Abstract
In this chapter, we have developed the substantive content of the Tawhidi epistemic worldview as the qur’anic law, contrary to the mistaken understanding of shari’ah, fiqh, and fatawa being the composite of Islamic law. The Qur’an in conjunction with its supportive organs of the sunnah and ijtihad establishes the evolutionary knowledge-centered nature of the Tawhidi socio-scientific order. From Tawhid as law germinate axioms and assumptions for theory construction. In this study, the occidental ideas are critically examined in respect of encompassing the holistic worldview that yields planetary wellbeing with its socio-scientific features. This nature of the Islamic knowledge-yielding process opens new grounds to view the world and cosmos in terms of a unified field theory of “everything.” Amid such a theory, the dichotomous and multiple perceptions of reality, as between the a priori and the posteriori domains, disappear. The one-many problem of discerning reality is negated. Unification rules supreme and is logically tied together with its supportive and integral components, namely, the properties of simultaneity and order. These are shown to be the underlying substantive contents of the Tawhidi precept in terms of its functional role on pervasive complementarities in the realm of creation. This creative impact finds its definitive meaning in all the socio-scientific domains.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
- 1.
Qur’an (2:2–8): “This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear God;
Who believe in the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them;
And who believe in the Revelation sent to thee, and sent before your time, and (in their hearts) have the assurance of the Hereafter.
They are on (true) guidance, from their Lord, and it is these who will prosper.
As to those who reject Faith, it is the same to them whether thou warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe.
God hath set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a veil; great is the penalty they (incur). Of the people there are some who say: ‘We believe in God and the Last Day;’ but they do not (really) believe.”
- 2.
The following conversation between the Prophet Musa (as) and Pharaoh is related in the Qur’an: Pharaoh said, “Who then is your Lord, Musa?” Prophet Musa said, “Our Lord is He Who gives each thing its created form and then guides it.” He said, “What about the previous generations?” He replied, “He alone has knowledge of them, recorded in a Book.”
- 3.
Albert Einstein wrote: “A person who is religiously enlightened appears to me to be one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated himself from the fetters of his selfish desires and is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings, and aspirations to which he clings because of their superpersonal value.”
- 4.
Qur’an (49:14) The wandering Arabs say: We believe. Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Ye believe not, but rather say “We submit,” for the faith has not yet entered into your hearts. Yet, if you obey God and His messenger, He will not withhold from you aught of (the reward of) your deeds. Lo! God is Forgiving, Merciful.
Qur’an (42:52,53) And thus have We, by Our Command, sent inspiration to you: You knew not (before) what was Revelation, and what was Faith; but We have made the (Qur’an) a Light, wherewith We guide such of Our servants as We will; and verily you do guide (men) to the Straight Way,-
The Way of God, to Whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on earth. Behold (how) all affairs tend towards God!
Qur’an (6:75–80) So also did We show Abraham the power and the laws of the heavens and the earth, that he might (with understanding) have certitude.
When the night covered him over, He saw a star: He said: “This is my Lord.” But when it set, He said: “I love not those that set.”
When he saw the moon rising in splendour, he said: “This is my Lord.” But when the moon set, He said: “unless my Lord guide me, I shall surely be among those who go astray.”
When he saw the sun rising in splendour, he said: “This is my Lord; this is the greatest (of all).” But when the sun set, he said: “O my people! I am indeed free from your (guilt) of giving partners to God.”
“For me, I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to God.”
His people disputed with him. He said: “(Come) you to dispute with me, about God, when He (Himself) hath guided me? I fear not (the beings) you associate with God: Unless my Lord wills, (nothing can happen). My Lord comprehends in His knowledge all things. Will you not (yourselves) be admonished?”
- 5.
Such a compounding of simulated stochastic wellbeing indicators from intra-system to inter-system case is given by θ^(ε) = A(θ(ε)).Πi=1nθi(ε)^ai(θi(ε)) over time. {θi(ε)^} are evaluated by approximation of wellbeing indicator intra-systems (i = 1,2,…,n). θ^(ε) is evaluated by the same circular-causation method inter-systems. This is a complex method that will be empirically explained later on.
- 6.
Group Pref(x(θ(ε))) = Πi=1nSpecific Group Prefi(x(θ(ε)), t(θ(ε)))
⇔W(x(θ(ε)), t(θ(ε))) = Πi=1nWi(x(θ(ε), t(θ(ε)))ai(θ(ε))
⇒logW(x(θ(ε)), t(θ(ε))) = Σi=1n ai(θ(ε)) ∗ logWi(x(θ(ε), t(θ(ε)))
{ai(θ(ε))} are coefficients expressed as elasticities of W(x(θ(ε)),t(θ(ε))) corresponding to Wi(x(θ(ε),t(θ(ε))) in the stochastic field of {ai(θ(ε))}, i = 1,2,…,n at various time periods where the intra-system evolves into inter-systems.
- 7.
