THE RELIGION OF HUMANITY: Islam’s Ethical and Spiritual Outlook

essential part of intellectual growth. The end of criticism does not merely mean the absence of critique; it means the end of intellectual progress. In reality, our choice is not between criticism and no criticism, but between criticism and intellectual stagnation. If you shut down criticism, what remains is not just a lack of critique, but intellectual stagnation. Intellectual freedom is in harmony with the natural order, while intellectual restrictions disrupt it. IN THE DIVINE COURT The Quran (2: 30-33), relating the story of the creation of the first man, Adam, says: “When your Lord said to the angels, ‘I am putting a successor on earth,’ they said, “Will You place someone there who will cause corruption on it and shed blood, while we glorify You with Your praise and extol Your holiness?” [God] answered, ‘Surely, I know that which you do not know.’ He taught Adam all the names, then He set them before the angels and said, ‘Tell Me the names of these, if what you say be true.’ They said, ‘Glory be to You; we have no knowledge except whatever You have taught us. You are the All Knowing, the All Wise.’ Then He said, ‘O Adam, tell them their names.’ When Adam had told them the names, God said to the angels, ‘Did I not say to you: I know the secrets of the heavens and of the earth, and I know what you reveal and what you conceal?’”