Spirit of Islam, May 2013

he cannot stay alive for even a single day. Man takes his mother, his wife, and his children in an absolute sense: the very survival of the family system is based upon it. In its absence the entire system of human life would be shattered. Similarly man considers his property like his house, his business and his bank balance to be absolute. If he did not think like this, his economic life would never take shape. In such a situation it would be an exception to consider that Truth is not absolute. It would mean that in the absolute world, Truth has a non-absolute existence. But, there is no logical basis for accepting this concept. It is incomprehensible to believe that in this vast universe, where everything else is in its absolute sense, Truth, as an exception to this rule is not in its absolute form. It is a contradiction in logical terms, and will never be acceptable to the minds of intellectuals. A seeker of Truth is looking for the answer to the question: "What is that knowledge by which I may believe?" When he finds Truth, he makes it supreme. This is not a simple matter. Upon reflection, we find that man has a dual existence—body and mind. Except for Truth everything caters to fulfilling the physical needs of man. Truth is the only thing that man requires for fulfilling his spiritual need. Now, it is inconceivable that all objects of fulfilment of our physical needs are in their absolute form while Truth that fulfils our spiritual needs is not absolute. To accept this division we will have to admit that there is a big contradiction in this world that is that the objects of our material needs are available here in an absolute form while the objects of our spiritual needs are, by way of an exception not available here in an absolute form. A philosopher, who believed in Truth supporting his point of view, said that Truth is the biggest requirement of man. Without it, man is totally incomplete. In fact, Truth is such a big human requirement that even if it is not absolute, we will have to supposedly take it to be in an absolute form. The truth is that the denial of Truth to be absolute, is akin to a mental suicide. Those who hold this belief are not serious in their utterance. Refusing to accept the Truth in its absolute form is similar with refusing to accept one’s mother in the absolute form.