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Wednesday 28 September 2016

Intellect, senses, Ideas – existence in pair



              
Like everything created, Intellect, Idea and senses all exist in pairs. One part of Intellect is what is driven by what we call physical senses, and the other part of Intellect is driven by extra sensory senses. Similarly physical senses are paired with extra sensory senses.  Similarly the Idea perceived through physical senses is paired with Idea perceived through extra sensory senses.

  We have already seen in the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2016/08/kalam-u-allah-and-nabis-words_20.html  that Quranic Words were shown as written words to our Nabi (ﷺ) by Gabriel (a.s). It means our Nabi (ﷺ) did not produce Quranic Words/ Kalam u Allah; rather our Nabi (ﷺ) just narrated Quranic Words to the people around. Our Nabi (ﷺ) was the first narrator/ ‘Ravi’ of the Quran to the people of his (ﷺ) generation. Similarly we have seen  Quran was revealed to mind/conscious of our Nabi (ﷺ); it means when Quranic Words were revealed to our Nabi (ﷺ), at the same time understanding/meanings of Quran were also revealed to our Nabi (ﷺ). This fact has also been mentioned in Quran:
“Indeed, upon Us is its (Quran’s) collection [in your conscious/mind] and [to make possible] its recitation….. Then lo! upon Us (resteth) the explanation thereof” (al-Qiyamah-17,19).
These verses state that it is job of Allah to collect/preserve Quran in the conscious/mind of our Nabi (ﷺ) and it is Allah’s job to explain the text of this Quran (means to explain the  meanings of Quran). Some people say it was through ijtihad that our Nabi (ﷺ) exacted meanings of Quran and Allah had nothing to do with this exercise done by our Nabi (ﷺ). It is a wrong thinking because this verse 19 clearly says it is upon Allah to explain the meanings of Quran. These Quranic meanings were revealed to our Nabi (ﷺ) through “wahi e khafi”. The ‘Quranic wahi’ is paired with ‘wahe e Khafi’.
The question is how ‘wahi’ was made a part of our Nabi’s (ﷺ) Conscious. We know the process of revelation was not perceived through physical senses; the process of revelation was perceived only by our Nabi (ﷺ) and the people around our Nabi (ﷺ) were not able to perceive- through their physical senses-  the process of revelation. It clearly means our Nabi () used to perceive the process of wahi through his senses other than physical senses. These senses through which our Nabi (ﷺ)  used  to perceive ‘wahi’ and the process thereof are called extra sensory senses.  
In the articles https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/10/soul-conscious-and-its-training.html and https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2016/09/reality-of-me-and-social-development-of.html that Human body is a reflection of human soul/conscious; our body is just like our conscious sees it. Our conscious and body are inextricably inseparable as long as we are alive. Our conscious/soul is AWARENESS of all human body’s factors like intellect, knowledge, information, ideas, skills, observations, experiences, feelings, perceptions, emotions, and, in short, AWARENESS of all that we have in our life. In other words, nature/reality of ‘ME’/Conscious is the AWARENESS of all that I have in my life. In addition to AWARENESS, my Conscious/ ‘ME’ has another quality; it has ‘WILL’ to adopt the good or the bad knowingly that they are good or bad.  All other factors like intellect, knowledge, information, ideas, skills, observations, experiences, feelings, and perceptions impact our Emotions which further impact our soul/conscious/ ‘ME’, but decision making is the job of Conscious/Soul/ ‘ME’; Conscious/ME may reject the impact of any Emotions and decide to adopt the good or the bad.  Therefore, in order to train/develop human conscious, we have to manage all body’s factors like intellect, knowledge, information, ideas, skills/capabilities, feelings, perceptions, experiences, observations, and emotions.

