The Foundations of Islam can be said to be, in the order of priorities, Allah, the Quran, the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad, the Foremost, and fifthly, Aql (Intelligence) which Allah has placed in man. Man was created to serve Allah and ought to have used his Aql in His service. But owing to his sin and Fall, his faculties ceased to function correctly (95:4-6). He was then sent Messengers, in whom Aql was still functioning correctly, with the Scripture and Wisdom to guide him (2:38). The Quran and Sunna, therefore, take priority over Aql, though these must be understood and applied and this still requires Aql. The degree of Aql, however varies and those who apply the discipline brought by the Messengers and develop their faculties can be called the Foremost.

The Foremost are also mentioned in 9:100, 15:24, 26:51,35:32, 56:10. These may also be called Saints and the people of knowledge who are mentioned in 2:230, 6:106, 9:11, 18:66, 22:54, 27:52, 58:11. These may be regarded as another authority for the rest of mankind.

These are the ones that obey Allah and the messenger and constitute the third authority. They ought to be the leaders in the Islamic communities, the links in the cable to Allah (3:103). Muslims and their civilization have flourished or degenerated according to whether they have followed or abandoned them, and according to whether more or fewer of them have arisen among them.

Islam requires that Muslims should strive for their own salvation.

It is supposed by some people, including Muslims, that human faculties, intelligence and reason, having been created by Allah, ought to take priority and that since we all have these, we ought to rely on our own. But we need to understand a little more about human faculties.

Man, as vicegerent has been given perfect faculties (32:9) but owing to attachments to the things of this world these have been corrupted (83:14, 5:108, 14:3). Religions were sent with a discipline to rectify this situation. The Foremost are those who have not been corrupted or have purified themselves by following this discipline.

Certainly we should find our own path - nothing can possibly benefit us which is not the result of our own effort.

But learning takes time, we have only partial knowledge at any time and cannot make accurate judgments based on this, and there are many, often conflicting, ways. We need to know the destination, which path leads to it, what problems it might present the traveler, and what equipment we might need to deal with them. Obviously, the one who has already been on the path would be the best guide. We are not already at the stage of development or knowledge that we wish to get to. Therefore, we rely on those who have the knowledge and ability. It took thousands of years of effort by millions of people to accumulate the knowledge that is now taught in schools. The chances are virtually nil that a person will reach the level of Ph.D. without going through the educational system. On the other hand the same information is available outside college if he looks for it. But he will have to make greater effort because he does not have the knowledge and skills to apply correct efforts systematically. He will be reduced to trial and error and the path to the destination may meander and become too long to fit into his lifetime. However, he may have luck, and the intelligence and the direct guidance of Allah. The lone path is not completely impossible.

We have a certain nature and we live in a world that has a certain nature and we interact with it. We have faculties F, a third factor, which mediate between ourselves S and the environment E. They modify both the others, are modified by their own efforts, and by both the other factors, which also modify each other. Three kinds of faculties are required:- for reception, motivation and action

We receive an input I, from the environment, process it, P, and produce an output O. Input consists of a great number of forces, mechanical, chemical, organic, electronic, electromagnetic and spiritual of which we are only conscious of a small range. We require materials, energy and information, which come through food and water, air and impressions. We have a number of in-built urges or Drives D, such as the self-preservative, the sexual-social, and the self-extensive which provide us with motives and our awareness of these is limited. We produce an output by mechanical actions and directly through various excretions, emissions and radiations - chemical, organic, electronic, electromagnetic and spiritual - and our awareness of these is also limited.

There is a difference between the reality, and what we are aware of - the latter is only a small part of the total. And there is also a difference between what we experience and what we can describe verbally, the latter being a small part of the former, though naming and describing has the function of making us aware. These three - the reality R, awareness of it C and the verbal description V of it - can be represented as three concentric circles.

