Returning Ilm Kalam to World Corpus of Knowledge

Shahidan RadimanNuclear Sc.Programme , School of Applied Physics ,

Faculty of Science and Technology, UKM Bangi 43600 , Selangor DE.E-mail: shahidan@ukm.edu.my

w w w . u k m . m y / f s t

Tauhidic Science Lectures for FST Undergraduates , UKM

Content of Talk1. Why is Kalam so important and

relevant to the modern world?2. The content of Kalam and real

world physics in relation to Knowledge of God ( Makrifah)

3. Islamisation of Knowledge through understanding the Quran Taqwini

4. The future and conclusions

EntréeScientism is not science. It is an ideology that is often confused with science. It is, rather, an abuse of the scientific method and scientific authority.Scientism can also be classified as a religion. It is a religion with many denominations: Darwinism, environmentalism, feminism, hedonism, humanism, Marxism, socialism, and so on. How many Americans now find their fulfillment and purpose in these movements? They celebrate Earth Day and Darwin Day. They boldly assert, "Science is my Savior.“

Also, scientism arrogantly attempts to lift itself above all other beliefs and disciplines -- philosophy and theology included. "Philosophy is dead," declared Stephen Hawking in his 2010 book The Grand Design. It is dead because, "Philosophy has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics.“

-Trevor ThomasReadmore: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/12/the_allure_and_danger_of_scientism.html#ixzz3Dj7Ejn32

1. Why is Kalam so important and relevant to the modern world?

Ilm al-kalam (literally 'the science of debate') denotes a discipline of Islamic thought generally referred to as 'theology' or (even less accurately) as 'scholastic theology'. The discipline, which evolved from the political and religious controversies that engulfed the Muslim community in its formative years, deals with interpretations of religious doctrine and the defence of these interpretations by means of discursive arguments.

The rise of kalam came to be closely associated with the Mu'tazila, a rationalist school that emerged at the beginning of the second century ah (seventh century ad) and rose to prominence in the following century. The failure of the Mu'tazila to follow up their initial intellectual and political ascendancy by imposing their views as official state doctrine seriously discredited rationalism, leading to a resurgence of traditionalism and later to the emergence of the Ash'ariyya school, which attempted to present itself as a compromise between the two opposing extremes. The Ash'arite school gained acceptability within mainstream (Sunni) Islam. However, kalam continued to be condemned, even in this 'orthodox' garb, by the dominant traditionally-inclined schools

In its later stages, kalam attempted to assimilate philosophical themes and questions, but the subtle shift in this direction was not completely successful. The decline of kalam appeared to be irreversible, shunned as it was by traditionalists and rationalists alike. Although kalam texts continued to be discussed and even taught in some form, kalam ceased to be a living science as early as the ninth century AH (fifteenth century AD). Attempts by reformers to revive it, beginning in the nineteenth century, have yet to bear fruit.

Classical definitions tended to emphasize the apologetic function of kalam, probably in order to appease traditionalist critics. Al-Iji speaks of 'a science which makes it possible to prove the truth of religious doctrines by marshalling arguments and repelling doubts' (al-Mawaqif: 7). Kalam, however, has also been the arena on which battles over what constituted true religious doctrine were fought between rival schools.

The subject of kalam, to quote al-Iji again, was 'knowledge on which the proofs of religious doctrines depend, directly or indirectly' (al-Mawaqif: 7). It was also said to deal with 'usul (basics), as opposed to furu' (subsidiary issues). These included the fundamentals of religious belief, such as God, his attributes and acts, the proofs of religious doctrines, the nature of the universe and our place in it.

Related to the issue of divine attributes was the issue of the Qur'an's creation. The Mu'tazila denied that God's words were eternal and affirmed that the Qur'an had to be created; this idea was accepted also by the Khawarij. However, the bulk of the traditionalists (and Ash'ariyya) rejected this view, arguing that one could not describe God's speech as created because this would mean that God was subject to changing states. Speech (kalam) was one of God's eternal attributes, and the Qur'an, being God's word, could not be said to be created or uncreated. Some early Shi'i theologians, in particular Hisham ibn al-Hakam (d. c. ah 200/ad 816), developed a more sophisticated version of the latter argument, saying that the Qur'an (or God's word) could not be described as creator, created or uncreated, because an attribute, being an adjective, could not have another adjective predicated of it. Similarly, one could not say about God's attributes that they were eternal or contingent.

Kalam generally dealt either with attempting to justify religious beliefs to reason, or with employing reason to draw new conclusions and consequences from these beliefs. Its doctrines comprise three major components: the articulation of what a school regarded as fundamental beliefs; the construction of the speculative framework within which these beliefs must be understood; and the attempt to give coherence to these views within the accepted speculative framework. The Ash'arite school, especially al-Juwayni and al-Ghazali, formally introduced the tools of Aristotelian logic into the methodology of kalam .This introduction of philosophical themes and methods and the employment of formal logic in the Aristotelian tradition represented a significant development in kalam. Prior to that, kalam arguments had used textual and linguistic analysis as their central tools. However, in spite of these forays into philosophical speculation and the employment of Aristotelian logic, kalam remained firmly anchored in a specifically Islamic framework. Authoritative texts were routinely cited to clinch an argument, while an accusation of heresy was thought to be a conclusive refutation of any argument.

Even without the help of philosophy, however, Ash'arism brought to kalam a trenchant scepticism that had a healthy impact on the field of rational argument. This scepticism was carried to great lengths by al-Ghazali, who used it to demolish the confused Neoplatonism of the Hellenizing philosophers. This approach had the potential to contribute much more to the advancement of knowledge than the dogmatic reiteration of philosophical theses, but that potential was not to be realized because the kalam practitioners were more interested in demolishing their opponents' arguments than in constructing viable alternatives.

[It is a crying shame that Ilm Kalam which has been used so potently against Muktazilites , Murjiites and Kharijites by AsShaari, al-Maturidi, al-Baqillani and other ahl Sunna wal Jamaah has not now been explored , researched and applied to solve contemporary problems in science, technology and society.]

The decline of kalam proceeded apace from the fifth century AH (eleventh century AD), settling by the ninth century AH (fifteenth century AD) into ossified dogmatic texts that, to paraphrase al-Ghazali, taught the dogma as well as its formal 'proof', which was not the same thing as proving it to be true. This decline of kalam became too apparent to ignore even by its practitioners. Al-Iji comments that the aversion to the discipline in his time meant that engaging in it had become 'among the majority a reprehensible thing' (al-Mawaqif: 4). Ibn Khaldun, another Ash'arite writing during the same period (c. ah 779/ad 1377), deplored the fact that kalam had deteriorated and become confused with philosophy, on top of being redundant because the heresies it was meant to combat had become extinct.

[With modern days “heresies” , kalam need a comeback to combat it]

Kalam was also undermined by the rise of pro-traditionalist tendencies within the discipline itself. It was difficult to reconcile vigorous rationalist discourse with the traditionalist position, which discouraged questioning in many key areas and even counselled the acquiescence in apparent contradictions. At another level, the resurgence of traditionalism under Ahmad ibn Hanbal and subsequent revivals under Ibn Taymiyya and his disciples was anti-kalam, rejecting not only its theses but its methods as anathema. Rearguard actions fought by Ash'arite and Maturidi scholars of the fifth to eighth centuries AH (eleventh to fourteenth centuries AD), failed to stem this tide and revive kalam. Finally, complementing the effect of traditionalism was the rise and popularity of Sufi mysticism . Although opposed by traditionalism, Sufism was also anti-rationalist and had also grown at the expense of kalam and philosophy.

However, in spite of the self-satisfaction on the part of orthodoxy, on the grounds that history has condemned the systems rejected by Islam as fatally flawed and confused, there can be no substitute for setting up a viable worldview and a defensible theology, which would remain fallible and incomplete but still an essential guide for life.

It would seem that if Islam is to continue as a living system, 'ilm al-kalam (or something like it) may need to be revived, so that progress towards Muslim self-understanding, interrupted some six centuries or so ago, can be resumed.

Abd Wahab al-Effendi in : http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H009.htm

2. The content of Kalam and real world physics in relation to Knowledge of God ( Makrifah)

Kalam Atomism

From its earliest inception in the second century of the hijra, kalām has always been fascinated with the theory of atoms. A cursory look at the relevant sections in al-Ash'ari's (d. 324/935) Maqālāt shows the center stage this issue took. And although the mutakallimīn disagreed about certain secondary issues regarding atomism (such as the minimum quantity of atoms required for a 'body', the quantity of atoms that a single atom is allowed to touch, and so forth), the broad theory was generally upheld by both the Mu'tazilites and Ash'arites.