Because our Conscious has ‘Will to make good or bad decision’, and because the final decision making is to be made by our Conscious, it means our Conscious has its own intellectual faculty as well.  In other words, there are two separate intellectual faculties. The first Intellectual faculty functions through physical senses whereas the second Intellectual faculty operates through extra sensory senses. Both these Intellectual faculties may generate different Ideas OR may generate the same Idea. Both Intellectual faculties may authenticate OR reject Ideas of each other.  Our Conscious after taking inputs from both kinds of Intellectual faculties and from Emotions makes a final decision as to what is to be done.

The Ideas generated through physical senses and through extra sensory senses are originated from the Unconscious Mind of relevant person. If Ideas embedded in the Unconscious of the person are moved to his Conscious through physical senses (which are external stimuli), the process is called Analogical Deduction.  If Ideas are moved to the Conscious through extra sensory senses, the process is called Intuition OR ‘wahi’. The difference between Intuition and wahi is that Intuition is a part of permanent human functions (like heart beat is a permanent human body function) and this function of Intuition is  carried out through extra sensory senses. But wahi is not a permanent human function (only selective persons can avail process of wahi), though ‘wahi’ is also carried out through extra sensory senses, it is carried out through an external entity e.g. Angel or Allah Himself (some wahi is carried out through angel and some directly through Allah); but Intuition is not carried out through any angel. The scope of Intuition is very limited; it pertains to human capability to differentiate between what is good and what is bad. Human Conscious’s Will to adopt the good or the bad knowingly that they are the good or the bad is based on Intuition. But scope of ‘wahi’ includes all knowledge, information, experiences, observations, Ideas, feelings, perceptions, in short, all that we have in life. [pls also see https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/01/ilhaminspiration-function-of-human-mind.html ].

 As mentioned earlier, through both processes (i.e. physical senses based Intellectual faculty and extra sensory Intellectual faculty), the same Idea may become part of the Conscious; on the other hand, both processes may generate different Ideas as well. It is up to the Conscious to decide as to  which one Idea should be made basis of the decision. As for authenticity of Idea is concerned (to know whether any Idea has become correctly part of Conscious or not), physical senses based Idea is the least authentic due to likely deficiency of external data on basis of which Idea is analyzed by the recipient. But in case of extra sensory Idea,  Idea may become or may not become correctly a part of Conscious. In case of prophet, extra sensory Idea is ensured to be correctly comprehended by the conscious of the prophet, but in case of non-prophet, such surety of correct comprehension of extra sensory Idea is not ensured.  In case of ‘Quranic wahi’, comprehension of Idea is not left to analogical deduction of the recipient’s (our Nabi's [s.a.w.w) physical Intellect; rather Allah’s Words are shown to the recipient’s [our Nabi's (s.a.w.w)] extra sensory Intellect so that Idea must be comprehended correctly by the recipient’s Conscious. Similarly in case of both ‘wahi e khafi’ and ‘Quranic wahi’, the correct comprehension of Idea by the recipient’s Conscious is ensured through a Conscious Entity i.e. Allah Himself or through an angel through Extra Sensory Senses.  ( it may be appreciated because Wahi and Intuition both are subject of Extra Sensory Intellectual Faculty and  Wahi and Intuition both are always correctly comprehended by Extra Sensory Intellect but both may be rejected/ misunderstood by Physical Intellectual Faculty. A prophet's Conscious is so developed and well trained that it never accepts Physical Intellect's dictation, if such dictation is different from that of Extra Sensory Intellect's).  In case of non-prophetic wahi, the authenticity of Idea is based on  the prophetic wahi; if non-prophetic wahi is not in consonance with prophetic wahi, it would mean such non-prophetic wahi is NOT actual/ correct wahi. For details about prophetic and non-prophetic wahi pls  see article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2011/09/wahi-and-intuition.html



As described above,  a prophet's conscious always receives 100% accurate Idea through extra sensory senses/ non-physical Intellect; similarly the Idea called Intuition is also received accurately by human conscious through non-physical Intellect. But it may be appreciated that all humans contain non-physical Intellect as well as physical Intellect; non-physical Intellect does not essentially work correctly in all humans in all cases though it works correctly in all cases in the prophets. This is the difference between a Prophet and a common human.