S ⊂ Ω ⇒ f1(S) ⊂ Ω ⇒ fn(S) ° fn–1(S) ° …. ° f1(S) ⊂ Ω. This relation implies that although “S” is finite in its coverage of all ilm al-marifa, it can be subjected to an increasing expanse of interpretations and applications, just as is the case of ta’wil concerning the richness of finer interpretation of verses of the Qur’an taken in their combinations.
- 8.
Qur’an (21:73): “And We made them leaders, guiding (mankind) by Our Command, and We inspired in them the doing of good deeds, performing Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), and the giving of Zakat and of Us (Alone) they were worshippers.”
- 9.
(Qur’an 13:3): “And it is He who has spread the earth wide and placed on it firm mountains and running waters, and created thereon two sexes of every [kind of] plant; [and it is He who] causes the night to cover the day. Verily, in all this there are messages indeed for people who think.”
- 10.
(Qur’an 42:38): “Those who hearken to their Lord, and establish regular Prayer; who (conduct) their affairs by mutual Consultation; who spend out of what We bestow on them for Sustenance;”
- 11.
(Qur’an 5(:24): “He is God, other than whom there is no deity, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Perfection, the Bestower of Faith, the Overseer, the Exalted in Might, the Compeller, the Superior. Exalted is God above whatever they associate with Him.”
- 12.
Qur’an (3:190–191): “Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alteration of Night and Day, − there are indeed Signs for men of understanding, − men who celebrate the praises of God, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the creation in the heavens and the earth, ‘Our Lord! Not for naught have You created this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the Penalty of the Fire’.”
- 13.
Qur’an (33:7–8): “And remember We took from the prophets their covenant: As (We did) from thee: from Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus the son of Mary: We took from them a solemn covenant:
That (God) may question the (custodians) of Truth concerning the Truth they (were charged with): And He has prepared for the Unbelievers a grievous Penalty.”
- 14.
Qur’an (57:3): “He is the First and the Last, the Ascendant and the Intimate and He is of all things knowing.”
- 15.
Qur’an (45:24): “And they say: ‘What is there but our life in this world? We shall die and we live, and nothing but time can destroy us.’ But of that they have no knowledge: they merely conjecture.”
- 16.
The arrows indicate recursive cycles of evolutionary learning from the Tawhidi Beginning to the End in the Hereafter. The circularity of arrows explains the recursive evolutionary framework of learning over increasing heights of understanding and comprehension. Also, the same circularity explains that every entity, variables, relations, and functions is governed by the Tawhidi worldview of unity of knowledge, which is explained by the principle of pervasive complementarities as an endogenous learning process.
- 17.
Qur’an (2:219) “They ask you about alcoholic drink and gambling. Say: ‘In them is a great sin, and (some) benefit for men.’”
- 18.
Qur’an (7:158): “O mankind, indeed I am the Messenger of God to you all, [from Him] to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. There is no deity except Him; He gives life and causes death.”
Qur’an (32:2): “(This is) the Revelation of the Book in which there is no doubt,- from the Lord of the Worlds.”
- 19.
Qur’an (4:59): “O, you who have faith! Obey God and obey the Apostle and those vested with authority (Ulu l-Amr) among you. And if you dispute concerning anything, refer it to God and the Apostle, if you have faith in God and the Last Day. That is better and more favorable in outcome.”
- 20.
Qur’an (58:11): “….God raises of those who believe and those who have been given knowledge by degrees.”
- 21.
Qur’an (43:69): “(You) who believed in Our ayat (proofs, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) and were Muslims (i.e. who submit totally to God’s Will, and believe in the Oneness of God - Islamic Monotheism).”
- 22.
Qur’an (36:36): “Holy is He Who created all things in pairs, whether it be of what the earth produces, and of themselves, and of what they do not know.”
- 23.
Qur’an (71:17): “And God has caused you to grow from the earth a [progressive] growth.”
- 24.
Qur’an (7:156): “My mercy encompasses all things.”
- 25.
Qur’an (7:54): “Surely, His is the Creation and the Command.”
- 26.
Qur’an (28:70): “And He is God; there is no deity except Him. To Him is [due all] praise in the first [life] and the Hereafter. And His is the [final] decision, and to Him you will be returned.”
- 27.
“By episteme we mean … the total set of relations that unite, at a given period, the discursive practices that give rise to epistemological figures, sciences, and possibly formalized systems … The episteme is not a form of knowledge (connaissance) or type of rationality which, crossing the boundaries of the most varied sciences, manifests the sovereign unity of a subject, a spirit, or a period; it is the totality of relations that can be discovered, for a given period, between the sciences when one analyses them at the level of discursive regularities.”
- 28.
The idea of simultaneity was also introduced by Einstein in his formulation of the theory of relativity. He wrote as follows in respect of the property of time-value of an event when event occurs and time reads it: “Under these circumstances we understand by ‘time’ of an event the reading ….the immediate vicinity (in space,) of the event. In this manner a time-value is associated with every event which is essentially capable of observation.”
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Choudhury, M.A. (2024). How to Derive the Socio-scientific Laws from the Qur’an in Respect of Tawhid as Law. In: Handbook of Islamic Philosophy of Science. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5634-0_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5634-0_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-99-5633-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-99-5634-0
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities