Islamic art. of Faith (2)

[AltWay]

Views of Islam - Articles of Faith
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Part 2.

Islam is based on Seven Articles of Faith. These are normally given as :-
(1) The belief in Allah, (2) Angels, (3) Scriptures, (4) Prophets, (5)
Resurrection, (6) Judgement, and (7) the seventh is formulated in various
ways :- The Law of Causation or Predestination, the Power of doing good or
evil, Human Responsibility or Vicegerency. A choice is made in order to
avoid the difficult task of reconciling the Omnipotence of Allah with Human
Freedom of Choice. But both are taught by the Quran. Indeed the Quran does
tell us that there is a pair of opposites in all things and we ought to flee
unto the unity of Allah (51:49-50).

1. Allah is the Fundamental Absolute Reality. He is One, Indivisible,
Unique, Self-Existing, the First and the Last, the Origin of all things
including facts, meaning and values. All order, events and things arise from
the Will or Command of Allah. He is the Lord of the Universe, the Almighty,
the source of all Forces, Materials, Laws, Order, Qualities, Causes,
Purposes, Effects, Actualities and Potentialities. The attributes include
Goodness, Truth, Power and Beauty, and hence Consciousness, Intelligence,
Wisdom, Justice, Mercy, Compassion, Ability. He is Omniscient, Omnipotent
and Omni-present, Eternal, Infinite and Absolute. He is the Living and the
Aware. He is Universal consciousness.

The pronoun "He" is only used symbolically. It does not imply that Allah is
human, but does imply that all the qualities which exist in man are
potentialities in Him. It is also implied that, fundamentally, reality
contains life and consciousness as well as matter. There is a Universal
Consciousness. If there were not then we could not have acquired
consciousness either. But the words life and consciousness should not be
understood in a narrow sense. Human life and consciousness are restricted
or special cases of it.

The main attributes of Allah in relation to man are Unity or Harmony which
manifest as (a) Power and Justice (b) Compassion and Mercy (c) Truth and
Wisdom. (d) Beauty and Harmony. Though these are inter-dependent, different
religions or sects may emphasise one of these attributes. In general those
which emphasise Justice tend to be based on Law and on the associated
security, hope and fear of consequences. Those based on love such as
Christianity give the individual significance, comfort and confidence. It
tends to transform fear of consequences into a fear of offending. But,
though this may be regarded as an advance because it replaces compulsion
with incentives, it tends to create a reliance on forgiveness for weaknesses
and malpractices, diminishes effort and often reduces to mere
sentimentality. It could be argued that a religion based on Truth is a
higher form of religion since it avoids these pitfalls. It transforms love
into a cosmic principle of beneficence and tolerance, into identification
where the separation between the lover and the object of love are removed.
This again changes the whole attitude to life. In fact, however, all three
are required. It is an integral part of the notion of truth that there are
regularities and Laws which have consequences, and that a certain amount of
flexibility is built into the universe, and that all things have a function
with respect to a whole and interact with one another.


2. The Angels - The powers or forces through which Allah works. This does
not refer to materials or energy but to that which produces order. Angels
possess intelligence, but do not act independently.

"By the angels hastening and those which govern affairs (or events)" 79:4-5

In Science, the causes of all changes or events are called "Forces" and the
laws of nature apply to these. This, however, is an assumption connected
with the way the mind works. (Note: We can ask:- how do you know that forces
exist? The answer is: We measure them by change of motion. This is obviously
a circular illogical argument). We are not normally conscious of that which
is uniform and unchanging. That is why we are not aware of Allah. Let us
call the state of harmony X. A change produces a contrast or opposition
between a state A and a state which can be regarded as having been kept
together by a factor B. This constitutes a problem and provides a stimulus
which arouses our awareness and propels us into an action (the
fight/flight/defence mechanism is activated). The purpose of the action is
to reconcile this opposition and restore the harmony, to solve the problem.
Thus our action constitutes a third factor B which reunites A and C. Life
(or more generally energy) may, therefore, be regarded as a problem solving
device created at the same time as the arising of the pair of opposites, the
problem, which constitutes the Universe. Thus though there is something to
which it refers, the notion of "force" is only one human idea of it. In the
Quran, events are regarded as the actions of the angels. Both versions are
invisible to the senses and can only be apprehended by the mind, but the
difference lies in this that Science regards them as being purely mechanical
while religion takes them as having some flexibility and also having a
psychological or spiritual aspects. If this were not so we could not
possibly experience or apprehend them mentally either. But angels only carry
out the Will of Allah. It is the Will or Command of Allah which is the real
force and the Law. Will may be regarded as a synthesis of the ideas of full
determinism and chance, a dichotomy created by science.