We may conclude that human intellect, senses and Ideas all exist in pairs, like every other thing existing in nature. Physical Intellect is paired with extra sensory Intellect; physical senses are paired with extra sensory senses; physical Ideas are paired with extra sensory Ideas. Both Physical Intellectual faculty and extra sensory Intellectual faculty give their inputs to human Conscious which, on the basis of inputs given, uses its ‘Will to adopt the good or the bad deed’. Human brain is also divided into two sections both are inter-connected as well as connected with the third part called Cerebellum; this form of human brain does not seem to be without suggestion.

Saturday 24 September 2016

Following Allah and Following Rasool (ﷺ)



       
We have already seen in the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2016/06/obeying-allah-vs-following-allah.html  that there is difference between obeying (ata,at) and following (itba,a). Obeying is related to commandment; whereas following is related to every act/saying whether commanded or not. We are under obligation to obey Allah; we are not under obligation to follow Allah. The reason is simple; we do not have capability to follow Allah, and we are not required to follow Allah. Allah is owner of life and death and everything; we as humans cannot be owner of everything. Allah is limitless in His every Quality; but we cannot. Allah is owner of ‘Day of Judgment’; but we cannot. Allah is Creator and Sustainer of this universe; but we cannot. Allah is ‘samad’/ Self Sufficient; but we cannot. There is no equivalent to Allah; but we have so many equivalents. It is true Allah commands us to follow His some Qualities and Acts; but following such Qualities and Acts of Allah is called obedience to Allah because Allah has commanded us to follow those His Qualities and Acts, and secondly following any such Quality of Allah is subject to obedience to Allah; in other words, we should not follow any such Quality of Allah to the extent where we should fail to obey Allah. The reason is simple; primarily, we have been created to worship/obey Allah, NOT to imitate Allah. 

From the foregoing, we can divide Allah’s ‘wahi’  into two categories. The first form of Allah’s ‘wahi’ is which is in the form commandments; following Allah’s such wahi is also called Obedience to Allah/ ‘Ata,at e Ilahi’. The second form of Allah’s ‘wahi’  is which is not in the form Allah’s commandments (e.g. informations, knowledge, examples, events, persuasion, Allah’s acts/sayings given in Quran). We are to follow both categories of  'wahi'.  

It may please be appreciated that there is a difference between  following/ ‘itba,a’ e Allah and following Allah’s ‘wahi’.  Allah’s following’ is not included in ‘following Allah’s ‘wahi’. Because Allah’s acts.qualities and sayings are not confined to Allah’s wahi, following Allah’s Wahi cannot be called Allah's following. Following/Itba,a means following an entity’s every act/saying/qualities-whether people are commanded or not thereof.  But we cannot follow every act/saying/quality of Allah because we can follow only such acts/sayings/qualities of Allah, which are part of ‘wahi’ and outside the ambit of   wahi we can neither know nor follow Allah- it means there is no such thing as ‘Allah’s following’. There is not a single Quranic verse which contains words  ‘Allah’s following’; only ‘following Allah’s wahi’ have been mentioned at various places. We are under no obligation to follow Allah; we can only obey Allah OR follow Allah’s ‘wahi’.