Some of the output is used for the processing itself, some for the modification or growth of the organism, and some goes out to affect other people and the community and environment in general. These responds and reacts accordingly, thereby, modifying the input which we receive. This in turn affects our processing which affects our output. Clearly the three, input, processing and output, I P and O are also inter-dependent. All this takes place quite automatically unless there is a centre of control within us which determines the input by filtering it, how the processing proceeds and what is output. This inner center which can be compared to the nucleus of a cell can be called the Mind M. There is an inner witness W, which records all that happens to a person and his reactions to it. However, this too can work automatically though it has the capacity for learning, adaptation and change. Human beings, however, also have the capacity for conscious and deliberate control. This requires the existence of still another centre within the mind that we may refer to as "I" or Self. But observation and self-observation shows that it is seldom active.

These verses gives us a great amount of information in a most compact way. They tells us about the creation of the Universe from the beginning until the creation of man in six periods of time, indicating that time is a relative concept. They tell us that there is a descent as well as an ascent of forces between the earth and the rest of the Universe, an involution and an evolution; that all things are good - they are in balance and benevolently arranged for the good of all things since God is Merciful. They tell us also that man has three aspects :-

(1) He has a material body, but also

(2) A spiritual nature because he contains the Spirit of Allah (though the spirit proceeds from the Command of Allah not His essence 17:85) .

(3) He has a mind, a result of the combination of the other two factors, consisting of three faculties for hearing, seeing and feeling.

Note that the verse changes from the impersonal to the personal when speaking about these faculties. It is these also which make us aware of Creation and enable us to function creatively and responsibly as part of the Cosmos. This passage ends by indicating that man has become unthankful. That is, he does not recognize his debt and its responsibilities and has become rebellious and no longer fits harmoniously into the Cosmic scheme (95:4-6).

The Soul may be regarded as Spirit organized to form the individual, the seat of the will. The mind may then be regarded as the instrument through which the soul functions and relates to the environment. But the mind forms attachments to what seems permanent behind changing experiences, namely, the body, its senses, and through them sense objects, to form an idea of Self, called the Ego. This, like a parasite tends to usurp human psychic energy and takes control of the mind.

The same three faculties are mentioned in several other verses: -

The faculties for hearing, seeing and heart (or feeling) can be regarded as having three aspects corresponding to the three aspects of man - e.g. (1) the spiritual faculties of consciousness, conscience and will which refer to unified awareness. They corresponding to (2) thinking, feeling and action at the mental level, and to (3) sensation, instinct and reflex at the physical level.

Conscience must not be confused with what the Psychologist Sigmund Freud calls Super-ego. This consists of a value system inculcated into a person by social conditioning - an inner "father". Conscience is a built-in feeling of appropriateness and empathy, sympathy, fellow feeling etc. It has the same significance with respect to feeling and emotion as consciousness has with respect to the intellect and thought. Thinking is not the same thing as being conscious but can proceed quite well without us being conscious of what we are thinking. So also is conscience different from feeling. It is regarded as the voice of God within. It is much more likely that the status of the father in the family and of authorities in the Society, e.g. the Prophet or Caliph or leader such as a King or President and of the Ego within the mind, are projections or images of the inner Soul, rather than, as was thought in the past, the idea of God being an internalization of external authority figures.

The awareness of Reality or Truth depends on the spiritual faculties. This requires passivity and receptivity. Whereas action can take place quite automatically and unconsciously as in instinct, reflex and habit, it can also take place voluntarily according to motives and circumstances. It depends on knowledge and produces change and invention. These are not knowledge. It cannot produce knowledge except by reaction of the environment. Falsehood, the distortion of truth is brought about by mistaking the products of our subjective desires for truths, and making them into gods - by subordinating ourselves to addictions, fantasies, attachments such as greed and lust etc.

Other verses tell us that those who reject truth are blind and deaf and there is a disease in their hearts.(2:6-10) They can be regarded as spiritually dead. This condition also leads to maladjustment to Reality, and therefore, to tension, suffering and destruction. Still other verses tell us that no one can accept the truth except by Allah's will :-

A believer is described by the following verse:-

According to the Light Verse (24:35-37) the Light of Allah is everywhere. Thus it requires only that a person be awakened and made receptive to the spirit and it is this which bestows consciousness, conscience and will.

There are degrees of revelation from that of the major Prophets down to the humble believer. There cannot be belief without it. We may speak of the lesser forms of revelation as inspiration, intuition, insight (7:203). The word Inspiration is connected with Spirit, and the word is used in the Quran in other ways besides guiding the Prophets - See 6:112,121, 7:117,160, 8:12 (angels), 10:2, 16:68 (the bee), 20:38, 21:73, 23:27, 28:7, 41:12 9 (the Heavens). Inspiration or insight is not, therefore confined to the religious experience. It is also reported by artists, scientists, social reformers, students and so on. It is a human faculty. This faculty is distinct from reason. It is super-rational.

The Quran speaks of three kinds of knowledge, namely :-

Ilm-ul-Yaqin. ( Quran 102:5 ) - The Lore of Certainty. Descriptive, verbal or logical knowledge.

Ain-ul-Yaqin . ( Quran 102:7 ) - The Eye of Certainty. Experiential knowledge.

Haqq-ul-Yaqin ( Quran 69:51 ) - The Truth of Certainty. Gnosis, the Knowledge of Identification or Surrender.

This distinction is also seen in Quran 32:9 and in

Here Fire symbolises the transforming truth, and Moses makes the distinction between seeing, describing and using it. These are like the differences between people who have read about carpentry, those who have seen it done or indulged in it, and those who are carpenters.

Ilm, logical knowledge is usually verbal. We abstract certain common qualities from experience in order to form concepts. There may be no object to which a concept corresponds. Obviously these concepts are not the same thing as the experience. We combine concepts to form statements and these represent connections in experience. We combine statements according to certain rules in order to derive another statement, which we call the inference. This can be combined with other statements to reach other inferences or conclusions. We hope to unite all concepts in this way into a Unity, but we do this is a linear or sequential manner. Sometimes a hypothesis combining concepts into a pattern is constructed through inspiration and then inferences have to be made and tested by experiment or observation, and modified until confirmed. Mathematics provides another method of Ilm and still another consists of Model making, graphs etc.

Reason has certain limits. (1) It is purely intellectual and does not modify the motives or the being of the person. It is not the same thing as understanding. (2) You cannot draw out a conclusion that is not already implicit in the premises. The validity of an argument, therefore, depends on having premises that are based on experience. (3) The premises depend on how you define your terms and the terms must be used in the same meaning throughout the argument. But this is unlike the real objects to which the terms refer. If these terms are understood differently by different people then no amount of logical argument can produce agreement between people. This will be particularly so if each argument depends on a selection of different premises. The concepts depend on the existence of a conceptual system. There are several - those in the various sciences, in commerce, in the arts, in politics and in the various religions. (4) It is possible to prove anything one wants by choosing appropriate premises. Motives drive reason. To obtain truth, therefore, we must have the desire or love for Truth and it must overcome other kinds of desires. (5) The premises are obtained ultimately from experience. This is why Science that depends on observation and experiment (asking nature) is superior to mere speculative philosophy. (6) Experience depends on what we do and the context of events. The actions and context in a laboratory or field is different from that which applies to business, crafts or religion. (7) What we experience depends not only on external objects but also on our state of consciousness, the ability to integrate experiences - the ability to see connections and the over all pattern of things and on its stability, extensity and intensity. The ability to see the connection between premises in order to draw out conclusions also depends on intelligence and insight as does the ability to form concepts.

The data of experience must fall into self-consistent systems, and each item is interpreted in relation to this system. There is a feeling of consistency and appropriateness connected with the perception of Truth and the word 'faith' should refer to this. It is relative to a system. This system itself, however, must be consistent with a still higher and more comprehensive system. And so on. We have systems connected with a subject or our profession, systems connected with all our life experiences, and still higher systems which also include inner experiences. We are composed of the materials, energies, forces, laws which operate in the universe and we are a product of a long history of adjustment and adaptation of life to the real world. All this information is built into us. A consciously held idea may or may not be consistent with the inherent system and this may lead to a comfortable or uncomfortable feeling with respect to it. Awareness of this varies. The concept, faith or experience of Allah is connected with this ultimate Unity. Ultimately, all things should have meaning and value with respect to Allah alone. We are not normally aware of these higher systems and self-contradictions may occur due to inconsistencies.

What we see or experience is the effects of objects on our consciousness, and this depends not only on the object but also on the state of our minds. Experiential knowledge is, therefore, the third factor, which arises because of the relationship between object and observer. When any two objects interact we could define one as observer and the other as object. The search, interpretation and organization of data depends on our pre-conceptions (or conceptual system), interests (or motives) and actions (which elicit reactions from the environment). Thus the data or facts we have depends on what we do and also on the context of other things. There are no facts that have not been interpreted. It follows that different actions in different places (in laboratories, in political or commercial situations or in places of worship and so on) will all elicit different kinds of data. Our knowledge is relative which means that we see things by comparing and relating things with each other and with ourselves. The properties or characteristics of an object will change according to the conditions or context it is in. It cannot be known apart from the context and an observer. But it is not enough to observe and gather data or facts, we also need a framework of reference within which we interpret and organise these.

Data will be interpreted in different frameworks of reference according to the different conceptual systems and motives which operate there. As to "data", it is necessary to realise that the Quran is constantly pointing to the cosmos, nature, man and human history. It calls itself the Reminder unto Creation (68:52 and 81:27). The word "ayat" meaning a sign of Allah, which refers to a verse in the Quran, also refers to signs of Allah in Nature and the Cosmos. As for "action", it is based on faith, love and hope and will be dealt with below.

The Framework of Reference has three aspects corresponding to our faculties:- A conceptual system, a value system and a system of actions. Islam provides us with a framework of reference the centre or origin of which is Allah. Other systems such as that of Western Science exist but the aspects have been separated. It tries to ignore value judgments, but these creep in unconsciously from the secular world and remain uncontrolled. Thus the direction of scientific effort is governed by motives coming from the political, commercial and technological field and the ambitions of the scientists for wealth, power or prestige. Whereas the Islamic one is designed to enable a person to live more fully in adjustment to Reality, the scientific one is designed to provide a technology for control of nature often in the service of human whims or monetary profit.

Reality, however, is defined as something existing apart from the observer. Allah is regarded as the ultimate Reality from which all things derive, including objects and observers, and their interactions ( 22:62). He is, therefore, a Unity beyond these three. Some people say He is all three - He is the Aware (2:158,231, 4:35), He is the Truth, and He is the Object. All other things having been created from nothing are nothing, just surface phenomena or an idea in the mind of Allah.

Truth, also called the Word or Command of Allah is that with which Allah made all things (6:73). It is an order creating force. Since all objects are the result of interactions, Truth refers to these interactions - the transmission of what scientists call Information. Obviously Truth is relative to Allah, the Absolute. Knowledge refers to the awareness of truth. We cannot, in fact, know an object fully unless we could see it in all possible contexts - we always have partial knowledge. The object is fully known only by Allah who Knows All (6:80). Our knowledge progressively approaches Truth as our alignment or surrender to Allah increases. It also implies that the introduction of truth into the observer modifies his Being and, therefore, manifests in his thoughts, motives and actions, though Being refers to a unity beyond these.

Obviously these definitions of Reality, Truth and Knowledge have little to do with opinions, speculations, conjecture, inventions, models, theories, calculations. These can, however, be included in Ilm if they act as an indicator or pointer to truth.

