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The Promised Messiah (as) wrote over 80 books in Arabic, Urdu, and Persian. Excerpts of his collected works have been translated into English and organised by topic.
The Review of Religions is pleased to present these excerpts as part of a monthly feature. Here, the Promised Messiah (as) answers the allegation that revelation obstructs thinking and research.
This is the seventh part of a multipart series. Extracts from The Essence of Islam Vol. II, pp.89-98.
Some short-sighted people raise the objection that revelation suffers from the defect that it prevents and obstructs its recipient from arriving at complete understanding, which is indispensable for eternal life and everlasting happiness. They explain their objection by asserting that revelation obstructs thinking and cuts short research, inasmuch as those who follow revelation respond to every question by asserting that the matter is either permissible or forbidden in their revealed book, and they do not use their reasoning powers as if they had not been bestowed on them by God and in the end by lack of use those powers decline and almost disappear. Thus, human nature is completely changed and begins to resemble animals, and the excellence of the human soul, which means progress in reason, is destroyed and man is deprived of obtaining perfect understanding. In this way, revealed books constitute an obstruction in the way of achieving eternal life and everlasting happiness of which man stands in need.
The answer to the foregoing objection is that it is the lack of intelligence, obtuseness and persistence in error of the Brahmus that prompts them to think that by acting upon the revealed book of God the reasoning faculty is rendered useless as if revelation and reason were contradictory of each other and cannot subsist together. This suspicion on their part is compounded partly of falsehood, partly of bigotry and partly of ignorance. The falsehood is that despite their knowledge that divine verities have been fostered only through people who have followed revelation and that divine unity has been propagated in the world only through the elect who believe in the word of God, they make a statement contrary to this known fact. Their bigotry is declared by the fact that in order to support their assertion, they have held back the verity that in divine matters, unaided reason cannot carry a person to the stage of perfect certainty. Their ignorance is betrayed by their regarding revelation and reason as inconsistent with each other, which cannot subsist together, and their thinking that revelation is opposed to reason and is destructive of it, whereas this fear is entirely unfounded.
It is obvious that a follower of true revelation does not abstain from reasonable research and is indeed helped by revelation in his effort to view the realities of things in a reasonable manner. By the help of revelation and by the blessing of its light he does not encounter any confusion in assessing arguments based on reason. He is not reduced to the necessity of inventing invalid arguments, but is able to perceive the way of true reason and is able to arrive at the truth. There is no conflict between reason and revelation and they are not inconsistent with and opposed to each other. Reason lends support to revelation and revelation helps to safeguard reason against going astray. True revelation, that is to say, the Holy Qur’an, does not obstruct the progress of reason. It illumines reason and is its great helper and supporter. As the full value of the sun is appreciated by the eye and the benefits of the bright day are disclosed to those who possess sight, in the same way, divine revelation is fully appreciated only by those who possess reason, as God Almighty has said Himself:
وَتِلۡكَ ٱلۡأَمۡثَٰلُ نَضۡرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ ۖ وَمَا يَعۡقِلُهَآ إِلَّا ٱلۡعَٰلِمُون 1
These are illustrations that we set forth for people, but only those who possess knowledge comprehend them.
As the benefits of the light of the eye are disclosed only by the sun, in the absence of which sight and sightlessness would be equal, in the same way, the excellencies of the insight of reason are disclosed by the help of revelation. It secures reason against thousands of useless efforts and points out the nearest way to proper reflection by following which the purpose in view is quickly achieved. Every wise person realises that if in thinking over a problem, help becomes available through which knowledge is gained of the right way of resolving the problem, such knowledge is of great assistance to reason, which is delivered from much confused thinking and useless effort. The followers of revelation not only appreciate reason, but revelation itself urges them to perfect their reason, and thus, they are doubly drawn towards progress in reason. First is the natural eagerness which a person experiences to discover through reason the reality and truth of everything and, secondly, the urge of revelation which intensifies their eagerness. Those who study the Holy Qur’an even cursorily will not deny the obvious fact that this Holy Word lays great emphasis on reflection and observation; so much so, that it describes it as a characteristic of believers that they constantly reflect upon the wonders of heaven and earth and deliberate on the law of divine wisdom as is said in one place in the Holy Qur’an:
إِنَّ فِي خَلۡقِ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَٱخۡتِلَٰفِ ٱلَّيۡلِ وَٱلنَّهَارِ لَأٓيَٰتٖ لِّأُوْلِي ٱلۡأَلۡبَٰبِ * ٱلَّذِينَ يَذۡكُرُونَ ٱللَّهَ قِيَٰمٗا وَقُعُودٗا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمۡ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلۡقِ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقۡتَ هَٰذَا بَٰطِلٗا سُبۡحَٰنَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ[2]
That is to say, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alternation of the night and the day, there are a number of Signs to prove the existence of the Creator of the Universe and His might, for people of understanding. Wise people are only those who remember Allah standing, sitting and lying on their sides and keep meditating and pondering over the creation of the heavens and the earth, which impels them to supplicate: Lord, Thou hast not created all this without purpose; indeed, everything in Thy creation is full of the manifestations of Thy Power and Wisdom, which points to Thy Blessed Being.
Other revealed books, which have been perverted, urge adherence to unreasonable and impossible matters. As, for instance, does the Bible; but this is not the fault of revelation. It is the fault of defective reasoning. Had those who believe in them possessed sane reason, they would not have followed these perverted books and they would not have permitted such thinking about the unchangeable Perfect and Eternal God that He took on the condition of a helpless embryo and was nourished on impure sustenance and took on an impure body and was born through an impure passage and came into the mortal world, and after enduring all sorts of torments gave up the ghost in extreme misery, calling out ‘Eli Eli’. It is revelation which has stamped out this error. Holy is Allah! How exalted and what an ocean of mercy is the Word which pulled the worshippers of creatures back to the unity of God. How dear and attractive is that light which brought a whole world out of darkness. Outside of it thousands who were called wise and philosophers remained involved in this error and numberless similar errors, and till the Holy Qur’an came, no philosopher refuted forcefully this false doctrine, nor reformed these ruined people. The philosophers themselves were caught in many unholy doctrines. As the Rev. Mr Yut has recorded, the Christians adopted the doctrine of the Trinity following Plato and built a false structure on the false foundation furnished by this foolish Greek.
In short, true and perfect divine revelation is not the enemy of reason, but defective reason is the enemy of the semi-wise. It is obvious, for instance, that an antidote is not in itself harmful for the human body, but if a short-sighted person mistakes poison for an antidote, it is the fault of his reason and not of the antidote. To think that it is dangerous to have recourse to a revealed book for the investigation of every matter is crass folly. As we have written, revelation is a mirror reflecting the truth for the benefit of reason, and the great argument in support of its truth is that it is wholly free from matters, the impossibility of which is established after pondering on God’s Power and Perfection and Holiness. Indeed, in matters divine, which are deep and hidden, it is the only guide for weak human reason. To have recourse to it does not render reason useless, but leads it to deep secrets which it was difficult for reason to penetrate into on its own. Reason derives great benefit from true revelation, that is to say, from the Holy Qur’an, and suffers no harm or loss therefrom. Through revelation, reason is safeguarded against dangers and does not fall into them. Every wise person admits, and it is obvious in itself, that error is possible in research, which is based on reason alone, but there is no possibility of error in the word of the Knower of the unseen.
Be fair and just. Is it good or bad for that which is sometimes confronted with the possibility of severe stumbling that it should be furnished with a companion which should safeguard it against stumbling and support it at the time of its slipping? Would such a companion be of help to lead it to its purpose, or would it be a hindrance? It is an indication of inner blindness to regard a helper as an opponent and obstructer and to consider that which completes and perfects as harmful. When you will reflect truly it will become clear to you that God has not harmed reason by appointing revelation as its companion. On the contrary, finding reason perplexed, He has furnished it with a sure instrument for recognising the truth through the use of which reason is saved from straying into hundreds of erratic ways and is not led astray. Indeed, it discovers the proper way to its true purpose. It is like the case of a person who directs the search for a lost one to the spot where the latter is hidden. No sane person objects to the help of such a one who supplies the needed particulars and points out the easiest way of reaching the lost one on the grounds that the helper has meddled needlessly in the search. On the contrary, everyone concerned is deeply grateful to him that he informed them of their ignorance and pointed out the particular spot and opened the door of certainty while they were involved in conjecture. In the same way, those on whom God has bestowed sane reason are grateful to and praise true revelation and realise fully that revelation does not obstruct the progress of their thinking, but saves their thinking from confusion. It indicates one right path out of a variety of involved and doubtful ways treading along which creates every kind of facility for reason and delivers a person from a host of difficulties which confront him on account of the shortness of age, insufficient knowledge and lack of insight.
—Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, pp. 292-309, footnote 11
The Function of Reason
It is true that reason is also a lamp which God has furnished to man, the light of which draws man towards truth and saves him from a variety of doubts and suspicions and sets aside different types of baseless ideas and improper conjectures. It is very useful, very necessary and is a great bounty. Yet, despite all this it suffers from the shortcoming that it alone cannot lead to full certainty in the matter of the understanding of the reality of things. The stage of perfect certainty is that man should believe that the reality of things exists as it in fact does exist. Reason alone cannot lead to this high degree of certainty. At the outside, it proves the need of the existence of something, but does not prove that in fact it exists. This degree of certainty that a person’s knowledge should proceed from the stage of ‘should be’ to the stage of ‘is’, is acquired only when reason is joined by a companion which, confirming its conjecture, converts it into fact, that is to say, regarding a matter concerning which reason says it ‘should be’ that companion informs that in fact it ‘is’. Reason only establishes the need of a thing; it cannot establish its existence, and these are two distinct and separate matters. Thus, reason needs a companion which should supplement the defective ‘should be’ of reason with the affirmative ‘is’ and which should give information of facts as they truly exist. So, God, Who is most Compassionate and Generous and desires to lead man to the stage of utmost certainty, has fulfilled this need and has appointed several companions for reason and has thereby opened the way of perfect certainty to it, so that the soul of man, whose total good fortune and salvation depends upon perfect certainty, should not be deprived of its desired good fortune and so that it should quickly cross the delicate and dangerous bridge of ‘should be’ which reason has constructed over the river of doubts and suspicions, and should enter the grand palace of ‘is’ which is the house of peace and satisfaction.
Those companions of reason, which are its helpers, which come into operation on different occasions, are not more than three. If the operation of reason relates to that which can be felt or observed – for instance, which can be seen or heard or smelt or touched – its companion, which can lead it to certainty, is true observation, which is called experience. If the operation of reason relates to those occurrences which take place at different times and places, the companion of reason in such a case is history, or newspapers, or letters, or communications. These also, like experience, so clear up the smoky light of reason that to doubt it thereafter is folly or insanity. If the operation of reason relates to matters which are metaphysical, which cannot be seen by the eye, or heard by the ear, or touched by the hand, nor can they be inquired about through history, then the companion that helps reason is revelation.
The law of nature also demands that, as relating to the first two matters imperfect reason is furnished by two companions, a companion should also be furnished to it in respect of the third category of matters. There can be no discrimination in the law of nature. When God has not desired to leave man in a defective condition with regard to worldly knowledge and arts, an error in respect of which is not of any great consequence, it would be an ill thought that He desired to leave man in a defective condition regarding the full understanding of matters, complete certainty concerning which is a condition of salvation and any doubt concerning which would push man into eternal ruin. In such a case, man’s knowledge concerning the hereafter would be reduced to pure conjecture. He would not have available any means which should bear witness to that which is and should bestow contentment and satisfaction upon the heart that in fact and in truth that which reason conjectures as existing does indeed exist. The need that reason establishes is not fictitious, but is real. When it is known that in matters divine, perfect certainty can be obtained only through revelation, and that man is in need of perfect certainty for his salvation, and that without perfect certainty, faith cannot be safeguarded, then it becomes obvious that man is in need of revelation.
—Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, pp. 78-80, footnote 4
ENDNOTES
1. Then Holy Qur’an, 29:44.
2. Then Holy Qur’an, 3:191-192.
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