However we are under obligation to follow our Nabi (ﷺ).
 Quran says:        
“Say, [ Muhammad ] "If you should love Allah , then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful” (al-imran-31)."
In this verse, Allah is commanding people through our Nabi (ﷺ) that people should follow our Nabi (ﷺ)
As already stated, following/ ‘Itba,a’ of a person means to follow every act/saying/quality of that person- whether people are commanded to follow or not- therefore people are under obligation to follow our Nabi’s (ﷺ) every act/saying/quality-whether people have been commanded thereof or not by our Nabi (ﷺ). However such acts which have been explicitly prohibited by Allah or our Nabi (ﷺ)   are not to be followed by the people (actually ‘not following’ such acts/sayings would have to be categorized as ‘following of commandments’; whereas regarding Allah's acts/sayings/qualities out side the ambit of wahi, we cannot say they are prohibited by any commandment because such qualities/acts/sayings are unknown to us and no positive or negative commandment has been passed about them by Allah so such qualities/acts/sayings of Allah are neither permissible nor prohibited to be followed ). In another verse Quran says:
“Follow/ittabi-u’ what has been revealed to you from your Lord and do not follow guardians besides Him, how little do you mind” (al-a,araf-3).
In this verse Allah commands people to follow what has been revealed to them. The previous verse tells people to follow our Nabi (ﷺ). As both verses are independent clauses- no one is subordinate to the other one- no one of them can override the other one. We can only adopt combined meanings of the two. The combined meaning is that people should follow the wahi; but in order to know how the wahi is to be followed, people should follow our Nabi (ﷺ). Because this is our Nabi (ﷺ) who () received ‘wahi’ and because our Nabi (ﷺ) was also to follow ‘wahi’, the best way for the people to know how to follow ‘wahi’ correctly was and is to follow our Nabi (ﷺ). Quran says:
“Follow/ ‘ittabi’, [ Muhammad ], what has been revealed to you from your Lord - there is no deity except Him - and turn away from those who associate others with Allah” (al-an,am-106).
This verse commands our Nabi (ﷺ) to follow ‘wahi’ because there is no deity except Him and turn away from those who associate others with Allah. This verse implies that following Allah’s wahi is relating to faith/belief in oneness of ‘Ilah’; the stronger a person is in faith,  the more he would be able to follow wahi correctly. As our Nabi’s (ﷺ) faith is the strongest of all, he (ﷺ) is more likely than all people to follow wahi correctly. Moreover as our Nabi (ﷺ) followed wahi under Allah’s guidance which is called ‘wahi khafi’, all people have been commanded to follow our Nabi (ﷺ) in order to follow Allah’s wahi.
We may conclude that there is no such thing as Allah’s following. We can only obey Allah or follow Allah’s wahi. We are under no obligation to follow Allah; however we are under obligation to follow our Nabi (ﷺ) in all his acts/sayings/qualities- whether we have been commanded or not to follow such acts/sayings/qualities of our Nabi (ﷺ) except those which have been explicitly prohibited to be followed.


Sunday 18 September 2016

Reality of ‘ME’ and Social Development of Individual- an Islamic perspective



   
We have seen in article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/10/soul-conscious-and-its-training.html that everything has been created in pairs; human body and soul also have been created as a pair. Human soul is actually human conscious. Human body contains potentially all those qualities which its conscious contains. The more human body actualizes qualities contained by its conscious, the more it can act like its conscious. This world is meant for human conscious’ trial; our body acts according to dictations of our soul/conscious. It means when human body expires, human conscious moves into the next world. 
Human body is a reflection of human soul/conscious; our body is just like our conscious sees it. It means social development of human body is actually development of human conscious. It is a misconception to believe that requirements of  development of human soul/conscious are something different from requirements of social development of human body. Actually, human soul/conscious develops through social development of human body. Our soul/Conscious acts through our body, feels through our body, perceives through our body, thinks through our body, observes and experiences through our body, acquires knowledge and skills through our body, develops through our body and degenerates through our body. It means IF we want to develop our soul/conscious, we have to develop our body socially; and if we want to develop our body socially, we have to develop our conscious. In other words, development of human conscious/soul is in fact social development of human conscious/soul, which is carried out through social development of human body. It means human conscious/soul may be trained by training human body.
 
Our conscious and body are inextricably inseparable as long as we are alive. Our conscious/soul is AWARENESS of all human body’s factors like intellect, knowledge, information, ideas, skills, observations, experiences, feelings, perceptions, emotions, and, in short, AWARENESS of all that we have in our life. In other words, nature/reality of ‘ME’/Conscious is the AWARENESS of all that I have in my life. In addition to AWARENESS, my Conscious/ ‘ME’ has another quality; it has ‘WILL’ to adopt the good or the bad knowingly that they are good or bad.  All other factors like intellect, knowledge, information, ideas, skills, observations, experiences, feelings, and perceptions impact our Emotions which further impact our soul/conscious/ ‘ME’, but decision making is the job of Conscious/Soul/ ‘ME’; Conscious/ME may reject the impact of Emotions and decide to adopt the good or the bad.  Therefore, in order to train/develop human conscious, we have to manage all body’s factors like intellect, knowledge, information, ideas, skills/capabilities, feelings, perceptions, experiences, observations, and emotions.

