essential parts of the old and new Testaments in addition to the unique revelations to Prophet Muhammad. Neither the exact Ten Commandments nor the socio-economic principles that have come to be known as Jewish morality and Christian values, can be found stated directly in either the Old or the New Testaments. They can only be found stated clearly and unambiguously in the Third Testament called the Holy Qur’an. Almost any book of prose or poetry can be interpreted to portray high ideals and moral principles, and the moral values of all religions except Islam are derived from legends and anecdotes. In a most unusual show of magnanimity for a religion, Islam endorses both Christianity and Jewish faith as religions of Divine inspiration and acknowledges both Issa (Jesus) and Moosa (Moses) as Prophets of God and divine predecessors of Prophet Muhammad. The Muslims are awaiting the return of Issa more anxiously than the Christians. The Qur’an goes to the extent of saying in verse 2:62,

“Those who believe (in the Qur'an) and those who follow the Jewish (Scriptures) and the Christians and the Sabians and who believe in Allah and the last day and work righteousness shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve.”

It is not surprising that the drivers of the Jewish and Christian buses to paradise do not stop at the Qur’an shop on the way.

If one looks back in history, one finds that whereas the words of the Qur'an are constant and unchanging, its understanding has an evolutionary character. In the first phase during the lives of the Prophet and early Caliphs, the mere repetition of the text was enough as the listener knew the language well enough and the intonation would make the meaning quite clear. The cultural or environmental symbolism was also well understood and the references to specific events were only parts of their lives. In the second phase when Islam had spread in most of Arabia and around it where dialects of Arabic were spoken, it had to be presented in writing, with detailed punctuation and a few explanatory notes. In the third phase when Islam had spread far and wide in the world, it was understood by majority of its readers with the help of translations and a few marginal comments. In the fourth phase when it was no longer taught in primary curriculum and its basic concepts had become alien to most of its readers, it was understood with the aid of lengthy explanations and references to Hadith and other books. In the fifth phase, which is still in progress, there has been an attempt to reconcile Qur'anic and scientific knowledge rather than treat them as opposites. It would be such a pity if, while reading the Qur'an, one were to ignore the wealth of knowledge mankind has acquired as a consequence of being inspired by it. Those who think in terms of scientific references can only be convinced about the validity of an idea in scientific terms.

The importance of independent thought and action in Islam was underscored by the Prophet when he insisted that those who went to his mosque must meditate on their own before and after he led them in prayers. Prophet Muhammad was a true democrat. He did not treat his simple followers like a herd of sheep. He treated them as intelligent human beings and trained them so that they could manage their relationship with God by themselves, without dependence on any sort of clergy. Before Islam, religion was something that was administered by a priest and the common man was a captive of the religious establishment. Unfortunately, today many Muslim believers have also become captives of their misguided leaders.

This author’s thinking is based on the assumption that the Universe has been objectively engineered and that there could be a margin of error in God's work. True that God is perfect, but nowhere has He claimed that any of His creations is absolutely as intended. The imperfection of His creations by no means diminishes His own greatness. It is possible that God intended the Earth to be inclined at a quarter of a right angle to its orbital plane, but actually it turned out to be 23.5 degrees i.e. one degree more, or that the year was intended to be exactly 360 days and not 365 and a quarter as it actually is. Similarly, evil exists not because it was intended by God but as a consequence of the imperfections of the creations; and God has set in motion a process of evolution and guidance for the rectification of these defects and for improvement in the quality of His creations. All the tangible knowledge of physics, Chemistry, Biology, Electronics, Mechanics and much of Mathematics that is or will ever be written in books is already at work in the human body. Man is not discovering Science, but only learning to express what is already inherent in him. The rest is speculation.

This book has been written neither to gain accolades from Islamic scholars nor to tease them. The intended readership of this book consists of Muslims who are well versed in secular studies, but fail to find interest in Islamic literature. If a man does fear or believe in God and does not admire Muhammad (PBUH), his interest can only be aroused by showing him that the Qur’an also deals in the subject that constitutes his passion for knowledge. A scientist would read the Qur’an only if convinced that it contains science, which it certainly does. The same is true of other secular professions such as medicine, economics, law, psychology, sociology etc. It is also meant for Non-Muslims who would like to know the essence of Islam without giving up their prejudices in the first place. As for the perverted, they may get interested in Islam after reading this book, but can not go any further astray than they already are.

