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| Man's Place in the
Universe What is the appropriate conduct for man in this life and what is his place in the universe. These questions have always been of fundamental importance. Both are interconnected so that one cannot properly be answered without the other. Realization of what status he has in this life influences man’s attitude. Just as an uninvited guest would not behave as the chief guest at a banquet, the attitude of one who regards himself as a cog of the machine will entirely be different from the user or controller of the machine. The former, bound to the machine, would move with its rotation and working while the latter will control the working of the machine to meet his own ends. Similarly if a man considers himself an animal, albeit a developed animal, he cannot rise to the ranks of human because despite the highest development, an animal will remain an animal. A monkey can learn a lot but cannot become Socrates or Aristotle, One who is mindful of his status of a crowning creation of the universe, a master-piece of the All-wise and All-powerful who breathed His soul in him and honored him with His divine spark, will certainly have a very different attitude. This attitude is mainly regulated by man's status and responsibilities in relation to his position in the universe. The questions have been answered by thinkers, philosophers and intellectuals of all times. They maintained different theories and ideas. Religions also provided requisite guidance. Here, the view of prominent philosophers who represent renowned schools of thought which left deep rooted effect on the contemporary thought will be examined along with views of the thinkers of pre-Islamic religions. Thereafter, we shall refer to the guidance provided by the Holy Qur’an on this subject. PHILOSOPHER'S LOGIC Pre-Socrates Era History of philosophy of pre-Socrates
period is obscure and discusses the sky, the earth, rainbow or similar
natural phenomena. Problems of real philosophy were not discussed in those
times. SOCRATE'S VIEW Socrates raised this question to draw
attention of the philosophers of his time to man's own ego. In man is
hidden the treasure of life and it needs to be discovered, first;
knowledge of fire and water was secondary. He tried to lead his fellowmen
to the right path. For Socrates, man was of essence; all other things were
of secondary value. PLATO'S VERSION ARISTOLE'S VIEWS STOICS’ VIEWS ERA OF HIATTUS VIEWS OF MODERN PHILOSOPHERS BACON (1561-1626). Bacon's attitude towards religion was one
of compromise. Thomas Hobbies (1588-1679), however, did away with this
dualism and went over completely to the scientific position. Everything in
the universe, including man, is, for Hobbes material and is in constant
motion. Thus, man's task is to understand the laws of motion and thereby
to understand the universe. Having gained this understanding, man could
adjust the laws in accordance with his will. DESCARTES VIEWS SPINOZA'S VIEWS According to Spinoza, the will of God and laws of nature are, in fact, one entity. In his opinion, the mind of God is the sum total of all thought scattered all over in time and space. He considers reasons and will to be one and the same thing. Free will has no existence, the mind is bereft of an absolute will. When the mind wills some thing, it is determined by some cause which is the result of other causes. Spinoza considers human actions to be bound by laws that are absolute like mathematical laws. According to Spinoza, our individual self is delusion. We are part of the stream of laws and sequence of causes. We are part of God. We are transient forms of a being which is the greatest of us all. We are mortal and finite, while He is immortal and infinite. Our bodies are modes of making, our race is an incident of the mode of life. One may call this the philosophy of positivism or of compulsion. In a way, it is the philosophy of pantheism because man is held to be a part of God. Spinoza's views have been described in
greater detail as these had great effect on the subsequent period and
paved the way for man’s compulsive posture. Spinoza was thus a real
Naturalist. BERKELEY, LOCKE AND HUME Locke holds that that besides human mind and body, there is God who made the universe. For Locke, man’s reason is the touchstone of everything in the universe. He subscribes to the view that would exists, so God also exists. But George Berkeley eliminated the material world. For him, there is no universe outside the mind. Existence is that which is perceptible and nothing exists if there is no mind to perceive it. Thus, whatever there is, it is within the mind of man and nothing is outside it. David Hume developed this view to its logical conclusion. He made man, and man alone, the centre and the sum total of the universe. All that we know is actually our imagination. There is no material or spiritual substance outside that would generate our ideas. All that can be said about this universe is that the universe is our ideas in succession. From where these ideas come to our mind, Hume has no answer. According to him these ideas arise from unknown causes. He contends further that even if we believe in a cause of our ideas, or believe in the existence of God, we cannot prove it by any rational method known to us. This school of thought needed special