In other words, in order to train/develop an individual and make him/her socially a useful individual of an Islamic state, we have to develop him/her into a personality whose intellect, knowledge, ideas, skills/capabilities are developed on the basis of Islamic principles, and whose feelings, perceptions, information, observations, experiences, emotions and, in short, all internal and external stimuli likely to impact  Conscious/ ‘ME’ are required to be managed so that Conscious/ ‘ME’ may be enabled to adopt the good on the basis of Islam. For the purpose of social development of an individual, the stimuli likely to impact human personality may be divided into internal stimuli and external stimuli. Emotions are internal stimuli; all the other body’s factors like intellect, knowledge, information, ideas, feelings, perceptions, observations and experiences may be called external stimuli because all these factors are induced by external environment. Therefore, in order to train/ develop an individual socially internal and external tools may be employed.
Regarding internal stimuli i.e. emotions, we have seen in article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/06/racial-traits-and-spiritual-elevation.html that  human emotions/traits are neither good nor bad in their essence; it is the human choice of the situations, and kind and magnitude of these traits to manifest in those situations, which makes a human deed good or bad. One tool to tame human emotions is Love for Allah. For details plz see article  https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/02/love-basis-of-human-deeds.html.
Regarding external stimuli like intellect, knowledge and ideas, we have seen in the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/07/individuals-social-development.html that, in order to be a beneficial member of a society, individual has to be law abiding and intellectually believing in social/moral values adopted by the society. As major sources of social/moral values to be believed in and practiced by a beneficial Muslim member of Islamic society are Quran and Sunnah, a Muslim may become a beneficial member of Islamic society by practicing and believing intellectually in social/moral values as enshrined in Quran and Sunnah. For this purpose,  Quranic studies must be given prime importance in all educational institutions where students may study other subjects of their choice but Quranic studies must be compulsory at all levels of education. Quranic studies teachers must be highly qualified not only in Quran studies but also in other subjects of their choice. They should be able to resolve all paradoxes a student may confront with while studying Quran. As the process of individual’s social development starts entering its logical phase since adulthood period, it would be more appropriate that Quranic studies are started to be imparted since adulthood age.  In this way a student after completing fourteen or sixteen years education, would be enough imbued with Islamic social and moral values because he would be able to believe intellectually in such social and moral values and resultantly much more enabled to practice such values to become a beneficial member of an Islamic society. At the higher levels of studies, Quranic thinking must be focused. For the purpose such an educational and training environment is required wherein every student may be persuaded and led to initiate her/his own process of thinking.
Regarding other external stimuli like observations, experiences, feelings, perceptions and information, it may be appreciated these stimuli are pertinent to social, political and economic institutions; customs, traditions, ethics, morals, and laws prevailing in the society. In order to manage these external stimuli, we have to modify and build social, political, economic institutions as well as customs, traditions, ethics, morals, and laws in such a manner which may help an individual’s personality develop in a way suited to Islamic injunctions, values and morals.
We may conclude that development of human soul/conscious/ 'ME' is actually social development of human conscious/soul which is carried out through social development of human body. For purpose of social development of an individual in an Islamic society, we need to develop an environment in which individual may be able to tame his/her emotions through sheer Love for Allah; solve all paradoxes in Islam through system of education and training, and refurbish his/her intellect, knowledge and ideas on the basis of Islam; and- through conducive social, political and economic institutions, values, ethics, customs, traditions and morals- make her/his observations, experiences, feelings, perceptions and information conducive to adopt what is  good on the basis of Islam.