There are Archangels made of Spirit which carried information or order, the
Word of Allah. Gabriel is said to be one of these. Spirit refers to whatever
force it is which is primary and fundamental, perhaps something associated
with the underlying Quantum or sub-quantum field. Angels are said to be
beings made of Light. This may, perhaps, refer to organisations in the
electromagnetic field. If the Universe is regarded as a huge brain then the
angels may be regarded as being entities in the mind associated with this
brain. They can, therefore, also be contacted on occasions by the human
mind. Perhaps they are not translatable into present scientific concepts.
Light has symbolic meanings in that we see and gain knowledge by it. It
illuminates and enlightens. Many people have reported experiences, often
called visions. They cannot be dismissed as hallucinations since these
produce maladjustment and are the result of disease, while those who have
genuine visions usually turn out to be much better adjusted. They are
abnormal only in the sense that there are only a few of them and a man with
sight is maladjusted among the blind.

These experiences may be subjective, objective or a combination of both. The
ability to see something depends on three things :- not only on something
existing, but also on the ability to see it, and on the way the experience
is interpreted. There is also no reason to think that psychological
phenomena do not have a real basis, e.g an electromagnetic one, which will
have connections with similar phenomena in the world. These connections
could be of three kinds :- the perception of something existing in that
field, the capacity to produce direct or indirect affects in it, and the
capacity of entities in that field to induce experiences. It is possible for
an individual consciousness to become aware of entities in the collective or
universal consciousness. Certainly, all religions depend on such
experiences.

Basically, this Article of Faith implies that we do not regard the Universe
as something dead like a machine, but that we are capable of experiencing
and interpreting it as something organic and alive and as having a
psychological dimension. The order and complexity of the Universe, it should
be remembered, is far greater than that of the Human body and brain, it has
subtler levels of existence than we can normally experience and we are aware
of only a small fraction of it.

Islam also recognises Jinn, creatures made of fire or perhaps electronic
material. Altogether 7 levels of creatures are recognised corresponding to
the 7 heavens :- archangels, angels, jinn, man, animals, plants, minerals.
These are all agents through which Allah works.

3. The Scriptures - A Revelation, A religious dispensation, the Message,
the Teachings. Though it is taken as referring to religious books, strictly
speaking, it refers not to the material books, not the words in it, but to
its meaning, influence and the transforming force contained in it. A
scripture is the Words of Allah. These are the same as all other things
which are also the results of the Word of Allah. It refers to the Spirit
which informs a people or age. In fact it refers to the "Record in Heaven",
the potentialities, which have been actualised. It refers also to a frame
work of reference, the criterion, the guidance with respect to which we
should interpret our experiences and conduct our lives. A scripture is that
which has been transmitted from Allah to the Prophet through the Spirit.
The particular spirit involved is named Gabriel. It is also the healing
force in so far as man has gone astray.

4. The Prophets or Messengers - Those who are conscious of Reality and the
current life situation, translate and communicate this in a form understood
by the people among whom they arise. Prophets have appeared all over the
world and in all times. The Scripture has priority over the Prophet. The
Scripture does not derive from the Prophet, but the Prophethood from the
Scripture. The Prophets are made when the scripture is inspired into them by
the Spirit. They are human beings inspired to convey the Scriptures to
Mankind in order to guide them. They may be regarded as representatives or
manifestations of Allah on earth. In this sense to say that the "Prophet is
God on earth" is true provided this is not understood as meaning that God is
the Prophet.

5. Resurrection - This is connected with death and regeneration. All things
must die and come to an end, including the world. Death and Resurrection
refer to transformation and change which always implies the death of one
thing and the arising of another. It is connected with Creation and
Recreation, and the transfer of information between different levels. It
refers to the possibility of spiritual regeneration after spiritual death.
Human beings were made perfect but they degenerated. That is, the spirit
within them became dormant, consciousness, conscience and will became
imprisoned in habit, conditioned reflexes and automatisms owing to
addictions such as greed, lust and and egotism and man became less than
animals. But Messengers come from Allah to guide man and regenerate him.