mention to show how these people undermine the status of man. They do not
hold him in high esteem. Everything, according to them, is like a day
dream. As there is nothing outside, whatever they see is hardly worthy of
any credence. ROUSSEAU KANT'S VIEWS Kant says, man has a feeling of
immortality, implying that the worldly life is a part of another life. We
know that truthfulness or good conduct may be harmful and falsehood may be
beneficial but still we tell the truth. The world teaches us that it was
beneficial to be shrewd like a snake, but we still tread the path of
virtue. Eversince the world came into being, such has been the universal
attitude. In fact, there is a realisation that this life is a part of
another life and will give birth to another life where goodness shall
prevail. Every good will have hundred folds reward. Kant believes that had
this perception been missing man would not have chosen the path of
goodness; he would have chosen the part of immediate gain. SCHOPENHAUER'S VIEWS After Kant, there are two German philosophers propounded skepticism in philosophy. One of them is Arthur Schopenhauer (1778-1860), who considers man to be a super natural animal but slave of his passions. The Reason's role is to accomplish his desires. At times, it seems as if reason is not subordinate to desires, rather it is the guide. But this guidance is reminiscent of a guide who takes the tourists only to those places they intended to visit. For him, the "will" is the strong blind man who carries on his shoulders the lame man who can see. According to him, will is the only permanent and unchangeable element in the mind. A desire fulfilled leads to another desire
and this process continues. Man cannot free himself of desires. Freedom is
possible only if desires are subordinate to knowledge and reason but such
a possibility does not exist. Life is evil and full of a continuous
struggle and every human being is entangled in a continuous compulsive
chain. NIETZSCHE'S VIEWS COMET'S VIEWS MILL'S VIEWS SPENCER'S VIEWS JAMES' VIEWS DEWEY'S VIEWS RUSSELL'S VIEWS CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF PHILOSOPHERS' VIEWS The first group of philosophers is of those who equated man with animals, worms, beasts, etc. In their opinion, man will meet the same fate as these animals. Man has no precedence over them. The difference in certain attributes is not of much importance as similar differences are also present among the animals themselves. The second group is of those philosophers who hold man a part of universal machine; the importance is that of the machine and not of the part. The wheel of the universal machine is rotating and man, like everything else in the universe, is playing his role. He is tied to it and his end is tagged to it. Great philosophers including Spinoza are included this group. The third group is of those for whom man is the subject and fundamental purpose of the creation of the universe. He is the crown creation and the whole universe has been designed to his purpose. This group includes all great philosophers like, Socrates, Sophists, Plato, Aristotle and Kant etc. Our present day philosopher, under the influence of science, thinks that he will shortly conquer the universe with the help of science and will also become its lord and master. He does not attach any importance to God and is dreaming to become its master himself. Obviously his position is different but, actually, he belongs to the third one. The philosophers in the first group did not realise the importance either of the universe or man, as if they found the precious ‘Kohi-Nur’ pearl from the garbage and they mistook it to be a commonplace stone. Otherwise, it is a that if a person ponders over the greatness, sublimity, grandeur, modes and wonders of this universe, he is dumfounded by the great and ingenious universe. If someone has the audacity to call the Red Fort a stable, he would hardly be a same person? Only a fool would consider such a great universe, which is manifest of the highest wisdom, to be useless. It is impossible to believe the destiny of man to be that of animals in the face of his capabilities, intelligence, sagacity and potential. While sitting in his room, man is capable of measuring the distance of the sun from the earth and the time its rays reach the earth. It would be foolish to hold about such an intelligent being that he would die as an ass and come to his end just like an animal. Such a concept would negate the purposefulness of the universe as well as of mankind and would reduce this universe to as absurdity. If man perishes like other animals, the universe is deprived of its purpose and responsibility and accountability is lifted and the universe becomes a playboy's game who discards the game as soon as he has enjoyed it to the fill. Can it be said about the great universe full of wisdom that it is a playboy’s game without a