Two Sources of Knowledge

This prophetic example embodies an important principle: avoid unnecessary controversy. At that time, the Jews were a dominant community in Madinah (then known as Yathrib). For centuries they had been using the Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem) as their qiblah for prayer. It was sacred not only for the Jewish community but also, because of the Jewish influence, for the non-Jewish community.

In such a situation, adopting the Kaaba as the qiblah was rather exceptional. In the early months, the Prophet had wanted to avoid unnecessary controversy, so he adopted the Jewish qiblah for his prayers five times a day. From this prophetic event we can derive a general principle, not only with regard to prayers, but in other spheres of life also.

A man with a mission always perseveres and avoids hindrances.

This principle is very important; it saves you from unnecessary conflict. It gives you the opportunity to continue your mission in society without a break. It saves you from wasting your energy and time in futile quarrels. It shows great practical wisdom. And without practical wisdom, you cannot achieve any worthy goal in this world.

A man with a mission cannot afford to engage in unnecessary conflict. As a man of dedication, he is determined about achieving his target. He always starts his activities in properly selected fields and never behaves like a grasshopper, jumping from one thing to another. A man with a mission always perseveres and avoids hindrances.

The above example set by the Prophet is an extreme example of this kind. People are not generally ready to be flexible about matters such as prayer, but the Prophet adopted this formula when dealing with this very sensitive issue of prayer.

This formula is applicable to all the affairs of human life—wife and husband relationship, family affairs, social matters, national and international issues—everywhere there are scenarios of such kind and everywhere this formula is applicable. This formula is a universal formula; in this sense you can say that it is a divine formula. It is applicable to both religious and secular affairs.

Understand Things in Correct Perspective

A statement, whether religious or secular, has different aspects to it. You can see it from different angles. No statement about the human condition is ever as simple as ‘two plus two equals to four’. So, every statement can be interpreted in different ways. Although each statement has only one real meaning, everyone has the freedom to put a right or a wrong interpretation upon it.

Whether the statement will be taken in its true sense or otherwise is determined not by the wording of the statement itself but by the mind of the listener. If the listener is objective, he knows, taking the statement point by point, how to sort out what is valid and what is invalid. He has the ability to assess and analyze things. Moreover, if he is an honest person, he will take the statement in the right way, without allowing misunderstandings to arise.

The sign of a man of reason is that he has the ability to take the statement in its right perspective. He is free of biased thinking and can take things as they are without going astray.

Anyone who has any claim to being a man of logic and reason must develop this kind of understanding. He must train his mind in such a way that he can understand things in their correct perspective. This is a very great asset for both men and women.

If you want to be a right thinker, you have to train yourself and develop this quality. The first condition of right thinking is that you should be objective and be free of all kinds of bias and prejudices. You must have the ability to analyze things on a logical basis. You must know the difference between what is relevant and what is irrelevant.

The sign of a man of reason is that he has the ability to take the statement in its right perspective. He is free of biased thinking and can take things as they are without going astray.

Moreover, if you are to take things from the correct angle, you must be an intellectually honest person and also possess the quality of modesty. When one fails to understand things in a proper manner, it is not simply a failure of understanding, it is more than that, it is a missed opportunity.

If you take things in the right way, you develop your intellect and your personality. Do not miss the opportunity to do so.

Make yourself a complex-free person and then you will be able to understand things without any difficulty. Make yourself free from arrogance, bias and hatred, and then, according to the above definition, you will become a person who can be described as a man of understanding. It is evident that people of understanding are not born: they are trained. Train yourself and you will become a man of understanding.

In this sense, the Quran and nature are like each other’s counterparts. What is revealed in the Quran is hidden in nature, and what is in nature is revealed in the Quran in a language understandable to man.

The Quran can be understood by acquiring a good command of the Arabic language or by having recourse to its correct translation. By applying the scientific method, what is hidden in nature can be understood by unfolding it.

In other words, there are two sources of knowledge—religious knowledge and secular knowledge. Religious knowledge is based on divine revelation and secular knowledge is based on scientific discovery. One, who wants to be a right thinker, must acquire these two kinds of knowledge. All other knowledge besides these two kinds is speculative and not authentic.

The above-mentioned two kinds of knowledge are not totally different. They are, in fact, complementary to each other. Revealed knowledge justifies scientific knowledge and scientific knowledge confirms revealed knowledge. And both are necessary for intellectual development.

We should peruse this book with complete sincerity, so that we may learn of the basic principles of creation, the real direction of human activities and the right goal for mankind.

It can be said that revealed knowledge is a body of basic facts, while scientific knowledge goes into greater detail about them. It is impossible to find any point on which they contradict each other, provided revealed knowledge is preserved in its original form and scientific knowledge is established by following the method of strictly scientific inquiry.

Then we have to use scientific knowledge as a supportive factor. In fact, science is a Dictionary of Creation and this dictionary is very helpful in understanding the Book sent by the Creator, God Almighty. So, both are equally important for having the right knowledge.

If you study matters objectively and also in the questing spirit, you will find that there is no difference between the two sources of knowledge. Both are equally effectual in the discovery of the truth.