"Surely, We have created man in the best of moulds. Then we reduced him to
the lowest of the low; save those who believe and act right; for theirs is a
reward unfailing." 95:4-6

"We have created for hell many of the Jinn and of Mankind; they have hearts
and they discern not therewith; they have eyes and they see not therewith;
they have ears and they hear not therewith; they are like cattle, nay, more
misguided, for they are heedless (or care not)." 7:179

"O ye who believe! Respond unto Allah and His Messenger when He calls you to
that which quickens you; and know that Allah comes in between a man and his
own heart; and that He it is unto Whom ye shall be gathered." 8:24

Death and resurrection is illustrated by the cycles of nature - sleep and
awakening; the cycle of the seasons - death of crops in winter or in
droughts and their revival in spring or after rain; the sinking of the sun
to bring night and its rising to bring day; psychological rhythms of low
points and high points; the fall and rise of civilisations and nations, and
of humanity as whole. The whole biosphere also undergoes death and
regeneration, and this may also apply to this planet, the Solar system,
galaxy and the Universe as a whole.

"The Day when We will roll up the heavens as a recorder rolls up the scroll.
As We produced it at its first creation, We shall repeat it - a promise
binding upon Us; verily, We shall do it." 21:104

"On the day when the earth shall be changed for another earth, and the
heavens too; and all shall come forth unto Allah, the One, the Almighty."
14:48

"O mankind! If ye are in doubt about the Resurrection, consider that We
created you from earth, then from a seed, then from a clot, then from a
little lump of flesh, shaped or shapeless, that We may explain to you. And
We make what We please to remain in the womb for an appointed time; then We
bring you forth as babes; then give you growth that ye reach your age of
full strength; and some of you are called to die early; and some of you are
kept back till the most decrepit age, so that he no longer knows aught of
the knowledge he had. And ye see the earth parched, and when We send down
water on it, it stirs and swells, and brings forth growth of every beautiful
pair. That is because Allah, He is the Truth. Lo! He quickens the dead, and
lo! He is Able to do all things. And because the Hour will come; there is no
doubt thereof; and because Allah will raise those who are in the graves."
22:5-7

Religions, similarly, degenerate and are regenerated. The Day of
Resurrection also refers to the coming of a new Messenger or Spiritual
Leader who regenerates mankind. It refers to the spiritually developing
individuals, even within this life time, who die at one level to be
resurrected at another. There are stages also in physical development, from
the condition before conception when they must be considered to have been in
a state of potentiality, development in the womb, childhood, adulthood, and
further stages beyond death until the final return. Birth is like leaving
one world for another. Adulthood is departure from the family world into the
greater social world. Death is seen similarly. The notion of Resurrection,
however, is connected with the soul rather than the body.

6. The Day of Judgement - The Universe has a purpose and all things in it
have a function with respect to it. There is a direction of development and
a final goal or destiny when all things will be judged according to how they
fulfilled the goal. The Day of Judgement is also called the Last Day or the
Last Hour.

The word Day refers to a period of time. Time is relative as the Quran
points out (32:4-5 and 70:4). What is experienced as a Day at one level may
be 1000 years or 50,000 years for us. It could have some other length.
Everything in the Universe has its function and its own term during which
certain possibilities exist.

Human beings by their actions modify themselves and their environment or
things and people in it. Every action has consequences both external, in the
environment, and internal, on the person's own psyche. Each of these can
affect the other. If a person makes some change in the external world then
the consequences of this may affect him. If he makes changes within himself
then this will change his behaviour and his actions will cause changes in
the environment. The environment and the things in it react accordingly and
affect the person. Having modified himself this modification alters his
behaviour which acts on the environment and the things in it. Thus, there is
an interaction between the person and his environment and by his own actions
a person changes himself both directly and indirectly via the environment.