Human beings can be regarded as a section of the Universe, having within them the same levels of existence as the Universe. At the highest level, they are spiritually a Unity, an "I" a part of the Universal Spirit. It can be represented as the apex of a pyramid. If this is represented by a circle then at level 2 this contains several smaller circles controlled by the first. Each of these circles control still further subordinate units at level 3, represented by still smaller circles within each of the previous circles. And so on. In a pyramid these represent levels below the apex as we go towards the base. Quran 95:4-7 tells us that though man was made perfect he was reduced to the lowest level. Sin which results from attachments can be said to have caused the fall of his "I" to say level 4 where it has become an Ego, an illusory "I". The higher levels which create unity are in his unconsciousness and he has become disintegrated (39:29). According to some systems of thought human beings use only a fraction of their brains and its potentialities. The actualization of these potentialities, it is supposed, requires that the Pineal gland, located in the brain, should be activated by appropriate exercises. It is this gland which is known as the Third Eye and allows Revelation and Inspiration. It is, therefore, those rare people who have different degrees of contact with their higher selves, who have different degrees of revelation. Some of these, when they also undertake the mission to awaken others are known as Prophets.

Another way of looking at this is as follows :-

A dead material object can be represented by a circle, O1, existing in an environment E, such that an external force F acting on it will produce a reaction R. A living organism can be represented by two concentric circles, O2 within O1. The external force F will enter O1, and be processed by O2 before producing an output R. The body of the organism is its environment, which it carries around with it. Human beings are able to process images, symbols and signs (e.g. words) in their minds. Therefore, they can be represented by three concentric circles, O3 within O2 within O1. If, however, a person is self-conscious (He has nafs-i-lawwama. 75:2) and is aware of the processes in his mind, then the centre of consciousness is obviously something other than O3 which can be represented by O4 within it. Perhaps three other possible stages of development can be described as O5, O6, O7.

(1) Inbuilt reflexes and instincts which they share with animals. Some people believe that the Quran teaches that man is completely different from animals. This is quite false :-

Man shares with animals the self-preservative, sexual and self-extensive urges and the capacity for pleasure and pain associated with these. In animals these instincts have well defined patterns while the greater intelligence of man gives him greater flexibility. But this is paid for by a loss of instinctive awareness of what is good for him and the consequent proneness to make mistakes. This deficiency has to be made good by increased consciousness, acquiring knowledge and applying it. For man, life on earth has this purpose.

These three drives are not completely separate but each contains something of the others and they may be regarded as aspects of a Life Force. The energy contained in each can be channeled through the others and through the three levels of man - the physical, mental and spiritual.

The self-preservative drive concerns itself with the maintenance of the individual by seeking food, security, shelter, clothing, comfort and control over territory and its resources. This leads to rivalry, competition and conflicts. It is a self-centered drive. It will, therefore, depend on how "self" is seen. The idea of "self" could be identified with the body or the mind or the soul. It could include whatever else one identifies oneself with - objects, spouses, family, causes, nationality, ideologies etc. These extensions are produced by the attracting and binding force contained in the sexual drive. The desire for Eternal Life and Joy is a natural part of self-preservation.

The reproductive urge is not confined to sexual intercourse but involves finding mates, making homes and bringing up children. It goes beyond "self" and produces concern for the welfare of others. It creates communities that can be seen as a network in which each marriage is a knot. It connects not only spatially, but also the generations in time. The economy, the sociopolitical organization and the culture are designed to serve families and the welfare and development of children, the next generation. The community, indeed, humanity, may be regarded as a single organism in which the individuals are cells, not only because all derive from a common origin and are alike, but also because they interact and are inter-dependent. The characteristics of Sexuality are creativity, attachment and intensity. This drive can, therefore, form selfish attachments to the body and its pleasures, or to various social causes, or it may be channeled into cultural creativity, or its creativity may be sublimated into spiritual self-construction. The side effects of its suppression or malfunctions are fanaticism, obsession, fantasy, perversions, irritability, tension, anxiety, depression, retardation and other social, psychological and even physical maladies. These tend to distort the other drives also. The reproductive drive may be regarded as arising from the self-preservative because it overcomes the death of individual. It also causes the arising of the self-extensive or evolutional drive because that may be regarded as a psychological extension of physical growth of the child that results from reproduction of cells. The expansion of populations also produces evolutionary pressure. Islam requires that the sexual drive should function correctly and this will allow the others to function correctly also.