purpose? Man – a thinking being – perceives the grandeur and magnificence of this universe and exclaims O Lord Ye created it not aimlessly. For the second group, man is part of a great machine. All importance is of the machine and the part is insignificant. This view is also incorrect. Everything of the universe, the sun, the moon, the clouds the air, summer and winter, day and night, is engaged in the service of mankind in one way or the other. But it cannot be said about man. The function of a part is to help other parts of the machines, but man seem to have no such function to perform. Sheikh Saadi's saying appears to be apt: The clouds and the air, the sun, the moon The sun, the moon the clouds, the air, are all ceaselessly serving man and this should impel him to be grateful to his Lord. Thus, the philosophers who regard man as a cog of the machine suffered from a great delusion in observation. The third group regards man to be the focus and central object of the universe. This view appears to be reasonable and is shared by all great philosophers. Present day atheists also hardly deny this view. Man's urge for mastery over the universe is reasonable only if he enjoys a special status in the universe coupled with a strong realization of his position. TEACHING OF PRECEDING RELIGIONS Two schools are prominent: the Jewish and the Christian. In the Hebrew school, man enjoys a very exalted position. A study of psalms of David and the proverbs indicates that the place of man is so high that he is a little lower than God. God crowned him with greatness and dignity and entrusted him with His State. He made the earth and everything else under his feet. A study of these things in the Psalms of David and the Proverbs lift man to ecstasy. It supports the version of the third group that regards man the sole object of the universe. The Christians decimated this grandeur and sublimity of man. Their dialectics speak of man's grandeurs only because they cannot defy the earlier scriptures. According to their own dialectics, man is eternally condemned for the sin of the first man, Adam (sws) who disobeyed his Lord. His sin has entangled the whole mankind in such a manner that there is no escape possible. God, however, sent down His son, Jesus Christ, who, by crucifixion, became the Redeemer. According to them, man is a combination of soul and matter, the latter being dominating in that the soul cannot get out of its tangle. None can seek emancipation except with His benevolence. St. Augustine is a representative of the dialecticians. According to him, God is the cause of everything, the universe and man. Man is His crowning creation, a union of body and life. The life of man in the world is a journey towards God because real life begins after death. According to Saint Augustine, the first man, Adam (sws), determined the conduct of life for mankind with his own conduct. He committed the sin but its consequences have to be suffered by the whole human race. He corrupted the entire human race with the result that all men are condemned to sin for all times. Adam's sin is therefore hereditary. Only God can purge man of sin. He, however, has chosen certain men for salvation and certain others for eternal punishment. Through this dialectic the Christianias, in an attempt to reserve emancipation for themselves, invented Monasticism and prescribed self-attrition and rituals to an extent which surprise us to this day. MAN'S PLACE ACCORDING TO THE HOLY QURAN Man's Antecedents This is true knowledge about man as described by the Holy Quran with regard to Adam's creation. On the contrary, the knowledge of man, as spread by the West, is hypothetical and is based on the study of skulls and broken earth utensils from the ruins and layers of the earth. Social experts build up their philosophy on assumptions. At times the conclusions drawn by them are not commensurate with the observations. This bespeaks the hollowness of their research. They proudly postulate about the origin of religion, development of civilisation and evolution of the social and economic system. One can doubt about the knowledge given by the Holy Quran by saying that we cannot say with certainty whether this incident of Adam's creation (sws) and the dialogue between God and the angles occurred or not. All this may be a concocted story. To understand the correct position, it is essential to realise the difference in the methodology for philosophy and for religion. There are two methods, to discover realities, the philosophical and the religious. In philosophy, every step is guided by reason and is rationally proved. Among many postulates if only one falls short of proof, the whole philosophical chain is broken. In the religious approach, God leads us to realities. He being the Creator of the universe, knows the past, present, and future. He tells us those things for which we cannot adduce rational arguments but our mind is satisfied and even testifies to their correctness. Most of the things do stand the test of reason but there are others which belong to the Unseen, and God Almighty reveals them to us. Although these may not be repugnant