Take a thief, for instance. Every act of theft makes it easier for him to
steal again. He becomes used to it. But he is affecting the people around
him who will react to him. If he is friendly, they will be friendly and this
will open out many opportunities for him - He creates his own luck. But his
thievery makes him more callous and this begins to manifest itself when a
certain threshold is reached. His success also makes him less careful. The
effect on others also changes. The effects of his thievery also accumulate -
evidence increases. He has a certain period in which he can still make
amends but this becomes more and more difficult. A time must inevitably come
when he is caught and punished by the society he lives in. But this is not
just a punishment for his action, but also a reaction to his inner state.
This inner state is also a state of disharmony and suffering. He is not at
peace and harmony in his thoughts and feelings with his fellows or with his
environment. He has isolated himself. The psyche itself works only by the
laws of Similarity - Everything must be treated in proportion to its
similarity or dissimilarity. Otherwise we have chaos which is unrecognisable
and uncontrollable. A person must, therefore, treat others as himself and
himself as he treats others for his own mental health. He can only avoid
this by inventing some kind of fantasy or barrier to prevent recognition of
similarity. This produces inner conflict which is felt as guilt and
suffering. But guilt is an unpleasant and the mind tries to suppress it.
This can be done by projecting the blame on others or persecuting those who
being righteous make one feel guilty, or by self-punishment such as
sub-conscious accident proneness, or by neurosis and psychosis, mannerisms
designed to arouse repulsion in others or attacks by them, tormenting
hallucinations where the person or entity persecuting them is their own
conscience, even loss of immunity so that various diseases arise.
Integration is lost and the mind disintegrates into many small compartments
protected from one another.

The state of each person is also transmitted to others, and the Society as a
whole will have an overall state by the combination and cancellation of
various features. This will affect each individual. The society is a
continuity with its own history, a greater organism in which individuals are
like cells. As the psyche of each generation is formed by the Society as a
whole then each generation is itself an incarnation of the previous one. The
influences radiating from a person into the society may again converge into
another individual. When a person is resurrected he is resurrected in the
same state as when he died. That is, no time has passed for him. He is
judged, punished and rewarded by his own state. Good and evil are defined as
that which benefits or harms a person's soul.

"Whosoever goes right, it is only for the good of his own soul that he goes
right; and whosoever errs, errs only to its hurt." 17:15

The external conditions of a people depends on their behaviour and
inter-actions and these in turn depend on their psychology. But more than
this, the way they see the world, the places they go to, the data they
seek, the way they interpret and organise it, the things they create, the
alterations they make in the environment, in short, the world they create
depends entirely on their inner psychological conditions, on their
assumptions, attitudes and motives. These cannot be altered without altering
man.
"Allah changes not the condition of a people until they first change that
which is in their hearts." 13:11

As a human being grows up from the fertilised egg to adulthood and then old
age and death, there are several periods in each of which certain features
must be actualised otherwise malfunctions will occur later owing to things
having become fixed. That which is not learnt in childhood where it can be
easily learnt, can only be learnt with great suffering over a long period
later. On the other hand other things which are forced too early may also
cause distorted development.

7. The Law of Causation - The Will of Allah is the ultimate cause of all
things. Since there was nothing outside Allah in the beginning there cannot
be any external causes to bring changes. The arising of the Universe is,
therefore, due to an inner cause in Allah, an intention or purpose. The
Universe has a purpose and direction of development. Everything is,
therefore, predetermined.Though Allah can do as He likes, He creates
regularities and Laws. This is the basis of Universal Justice. But He is
also Merciful and Forgiving. There is, therefore, a degree of flexibility.

"And when those who believe in our revelations come to thee, say: Peace be
on you! Allah hath prescribed for Himself Mercy; verily, he of you who does
evil in ignorance, and then repents and does right, verily, He is Forgiving
and Merciful." 6:54

"There is no strength but in Allah." 18:40

" Unto Allah fall prostrate (in submission) whosoever is in the heavens and
the earth, willingly or unwillingly, as do their shadows in the morning and
the evening hours." 13:15

"And say not of anything: I shall do that tomorrow, without adding : If
Allah wills." 18:24-25

If he did not create laws then anything can happen without order, nothing
would be predictable and nothing could be known. To say that the supreme and
fundamental truth about the Universe is the Law of Cause and Effect is to
say that Allah is the supreme and fundamental reality and vice versa. This
Law must be prior to the Universe or else there could be no Universe. It
connects all things together into a single unity. It cannot be reduced to
anything else. Allah is the constant underlying all changes. The Principle
of Conservation applies ultimately only to Him. This Principle must be
regarded as a necessity of thought, built-in in our Consciousness, and
derived from Allah. This is because without it the notion of "something
changing into something else" is impossible. Things would merely appear and
disappear causelessly. To overcome this science uses the notions of mass and
energy. But these have been found to be inter-convertible. Thus, the
Conservation Principle must apply to something more fundamental. It could be
that these are also inter-convertible with order (negentropy or
information). The notion of matter was popular in the past, but this is a
mythical substance to which mass (which is the same as inertia) is
attributed. In fact, mass is only a characteristic of some phenomena.