The self-extensive drive is essentially a tendency to worship and praise. That is, it is based on the recognition of some thing as greater than oneself, on which one is dependent, something to identify with and serve, or an Ideal to emulate. This brings about a contrast with an anti-ideal from which a person wishes to distance himself. Value Systems arise as a result of this. What the object of worship is depends on the degree of awareness - everything has something greater until we come to the Infinite, the Absolute, Allah. The evolution of this consciousness is described in Quran 6:76-80 where Abraham ascends from the worship of stars, to the moon, to the sun and finally to Allah. Human beings ought to live by an objective value system consciously, but all things conform to one unconsciously.

Living things require faculties for perception, motivation as well as action. The capacity for action is limited in animals by the way they are physically constructed, the range which their instincts can take and the flexibility of the capabilities of their nervous systems or minds. Human beings can manipulate their bodies, specially the hands, facial expressions and vocal equipment to a much greater extent. These three have worked together to cause the growth of the mind and consciousness and these, in their turn, have facilitated the development of these skills. Human beings can act voluntarily, consciously as well as instinctively and through conditioned reflexes. They can, not only record memories, recall them as images, but also form concepts and manipulate these. But the voluntary capability is limited by the degree of consciousness, conscience and will, the amount of control a person has over his body and mind. The external world, too, is seen and controlled through control over the body and mind. There are three kinds of actions and, therefore, possibilities of control :- (a) Through the mediation of the body and its skills. (b) Indirectly through the mind and its sciences and technologies and their effects. (c) Directly, through the kind of materials, forces, energies the organism takes in, transforms and emits into the environment and the effects this has on the environment.

Human awareness, motivation and control at the second level is increasing rapidly. But at the third level it is still non-existent or very primitive. Further evolution is likely to be in this field.

(2) Human beings, however, are also prone to conditioned reflexes and automatisms, habit and conditioning. These may be regarded as equivalent to instincts in animals, but are acquired from the environment. These affect not only their actions but also emotions and thoughts, and therefore motives and ideas. It affects even the most brilliant minds. Older scientists, for instance, could not accept Einstein's Theories, and Einstein could not accept Quantum Theory. In religion adherents of previous prophets and doctrines could not accept new Prophets or their teachings - Most Jews could not accept the teachings of Jesus (saw) and most Christians could not accept the teachings of Muhammad (saw). Repetition tends to reinforce patterns, and this creates inflexibility and rigidity. The ability to change these patterns decreases directly with the number of repetition and inversely with the number of contrary or contradictory patterns. It reduces the possibility of intelligent and purposive conscious action as well as narrowing down human potentialities. Man becomes a machine. The strength of this conditioning increases also over the generations. Therefore, when external conditions change (partly due to human activity) a considerable amount of tension, conflict and suffering must take place before these entrenched habits are destroyed and re-adaptation becomes possible.

There is, however, an advantage to habit. Actions that take place automatically, like the animal instincts, are much faster than those that require thought. They are much more accurate and efficient and well adapted to particular situations as long as those remain the same. This is why training methods have been introduced specially in the West in order to create automatisms. The whole nation is also organized like a machine through rules, regulations, laws and bureaucracies in order that it may function automatically. The society is organized in a hierarchy in which we have a small number of people who do the thinking and the rest are like limbs, extensions of these people, like instruments and machines also are. They carry out the instructions. This, of course, has given the West an advantage over other peoples. It is the legacy of a professional priesthood and an organised Church. This Islam came to abolish in order to set men free. The responsibility of this freedom, however, has proved too great for mankind so far. On the other hand if the door had not been opened, there would never have been an escape.