In the following pages, there are a number of essays that were inspired by religious study, but also include related secular knowledge that supplements the religious ideas. The technological bias in the thinking is the inevitable result of this author’s own professional passion. Even my belief in God is partly owed to the fact that no one has reported finding a piece of naturally occurring quartz or grain of sand with a functional digital logic circuit formed by random mutations.


1.2. The Need for Religion

There are two basic types of religion. The first is the divine type that concerns itself with all aspects of life including every thing from the creation of the universe to what happens after one dies. Islam, Christianity, Jewish faith and Vedantic Hinduism are the most common examples of divine religion. The second is the social type that concerns mainly with how one conducts one self in the world and with respect to other living beings. Examples of the social type are Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism, Sikhism etc.

All divine religious thought starts from one basic thesis that can be stated as follows:

For any new action to take place anywhere in the universe, a command must be generated somewhere by someone. Therefore, all efforts to achieve physical results should also be complemented with prayers to a Command-generator for the issuance of necessary commands to ensure that the efforts produce the desired results.

Not only a modern day computer programmer would quickly endorse the idea of the necessity of command for action, but it seems that even the prehistoric philosophers were convinced that in order to function stably within life sustaining limits, the world requires a supervisory system. Consequently, numerous models of the probable supervisory system were put forward in different parts of the world and came to be known as religions. The Greeks had a god for everything. Indian religious literature speaks of a million great souls (Mahan atman) who reside in the Himalayas and control every thing that happens in the world. Biblical and Islamic traditions even give names of angels who are assigned the management of various worldly functions such as communication, arranging rains and crops, and taking lives etc. The mathematical concept of God is one of a universal origin. One simple example is the origin of a graph where the coordinate axes intersect. All the processes and equations exist at this point, but the values of all the variables and functions are zero. At the same time, no point in the system can be defined without reference to the origin. Hence the frequent references to God (Insha Allah) by those with a strong sense of religion.

However, in most communities, closed institutions were formed which claimed to have access to the supervisory system and began to make demands on their respective communities that would place the former in an unreasonably comfortable and dominant position in relation to other fellow beings in return for solving their problems by communicating with the supervisory system. As time passed, it became obvious that many, or perhaps most, of these institutions were nothing more than facades to extort undue benefits, and their `miracles' were merely tricks and sleight of hand. On the other hand, the seemingly genuine ones were so tyrannically choosy in allowing new aspirants to join their circles of study, or the initiation rites and initial courses were so atrociously discouraging that very few would have the patience to pursue the discipline for long. So, failing to break the closely guarded circles, the more intelligent and resourceful group (mainly in Europe) decided to find its own access to the universal supervisory system by identifying and tapping into its components or subsystems through the conduit of scientific investigation. Soon the scientific institution, by virtue of its superior ability to heal and comfort, itself became a power axis and conflict between the two became inevitable. Before long, the antagonism grew to such a large extent that the two contenders began to needlessly deny the basis of existence of each other. The result was that the development of both was hindered and, perhaps, even disoriented. An interesting account of confrontations between the seekers of knowledge and policy makers of faith can be found in Hoodbhoy's "Muslims and Science". The modern educated man's ability to believe only selected parts of his own knowledge is indeed an achievement in the area of self-control which far exceeds the ancient mystic's ability to believe in the unknown.

Once we accept the existence of a supervisory system for the Universe and that things happen in this world according to a basic plan, it is possible to develop a coherent scenario spanning the past and future of life on Earth. Almost all religions agree that before the emergence of plant-animal life, the earth was dominated by some sort of spiritual life forms that did not possess physical form in spite of great knowledge, cognitive powers and ability to maneuver matter and energy. Their creator, leader and master is called God. They designed and developed plant and then animal species through a process of controlled organic evolution that culminated in the domination of the Earth by civilized mankind who think that they possess even greater physical strength and ability than their originators. Whether or not that spiritual race continues to pursue the creative process, we do not know as they are beyond our perception. However, the latest developments in genetics indicating that the unique and extremely complex configuration of millions of atoms in the genes in each cell of an animals body multiplies billions of times with exact precision, points to the possibility that there must be some sort of a code prevalent all over the world that motivates and controls the process. Taking into account the fact that all living organisms need exposure to cosmic radiation for growth one wonders if the vital code is contained in some frequency band of the cosmic radiation which is intentionally transmitted from a remote source in the universe. The idea is further reinforced by the fact that there are maria only on that side of the moon that faces the earth, but the other side is quite plain; and the maria so closely resemble reflective dishes that could concentrate many thousand times a signal coming from deep space and focus it onto the earth as a small area scanning spotlight. Anyone hit by the focused beam would acquire the latest operating system for the genome or new utilities that would give him or her apparently supernatural abilities.