to reason, these cannot be intellectually proved. For example, Allah mentions reward and punishment, Heaven and Hell. Regarding Hell, He says that cactus trees will grow in it and these will make food for the wicked. This is difficult to prove by reasoning but there is nothing against reason in this statement. It is possible that Allah's Fire has such characteristics as do not destroy the trees or the trees may have characteristics of immunity from the Fire. Religion teaches certain things which cannot be proved by absolute reasoning but these are not against reason and we are satisfied that these cannot be understood in this world. For example, man is obliged to believe in the existence of God. But what is His personality what is His shape, what He is made of, what is the nature of His attributes, how He knows the secrets of the universe all at a time? These things cannot be proved in this world. God can be known but it is impossible to understand His nature and attributes. Nevertheless, in principle, there is no reason to deny His existence. The same is true of the incident of the creation of Adam (sws) God Almighty has described the facts that were beyond the reach of human understanding but were essential for his knowledge. Intellectually, we cannot deny them as we have no other means of knowing these details. And there are manifest signs of the incident occurring in the manner described by the Holy Quran. Think of man's capabilities, his wisdom, his ambitions, his food, his place and status in the universe. In the face of this, can one deny that he is God's deputy? All these are the signs of his resolution and courage. He wants to understand, master and discipline everything. In fact, this is the obvious result of his having the perception of will and the freedom of action. If the Holy Quran tells us that man is His deputy, it is hardly questionable. Now, we consider the characteristics of man's position as a being the last and protected sources from all aspects deputy of Allah and how he has been attuned to be worthy of this position. FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND ACTION Why did God Almighty need a deputy? He is never absent, never sleeps, never undertakes a journey, is immortal, is living and everlasting, is Omnipresent and all watchful. What then is the necessity of a deputy? No part of His kingdom is out of His reach
that He needs a deputy to run it. The obvious answer to the questions is
that He wants to see how man behaves when he is armed with discretion in a
specified field. Whether he acts whimsically or realises his position as a
deputy of Allah and acts in obedience to His orders or he rebels against
his Lord. So it is inevitable for man that man should have freedom of
choice and action. A helpless man with constraints cannot be made a deputy
to shoulder the responsibilities of the position. The Holy Quran has
described these characteristics and termed it as the "burden of trust"
in the verse: Its means that the heavens, the earth and the mountains were afraid of the responsibility so they declined to accept the burden of trust. In the whole universe, it was man alone who could bear this burden and therefore entrusted with it. This discretion is not absolute but only a limited one. Deputy's rights are subject to the will of the Lord and relate only to the spheres of his responsibility towards Him. No discretion has been given to man in the field for which he is not responsible to his Lord. None will be questioned about his birth in a particular tribe, or about his height and stature. These and other similar aspects are outside the jurisdiction of man. Nor was it necessary to give him choice in such matters. Man will, however, be questioned as to why he did not do good, why he did evil deeds, why he told lies and did not speak the truth? Therefore, man has been given discretion to do good or evil or to tell a lie or speak the truth. In the matter of discretion, it must be remember that man is not completely free to use it. It is possible that God may, in His Wisdom, prevent him to do a certain good act and leave him free to do a particular evil act. If God does not let a certain good act done, He will not deprive one of its reward. Similarly, if one is the determined to do an evil act and is on the look out for an opportunity to accomplish it, one will not escape punishment. It means absolute power lies with God; man's discretion is subject to God's will. Mere compulsion is against his position of being a deputy. MAN'S NOBILITY A second characteristic of the position is