(3) Having a mind, man also has the capacity to form mental attachments to things that give pleasure, and repulsions against what gives pain. Normally pain and pleasure are merely an index to what is harmful or beneficial. But when they become ends in themselves this gives rise to obsessions, addictions, phobias, greed, lust, pride, vanity, selfishness, prejudices, expectations, the tendency to boast and inflate oneself while belittling or defaming others, separating oneself by erecting mental barriers. These invert the impulses of hope, love and faith into fear, hate and delusion. These reinforce each other. The negation of these impulses produce hopelessness, apathy and doubt which also manifest as aggression, hostility, conflict, skepticism, cynicism, criticism, confusion, tensions, stresses and disease. They narrow down attention and consciousness, causing a form of hypnosis in which a person is controlled by the objects. We can have fantasies, wishful thinking, motives and actions base on these, and we can rationalize, make excuses, project blame, introject praise, divert, create red herrings, distort, self-deceive, exaggerate and suppress out of consciousness what we do not like. The mind disintegrates into mutually exclusive units in order to avoid contradictions. This leads to unstable, un-self-controlled and changeable behaviour according to which complex takes control, stimulated by the accident of circumstance. Inner conflict arises and we hide our own reality from ourselves substituting illusion, delusions and hallucinations (where one complex sees another as external to itself). Alienation occurs between man and himself, other human beings, the society, the real world and Allah. All these are mentioned in the Quran and attributed to Satan.

Worldly life, including Western Civilization is built mainly on the incentives provided by greed, lust, pride, vanity, laziness, gluttony, egotism and the competition, ambitions and aggression this creates. All these are propagated by an intensive campaign of propaganda, advertisement, pressure salesmanship and other modes of conditioning. But these impulses are also responsible for all the crimes, immorality, violence, injustices, diseases (organic, social and psychological) and other social and environmental malfunctions. Above all, it distorts the capacity for objective perception and thinking. It has become a trap, which imprisons the spirit and obstructs further spiritual development. On the other hand because commercial and political competition has also created the need for increasing education, science and technology, it has created a built-in developmental force in certain directions. Certain kinds of awareness have increased and the malfunctions themselves provide an incentive to solve the problems they create. Thus we see that even Satan was created for an ultimately good purpose.

Some of the ideas coming from the subconscious sub-rational level may well be mistaken for revelations by would-be Prophets. In particular the adulation of the followers causes many a teacher or guru to exaggerate his own capabilities and he starts to make big claims for himself. This gives rise to new cults. It takes a considerable amount of discernment, love of truth and self-control to differentiate between the super-rational and the sub-rational. This function can be performed by the rational faculty in so far as it functions correctly.

It is not the case that those who claim inspiration or revelation are necessarily right or wrong in all respects. People differ in their capacities and may have different proportions of inspiration, rationality and illusion. Some may be mostly right and inspired more often than others. And some may be better at differentiating between these sources than others. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) also made mistakes as recorded in the Quran itself, but he did differentiate between what came to him by revelation and that which did not. In times of trouble, caused by the dominance of the sub-rational mind, suffering increases and mental conditioning tends to break down. An increasing numbers of people then awake and look round for objective solutions. But the number of people of high quality diminishes the higher the quality, but the greater the numbers of followers they will eventually have, because their ideas being more objective will find greater resonance in the minds of people.

The purpose of knowledge is that it should modify thought, behaviour and being and be applied in action for a purpose which is defined in the value system. Here we have another triad. Apart from instincts and automatism, the spiritual impulses that drive actions are faith, love and hope.

Other relevant verses are 2:165,177,216 3:14,92 5:54 14:3, 19:96 76:27, 89:20,

Since Islam requires the personal growth of the individual by his own efforts (of study, effort and obedience, and by obtaining the guidance of Allah and of those who have knowledge, and it is Allah who provides the power and rewards the actions), there is no point in either accepting or rejecting what someone else says. It cannot do you any good. You have to understand it and make it your own. This is why it is a duty for every Muslim to seek knowledge. But it cannot be obtained unless a person has been purified from prejudices in perception, motives and actions. Certainly, the Quran has to be accepted in the sense that no one who does not do this, will carry out the instructions it recommends and cannot, therefore, reap the benefits. Those who do not know that the destination exists will never make the journey and they also need the map if they are not to get lost. The Quran is there not to be "believed" but to be used. This requires faith. But faith does not mean "blind belief" in Islam. It means that it is understood and sufficient confidence exists in it so that thought, motives and action are based on it. A person may know the theory of parachuting, but he has faith when he makes the jump. Nothing whatever is achieved without faith, and the greatness of achievements tends to be proportional to faith. It is a necessity of life. This is why disbelief is condemned in the Quran.

See also 4:155, 10:9, 45:4, 49:7,14,17, 51:20, 57:28, 58:22, 59:23, 63:2, 74:31,

You either know or you do not. Persistent doubt is a disease. The correct method of dealing with doubt is to seek knowledge and dispel it. Doubt like other kinds of suffering, is, therefore, good as a stimulus to effort. But clearly that in which we have doubt cannot be called knowledge. On the other hand, since knowledge is a progressive thing, it is not possible to be certain of anything at any given time. It could turn out to be untrue or only partially true later. We may also have misunderstood the Quran. Islam, therefore, requires only faith and trust in Allah and the journey towards Him. All other attachments are idolatry. With respect to all other statements the Muslim is expected to reserve his judgment according to the formula "insha allah" or "but Allah knows best".

It should be observed that none of this has to do with ritualism, dogmatism, legalism or institutionalism, though ritual, dogma, law and institution can be upheld at the level of Ilm. Action based on faith is at the higher level of Ayn, while true surrender is associated with Haqq.

Suppose we start with an original self-existing Reality, a Unity without parts. When this Unity looks at, or becomes aware of, itself, then it divides reality into an original triad - knower, knowledge and known (object). These can be similarly further divided. There is a correspondence between the three faculties of the three aspects of the knower:- for experience, reason and inspiration the three aspects of knowledge :- facts, meanings and values, the three aspects of the known world :- matter, life (or mind or energy) and order (or truth or spirit).

Facts refer to what we experience, usually data provided by the senses, but it could also apply to physiological feelings and mental ones such as images and thoughts.

Meanings refer to the processing of information - interpretation, relating and organizing. This is done by reason.

Values (morality, ethics) require consciousness, the perception of wholeness so that the parts are seen as having a function with respect to it. This wholeness is a revelation or inspiration or insight. If, for instance, we ask why not kill? We cannot find a rational argument for this. To reply "because one would be punished." is not a moral answer. We may then ask: why is one punished and why does one not want to be punished? Obviously, the answer would lie in such things as the instinct of self-preservation or natural sympathy or conscience that refer to the wholeness of the living organism and its awareness.

Reason, as we have seen, relates things. Whereas questions of facts can lead from isolated facts progressively to greater and greater synthesis, from parts to wholes, questions of value progress from the whole to parts. When traced back they always lead to God. But reason itself, which is a source of meaning, is based on certain axioms, which are assumed and cannot themselves be proved. They relate to how terms are defined and thinking is carried out.

No system of thought that considers only one of these aspects e.g. matter, can be sustained - matter has no meaning except in relation to consciousness and interaction or energy. Science, for instance, is not merely about the data of observation but also about thinking and insights. Communism, which based itself on materialism and ignored the role of ideas and of morality, collapsed because of its own contradictions.  

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