| And as for
philosophy, it regards the 'I' as
carrying no meaning other than
its own. That is to say, it
declares that the 'I' points only
to itself, that its meaning is in
itself. It considers that the 'I'
works purely on its own account.
It regards its existence as
necessary and essential, that is,
it says that it exists in itself
and of itself. It falsely assumes
that the 'I' owns its own life
and is the real master in its
sphere of disposal. It supposes
it to be a constant reality. And
it considers the 'I's' duty to be
perfection of self, which
originates from love of self, and
likewise, philosophies have
constructed their modes of
thought on many such corrupt
foundations. We have given
definite proof in our other
treatises, especially in the
Words, and more particularly in
the Twelfth and Twenty-Fifth
Words, of how baseless and rotten
these foundations are. Even
men like Plato and Aristotle,
Ibn-i Sina and Farabi, who were
the most illustrious
representatives and authorities
of the line of philosophy, said
that the ultimate aim of humanity
is to liken themselves to the
Necessary Being, that is to say,
to actually resemble Him. They
thus delivered judgement in the
manner of Pharaoh, and, by
whipping up 'I-ness' and allowing
polytheism to run free in the
valleys, opened the way to
numerous different ways of
associating partners with God,
like worship of causes, idols,
Nature, and the stars. They
closed the doors of impotence and
weakness, poverty and need,
deficiency and imperfection,
which are intrinsic to human
beings, and thus obstructed the
road to worship. Being immersed
in Naturalism and being
completely incapable of emerging
from associating partners with
God, they were unable to find the
broad gate of thanks.
On the other
hand, the line of prophethood
considered, in the manner of a
worshipper, that the aim of
humanity and duty of human beings
is to be molded by God-given
ethics and good character, and,
by knowing their impotence to
seek refuge with Divine power, by
seeing their weakness to rely on
Divine strength, by realizing
their poverty to trust in Divine
mercy, by perceiving their need
to seek help from Divine riches,
by seeing their faults to ask for
pardon through Divine
forgiveness, and by realizing
their deficiency to be glorifies
of Divine perfection.
So, it is
because the philosophy which does
not obey the line of religion
thus lost its way, that the 'I'
took the reins into its own hands
and ran into all sorts of
misguidance. And out of the 'I'
that was in this position, a tree
of Zaqqum sprang forth and
engulfed more than half of
mankind.
Thus, in the
branch of power of animal
appetites of that tree, the
fruits it has presented to
mankind are idols and goddesses.
Because, according to the
principles of philosophy, power
is approved. 'Might is right' is
the norm, even. It says,
"All power to the
strongest." "The winner
takes all," and, "In
power there is right."13 It
has given moral support to
tyranny, encouraged despots, and
urged oppressors to claim
divinity.
Also, by
appropriating the beauty in works
of art and the fineness in the
decoration and attributing them
to the works of art themselves
and their decoration, and by not
relating them to the
manifestation of the sacred and
sheer beauty of the Maker and
Fashioner, it says: "How
beautiful it is," instead
of, "How beautifully made it
is," thus regarding each as
an idol worthy of worship.
Moreover, because it admires a
fraudulent, boasting,
ostentatious, hypocritical beauty
that may be sold to anyone, it
has acclaimed the hypocrites, and
has made idol-like people
monuments for its own
worshippers.14 In the branch of
power of passion of that tree, it
has nurtured the fruits of
greater and lesser Nimrods,
Pharaohs, and Shaddads ruling
over unfortunate mankind. In the
branch of power of intellect, it
has produced fruits like atheism,
Materialism, and Naturalism in
the mind of humanity, and has
thrown it into confusion.
Now, in order
to illuminate this truth, we
shall compare the results which
are born of the sound foundations
of the line of prophethood with
those originating from the rotten
foundations of the way of
philosophy, and shall mention
three or four examples.
First
Example: According to the
rule of: Be molded by God-given
ethics, which is one of the
principles of the line of
prophethood concerning individual
life, there is the instruction:
"Be distinguished by
God-given morals and turn towards
God Almighty with humility
recognizing your impotence,
poverty, and defectiveness, and
so be a slave in His
presence." Whereas, the
self-seeking rule of philosophy,
"Try to imitate the
Necessarily Existent One" is
mankind's aim for perfection. No,
indeed, the essence of humanity
has been kneaded with infinite
impotence, weakness, poverty, and
need, while the essence of the
Necessarily Existent One is
infinitely omnipotent, powerful,
self-sufficient, and without
need.
Second
Example: Among the principles
of the line of prophethood
concerning social life are those
of mutual assistance,
magnanimity, and generosity.
These have been harnessed for the
help and assistance of all things
from the sun and moon down to
even plants. For the assistance
of animals, for example, and the
help of animals for human beings,
and even that of particles of
food for the cells of the body.
Whereas, among the principles of
the line of philosophy concerning
social life is that of conflict,
which springs from the misuse of
their inborn dispositions by a
number of tyrants, brutish men,
and savage beasts. Indeed, they
have accepted this principle at
so fundamental a level and at
such a general one that they have
idiotically declared: "Life
is a conflict."
Third
Example: One of the valuable
results and exalted principles of
the line of prophethood
concerning Divine Unity is:
"If a thing has unity, it
must proceed from only one."
That is, "Since each thing
in itself and all things
collectively have unity, they
therefore must be the creation of
one single being." Whereas,
one of the beliefs of ancient
philosophy is: "From one,
one proceeds." That is,
"From one person, only one
single thing can proceed.
Everything else proceeds from him
by means of intermediaries."
This
misleading principle of
philosophy which is stained by
associating partners with God
presents the Absolutely
Self-Sufficient and Omnipotent
One as being in need of impotent
intermediaries, and gives all
causes and intermediaries a sort
of partnership in His
Dominicality. It attributes to
the Glorious Creator the title of
'Prime Mover', which in fact
indicates the status of creature.
And, moreover, it allots the rest
of His sovereignty to causes and
intermediaries, and thus opens
the way to associating partners
with Him in a most comprehensive
manner. If the Illuminists
(Ishraqiyyun), who were
pre-eminent philosophers, uttered
nonsense like this, you can
imagine how much more absurd will
be what inferior philosophers,
like the Materialists and
Naturalists, say.
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