From the Scientific point of view there is a determined series or line where
a cause A produces an effect B, which is the cause for another effect C and
so on. But this is merely an observation and no reason has been given why A
should cause B etc. Though the same experiments when repeated show
variations, this is put down to experimental error rather than inherent
flexibility. The average result is taken to express the Law. The Islamic
idea of causation differs in three ways :- (a) It is the Will of Allah which
upholds and maintains all phenomena at every instant. But it is integral to
the idea of Will that it is flexible. Though Allah works through Laws, He
can do what He will.
(b) that something A acts on something B to produce a result D under
conditions C and D may also react on A or B. It would follow that D depends
on A,B and C. A1 acting on something else B2 or B3, even under the same
condition C1 would create another result D2 or D3. And A1 under different
conditions C2 or C3, even when acting on the same B1, would create different
results D3 or D4.
(c) That the cause lies above or under rather than prior to the effect. Thus
the causes of the events on earth lie in the solar system, the radiations of
the sun for instance and in cosmic rays or in the underlying quantum field.
They all derive ultimately from Allah who surrounds all things or underlies
all things.

Man is a Vicegerent because the Spirit of Allah is in him (32:9). Thus the
Will of Allah operates through him. Man is responsible for his own actions.
We have a synthesis here between Determinism and Freedom. Free action could
be regarded as the same as random or chance action in which case it simply
means that there is a degree of flexibility. Or else it refers to
self-determined purposive action with an inner or inherent cause. This
behaviour would then be determined by the nature of the person. The notion
of Will combines the notion of determinism and chance, this distinction
being the result of a dichotomy created by science. In so far as man has
forgotten his own soul (9:67, 59:19) and it has become dormant he operates
at a lower level by means of other forces also derived from Allah.
Ultimately, there is only one cause which differentiates into all other
causes. We could say that all things arise from the single creative act, the
Big Bang as Cosmologists call it. All power to do either good or evil comes
from Allah, but we are responsible for our own actions in that we can select
appropriate causes to gain the effects. We can, for instance, go to places,
select friends, and read books which will exert certain kinds of influences
rather than others. The forces, their causes and effects, by which we do
anything are not created by man and cannot be altered by him. We are,
however, not passive with respect to them. They produce effects within us
where we have the power to interpret, relate, organise, analyse, synthesise
and process them. We modify ourselves by our actions.

All things are subject to the Law of cause and effect. However, there are
many kinds of causal forces :- mechanical, gravitational, nuclear,
electronic, electromagnetic, chemical, biological, physiological,
psychological, social, and whatever is the most fundamental force in the
Universe, known as the Spirit or Word of Allah. Man can operate at any of
these levels. It is, therefore, possible to alter a process at one level by
means of forces from another level. Birds can fly precisely because they use
the forces of aerodynamics to overcome those of gravity. We can overcome
mechanical forces through psychological ones, instinctive actions and local
reflexes through deliberate voluntary and conscious efforts, and even inner
psychological mechanisms through the spirit. Human beings ought to recognise
this and cooperate with it willingly and consciously. The number of
limitations and restrictions increase the more we are trapped by habits and
the further we are from the Spirit within, and decrease as we move to more
fundamental levels of functioning. Only Allah has Free Will since there is
nothing outside Him which can restrict Him. Freedom for man ultimately means
behaviour governed by the spirit in conformity or surrender to Allah.

"When the earth, vast as it is, seemed too small for them, and their souls
were constricted for them until they perceived that there was no refuge for
them from Allah save towards Him. Then He turned again towards them that
they might also repent. Verily, Allah, He is the Relenting, the Merciful."
9:118
"Surely We have placed chains on their necks, and these reach up to their
chins, so they are stiff-necked. And We have made before them a barrier and
a barrier behind them, then We have covered them over so that they see not"
36:8-9 See also 40:71-72, 76:4

"Is he who was dead and we have quickened him, and made for him a light,
wherein walketh amongst men, like him whose likeness is one walking in utter
darkness whence he cannot emerge? Thus is their conduct made seemly to the
misbelievers." 6:123

"Allah coins a similitude:- (On the one hand) a slave owned by another,
having control over nothing, and (on the other hand) one on whom We have
bestowed a goodly favours from Us, and who spends therefrom freely secretly
and openly - shall they be held equal? Praise be to Allah, but most of them
understand not." 16:75

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H.S.Aziz

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