INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT IN RELIGION

True spirituality is that which leads man to intellectual development. It is based on taking lessons from God’s signs spread in the universe (Tawassum) (15: 75) which means converting every material event into a spiritual lesson. only give a criterion. To illustrate this point let us take the three fields of psychology, spirituality and religion then understand them one by one. Psychology is the study of human mind. However, so far, psychology has not been able to understand the human mind completely. The reason is that psychology does not have one definitive guide book. This fact has been explained by Alexis Carrel in his book Man, the Unknown. Among the many schools of psychology six are regarded as the major ones. But the dominant school of thought is the one attributed to the famous American psychologist John Bradus Watson (1878-1958). The theory devised by Watson is called behaviourism. Today, although behaviourism is not much in favour, it is still taught as a concept under classical psychology. The essence of behaviourism is that man is not made by nature, but by nurture. It holds that it is environmental events that form man and not his mind. This view is totally opposite to the Islamic concept of life. According to Islam, the human mind is created for eternity. It has the capability to think and form opinions freely. The Islamic concept of accountability is related to this freedom of thought. But man’s position becomes totally different from that of animals. As regards man, this concept of behaviourism is based on a misunderstanding. It regards a temporary phase to be a permanent phase. It is true that when a child is born it is influenced by its environment, but this influence is superficial not real. If these layers are removed, its original personality will be revealed just as it was at the time of its birth. The teaching of the Prophet will help us to understand this phenomenon. The Prophet said that every child is born according to nature, then he gets conditioned in the environment he lives in. There are different kinds of pressures in the environment which influence his personality. This influence is called conditioning and at times can be so strong as to suppress man’s true personality. He then deviates from his original nature that he is born with. However man possesses will power. His independent will power is a part of his personality even after superficial conditioning. That is why it is always possible for man to de-condition and return to the original nature he was born with. The believers of behaviourism did not understand this