man's exalted status over the rest of the Creation. The Holy Quran says: This dignity and excellence is concomitant to the position of the caliph of Allah. Obviously, man is not among the horses, asses or other animals. He is also not a developed monkey. He has an evident superiority over all things and animals. God has granted him nobility and he has its clear awareness and often displays it. One can question the above mentioned argument by saying that some men worship animals. The answer is that it is owing to the infirmity of human reason, which does not negate man's nobility. This is foolish of them. And shows that these stupid men did not make correct use of the capabilities blessed by God. It is absurd to say that man is one of the many animals. He is no doubt a being but the one who can speak and is rational. The faculty of reason also is sufficient to raise his status in the universe. SOLICITUDE FOR GUIDANCE A third characteristic of caliphate is a three-fold arrangement for guidance through reason, nature and Divine to know the wish of his Lord, and to understand what His likes and dislikes are? God has therefore made arrangements for his deputy's guidance in the from of intuitional knowledge, intellectual knowledge and religious knowledge. The original, real and universal source of knowledge is intuition. Though all knowledge is within man himself, he forgets most of it. He can recollect it through experience, observation, meditation, incidents and calamities. Socrates incites this intuitive knowledge through dialogues. As the whole treasure of knowledge is contained in man, he can revise it through intensive thinking. Science and man's thinking are the manifestation of knowledge in man's nature. If the arithmetical laws are not within man, then from which source these have been derived? These are either from the Creator of the universe or He has inscribed these in man's nature. Besides intuition, God has blessed man with reason for his guidance in all spheres of life. It leads him from parts to the whole, measures up the length and breadth of the skies and the earth, innovates scientific discovery and philosophy. In case of doubt it tests it on its own criteria and distinguishes between right and wrong of intuitional knowledge. Although the reach of reason is very high, its pitfalls are many. Its limits are determined. It is influenced by many factors and is prone to make incorrect decisions. Therefore, it was necessary that God make some other arrangement for the guidance of this deputy. The third arrangement for the guidance of man is the Divine revelation. God Himself informs man of the realities and makes him aware of His laws and orders through His prophets to enable him to follow them faithfully. This source of knowledge is free from the defects and drawbacks of the two sources mentioned earlier. There is complete coherence in intuition, reason and revelation, but if there is any seeming disagreement between these sources, the revelation, being the last and protected source from all aspects, will be decisive. The Holy Quran makes us use all the three sources of knowledge and postulates the principles of distinction between right and wrong, correct and incorrect, good and evil. God Almighty has made these three arrangements for the knowledge and guidance of man. Equipped with this knowledge and guidance, he acts according to His wishes. God Almighty says that those who will follow His guidance will have neither apprehension nor repentance. They will enjoy protection from the Devil's persecution and also immunity from the Devil's whispers and mischiefs. MASTERY OVER THE UNIVERSE A fourth characteristic of the deputy mentioned by the Holy Quran is that the universe has been placed in the service of man. The whole universe is busy in mankind service, welfare and servitude. The sun, the moon, the clouds and the air, animals, organic and inorganic matter have all been created for man's welfare and benefits. As deputy, man has a right of use according to his own discretion, and these things should be suitable so as to be of benefit to him. As he is God's deputy for the entire universe, he must search out its every nook and corner, conquer its heights and explore its depths, reach the bottom of the seas, go up the mountains, find out the mysteries of physics, chemistry and usefulness of everything as is appropriate to his position. If some men, live in seclusion, it is because they are ignorant of the status of a deputy. Otherwise the ambition and urge for control are the imperatives of this position of a deputy. The views of some philosophers that this universe is under man's control, is incorrect. It is not in man's hands but is made for him. God has put it into his service. Man's control is very limited. REQUISITES FOR THE POSITION OF A DEPUTY Accountability Care for Social Welfare The political system of caliphate has
certain fundamental conditions. It entails the supreme sovereignty of
Allah alone. Caliphate is not a private affair but it is a power delegated
by the Almighty. Caliphate means the representation of a superior
authority. Therefore, man is free to use his rights and discretion within
the four corners of the delegated authority. He is not supposed to
transgress the limits of authority, and if he does so, he is but a rebel
and a malefactor. The rights and discretion can be used within the limits
and in accordance with the principles and rules laid down by the Almighty.
The mandate given has to be respected and honoured. Man’s Equality Title to Caliphate
*Translated by Saeed Ahmad Reprinted with permission from: Rennaisance: A Monthly Islamic Journal
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