ISLAM AND THE MODERN MAN — Part I

philosophy dominated human thought, philosophers had been attempting, with no success, to achieve this aim. But in the 16th century, when scientific research began in Europe, scientists found it to be in their interests to separate the reality of things from the properties of things. They divided knowledge into two categories: Knowledge of things and Knowledge of truths. They came to the conclusion that it was not possible to achieve absolute knowledge of truths, for truth is of a subtle nature and cannot be weighed and measured in the scales available to man. (THE QURAN 17: 85) Unlike the philosophers, they came to the conclusion that man has been given, as the Quran points out, only a ‘little knowledge.’ Science is determined to put this ‘little knowledge’ to practical use, rather than delve into a knowledge of truth that could not be uncovered. It concentrated on properties, and eliminated realities from its field of study; it dealt with quantity, not quality; it answered the question ‘how’ but left the question ‘why’ unanswered; it limited its study to fields in which absolute knowledge could be obtained. Modern civilization has provided man with countless material benefits bringing comfort to only one half of his being; they afford no comfort or satisfaction to the other half. This way of thinking continued to gain ground. For the first time, in Galileo’s day, the fragrance of a flower was separated from its chemistry. Scientists then studied the chemistry of flowers, but not their fragrance, which could not be analysed. Descartes (1596-1650) took this principle of dualism one stage further by applying it to his study of the human being. He studied the body and ignored the soul. The spiritual part of man was thus separated from his material being. This dualism was not apparently harmful when applied in the field of science. One does not have to know the reality of a magnetic field, for instance, to be able to utilize it in the production of light and motion; knowledge of the properties of a magnetic field is sufficient for this purpose. But when this same principle of dualism was applied to man, it did irreparable damage.