God is said to have breathed His Spirit into man, and created a potential creator like Himself, albeit of much lower stature than Himself. True to the task, man has created an entire world of inorganic life consisting of ingenious machinery and industrial plants for which human beings are equivalent to soul. Human civilizations have been working over the past five millennia or so and developed a new life-form in the shape of stationary and mobile machinery that possess even greater physical strength and ability. When the wheel was first invented, man used to push or pull a cart; now a man sits unnoticed in gigantic mobile mechanical devices that perform extraordinary feats. Man has produced mechanical creatures that work in conjunction with man to produce forces, speeds and displacements far in excess of anything that any animal can achieve. With the rapid development of computerized robots, a time may come when the world may appear to be entirely dominated by mechanical life with human beings invisible in the background controlling their destiny. Perhaps Avicena’s prediction that man could reach angelic reason has come true.

It seems that there has been a progression whereby spiritual life created organic life which, in its turn, fashioned inorganic life. The inorganic life system consists of all electric or engine powered machines, equipment and vehicles that move and communicate, and whose numbers and types are constantly growing although they do not produce babies, fruit or seeds. They would die out if we humans stopped caring for and supporting them. Today, it is so easy to compare a human being and his or her soul with an automobile and its driver, but it is interesting that the idea originated thousands of years ago when the analogy did not exist.

Scientific thought relies on the premise that actions are the effects of direct causes that can be manipulated independently by human beings without any spiritual assistance. Whether the human desire to achieve a result could invoke the spiritual command for the desired effect is not a measurable phenomenon and therefore ignored by Science. The mechanism of the cognitive process and inspiration are separated from physical sciences and identified as psychology. However, over the past few centuries scientists have compiled a great amount of knowledge and built a working model of the universe by observing causes and effects and analyzing them. Modern life is so dependent on the exploits of science that it seems absurd to question the validity of the scientific approach. A thousand years ago it would have been sufficient to explain an abnormal occurrence or legend as God’s will. But today we know so much about the ways in which God’s will is exercised that unless one can suggest a feasible mechanism by which the event might take place, the validity of the statement would be unacceptable to the educated mind. Yet, it is impossible to ignore an idea in whose favor more than half the world’s population has cast its vote. There is no doubt that for its own functioning, Science has to depend on mathematical relationships that exist since time unknown and universal constants whose values were fixed by the eternal Cause that can not be observed or measured.

In modern times there exists a secular school of thought. The secular thinker may be totally ignorant of science, and may even practice some religion whether or not he has studied it, but he is opposed to any role of religion except as one of many tolerable personal vices. Secularism seems to have arisen out of protest against the exploitation of the sentiments of honest believers and the occasional show of intolerance and violence by the more faithful, and portrays a fundamental difference in attitudes. Whereas religion insists that human social conduct should be based on a sense of moral duty, secularism believes in the supremacy of self-made law and assertion of rights. However, the universal charter of human rights prepared by the UNO is hardly a match for the eternal charter of human duties embodied in the Qur'an -- the culmination of human and divine religious thought. In the secular system rights imply duties, but in the religious system duties generate rights, which is a more positive way of ensuring equity and harmony. In a religious system one tries to acquire implements that would help to discharge one's duties and please others; in a secular system one tries to amass possessions that reinforce one's confidence and help in asserting one's rights by intimidating others. In some communities a compromise has been reached so that most of the strong and affluent citizens are only concerned with asserting their rights and making large profits, but they do not interfere with the activities of a religious group that considers its duty to help the weak and poor to survive. There are also those who assist others in asserting their rights for a price or share in their fortunes. There seems no reason why modern state management techniques can not be reconciled with religious doctrine and vice versa.