The Qur’ān is a book which emphasizes ‘deed’ rather than ‘idea’.
There are, however, men to whom it is not possible organically to assimilate an
alien universe by re-living, as a vital process, that special type of inner
experience on which religious faith ultimately rests. Moreover, the modern man,
by developing habits of concrete thought– habits which Islam itself fostered at
least in the earlier stages of its cultural career– has rendered himself less
capable of that experience which he further suspects because of its liability
to illusion. The more genuine schools of Sufism have, no doubt, done good work
in shaping and directing the evolution of religious experience in Islam; but
their latter-day representatives, owing to their ignorance of the modern mind,
have become absolutely incapable of receiving any fresh inspiration from modern
thought and experience. They are perpetuating methods which were created for
generations possessing a cultural outlook differing, in important respects,
from our own. ‘Your creation and resurrection,’ says the Qur’ān, ‘are
like the creation and resurrection of a single soul.’ (31:28) A living
experience of the kind of biological unity, embodied in this verse, requires
today a method physiologically less violent and psychologically more suitable
to a concrete type of mind. In the absence of such a method the demand for a
scientific form of religious knowledge is only natural. In these Lectures,
which were undertaken at the request of the Madras Muslim Association and
delivered at Madras, Hyderabad, and Aligarh, I have tried to meet, even though
partially, this urgent demand by attempting to reconstruct Muslim religious
philosophy with due regard to the philosophical traditions of Islam and the
more recent developments in the various domains of human knowledge. And the
present moment is quite favourable for such an undertaking. Classical Physics
has learned to criticize its own foundations. As a result of this criticism the
kind of materialism, which it originally necessitated, is rapidly
disappearing; and the day is not far off when Religion and Science may discover
hitherto unsuspected mutual harmonies. It must, however, be remembered that
there is no such thing as finality in philosophical thinking. As knowledge
advances and fresh avenues of thought are opened, other views, and probably
sounder views than those set forth in these lectures, are possible. Our duty is
carefully to watch the progress of human thought, and to maintain an
independent critical attitude towards it.
M.I.