The mutakallimīn posited that all matter is composed of identical, miniscule, indivisible particles (i.e., atoms), that are devoid of any quantitative or qualitative properties. They only acquire quantitative properties of width, height, and breadth when two or more of them unite (at which point it becomes a 'body'), and they only acquire qualitative properties when an 'accident' is created within it. An accident is something that exists above and beyond the actual body. It is an accident that gives each atom (and, thereby, each body) its specific qualities that separates it from other atoms (and bodies); qualities such as color, temperature, speed or rest, life, knowledge, power, and so forth. Such accidents must reside in the atom itself, in fact by definition an accident cannot exist except within an atom.

One of the most profound and unique contributions of the Ash'arites to the atomism debate was their proposition that 'No accident can last two successive instances of time.' In other words, as soon as an accident is created, it immediately ceases to exist. There is no continuity or connection between one moment in time and another. This means that if an object were to, say, remain in a state of rest, the accident of 'rest' must be continually created and re-created at each successive instant in time for the object to remain so. And, of course, it is only God who could create each and every accident on each and every body in each and every instance of time. The entire universe and all that transpires in it, according to the Ash'arites, must be directly controlled by God at each specific instance.

Another philosophical (albeit not original) contribution was the idea that time itself is composed of discrete and successive units, a type of 'atomic-time'. This was derived not only from Aristotle's notion that space, time and movement are all existentially equivalent, but also from the problem of trying to solve Zeno's paradox as applied to time.

These two positions necessarily leads to a denial of causality, meaning that the Ash'arites completely negated a cause-and-effect relationship between any two occurrences. Everything that occurred was disconnected, time and space, from anything preceding or following it. Even a body that remained a certain color did so because God continually re-created the accident of color in all of its atoms, at each instance in time (i.e., at each 'atomic-time' unit). A rock thrown at a window could not cause the window to shatter; an arm lifting a cup was not the cause of its lifting; the ingestion of food was not the cause of satiation; the proximity of fire to wool did not cause the wool to alight; and so forth. This is Kalam’s occasionalisme.

The Ash'arites (and in particular al-Ghazāli) later developed the theory of 'God's habitual character' or 'Ä dah, meaning that God had ordained upon Himself to act within certain norms.[11] Thus, an object that is at rest is recreated by God at the second instance still at rest, an object that is brought close to fire and is flammable shall be set alight by God not due to the fire, but because God's custom dictates so, and so on. This theory safeguarded the permanent order of the universe, and also explained the apparent 'causal' relationship in daily life. What man perceives as 'permanent' is merely God's habit ('Ä dah) manifesting itself, at each successive instant. Contingent events, which man perceives as having been subject to natural physical causes, are in fact the direct result of God's constant intervention.

One of the manisfestation of this atomism at the quantum level is the separation of an object with its property called the Quantum Cheshire Cat effect which was recently proven by experiments.

3. Islamisation of Knowledge through understanding the Quran Taqwini

"Even if We opened out to them a gate from heaven, and they were to continue (all day) ascending ( in a curve line) therein, (14)

They would only say: "Our eyes have been covered: Nay, we have been bewitched by sorcery." (Quran , 14:14-15)

So what can we conclude from reading this verse:

Man will someday conquer the universe (travel in space)The universe is a huge structure (it has a building block)Motion in the universe can't be in straight line (because mass make

space-time curved) The universe is engulfed by darkness (dark matter + dark energy)

Astronomers say that today's huge galaxies are the result of merging small building-block galaxies in the early Universe. Now, they have detected for the first time 9 such "bricks" with the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer.

"These are among the lowest mass galaxies ever directly observed in the early Universe" said Nor Pirzkal of the European Space Agency/STScI.

See: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Astronomers-Have-Discovered-the-Building-Blocks-of-the-Universe-64919.shtml

The expansion of the Universe is one of the most imposing discoveries of modern science. Today it is a firmly established concept and the only debate centers around the way this is taking place.It was first suggested by the general theory of relativity and is backed up by physics in the examination of the galactic spectrum; the regular movement towards the red section of their spectrum may be explained by the distancing of one galaxy from another. Thus the size of the Universe is probably constantly increasing and this increase will become bigger the further away the galaxies are from us. The speeds at which these celestial bodies are moving may, in the course of this perpetual expansion, go from fractions of the speed of light to speeds faster than this.

The following verse of the Qur'an (sura 51, verse 47) where God is speaking, may perhaps be compared with modern ideas:"The heaven, We have built it with power. Verily. We are expanding it.“

'Heaven' is the translation of the word sama' and this is exactly the extra-terrestrial world that is meant. 'We are expanding it' is the translation of the plural present participle musi'una of the verb ausa'a meaning 'to make wider, more spacious, to extend, to expand'.

The science of modern cosmology, observational and theoretical, clearly indicates that, at one point in time, the whole universe was nothing but a cloud of ‘smoke’ (i.e. an opaque highly dense and hot gaseous composition). This is one of the undisputed principles of standard modern cosmology. Scientists now can observe new stars forming out of the remnants of that ‘smoke’ . The illuminating stars we see at night were, just as was the whole universe, in that ‘smoke’ material. God has said in the Quran:

“Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke...” (Quran 41:11)

Because the earth and the heavens above (the sun, the moon, stars, planets, galaxies, etc.) have been formed from this same ‘smoke,’ we conclude that the earth and the heavens were one connected entity. Then out of this homogeneous ‘smoke,’ they formed and separated from each other. God has said in the Quran:

“Have not those who disbelieved known that the heavens and the earth were one connected entity, then We separated them?...” (Quran 21:30)

Water is essential for all living things. We all know that water is vital to life but the Quran makes a very unusual claim:

We made every living thing from water? Will they not believe? (Quran 21:30)

In this verse water is pointed out as the origin of all life. All living things are made of cells. We now know that cells are mostly made up of water. For example, 80% of the cytoplasm (basic cell material) of a standard animal cell is described as water in biology textbooks. The fact that living things consist mostly of water was discovered only after the invention of the microscope.

In the deserts of Arabia, the last thing someone would have guessed is that all life came from water.

Iron is not natural to the earth. It did not form on the earth but came down to earth from outer space. This may sound strange but it’s true. Scientists have found that billions of years ago the earth was stuck by meteorites. These meteorites were carrying Iron from distant stars which had exploded .The Quran says the following on the origin of Iron:

“We sent down Iron with its great inherent strength and its many benefits for humankind.” (Quran 57:25)

God uses the words ‘sent down’ for Iron. It is clear from the verse that Iron is not an earthly material, but was sent down for the benefit of humanity. The fact that Iron came down to earth from outer space is something which could not be known by the primitive science of the 7th century.

The sky protects the earth from the lethal rays of the sun. If the sky did not exist then the sun’s radiation would have killed off all life on earth. It also acts like a blanket wrapped around the earth, to protect it from the freezing cold of space. The temperature just above the sky is approximately -270 C. If this temperature was to reach earth then the planet would freeze over instantly. The sky also protects life on earth by warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes between day and night. These are some of the many protective functions of the sky.

The Quran asks us to consider the sky in the following verse:

“We made the sky a protective ceiling. And yet they are turning away from Our signs!” (Quran 21:32)

The Quran points to the sky’s protection as a sign of God. The protective properties of the sky were discovered by scientific research conducted in the 20th century.

The Quran draws our attention to a very important characteristic of mountains:“Did We not make the earth a resting place? And the mountains as stakes?” (Quran 78:6-7)The Quran indicates that mountains have deep roots by using the word stakes to describe them. In fact mountains do have deep roots, and the word stakes is an accurate description for them. A book entitled ‘Earth’ by geophysicist Frank Press explains that mountains are like stakes, and are buried deep under the surface of the earth. Mount Everest (pictured below), the height of which is approximately 9 km above ground, has a root deeper than 125 km.

The fact that mountains have deep ‘stake’ like roots was not known, until after the development of the theory of plate tectonics in the beginning of the 20th century.

4. The future and conclusions

As more and more of the scientific miracles of Quran are being elucidated and proven , Kalam which connects this knowledge with God , His Names and Attributes and His Actions need to be “revived” so that the bonds of continuity between the Creator (Allah s.w.t) - the Created ( Universe ) - Man being the Barzakh (khalifah) can be understood in the light of scientific enquiries, guide it through the right path and achieve ubudiyyah (servanthood) as the end of scientific endeavour.

Kalam is then the mujahadah of the Aql , whereas another complimentary method i.e Sufism is the mujahadah of the heart.

The strong anthropic principle (SAP) as explained by John D. Barrow and Frank Tipler states that the Universe is compelled, in some sense, to eventually have conscious and sapient life emerge within it. Critics of the SAP argue in favor of a weak anthropic principle (WAP) similar to the one defined by Brandon Carter, which states that the universe's ostensible fine tuning is the result of selection bias: i.e., only in a universe capable of eventually supporting life will there be living beings capable of observing and reflecting upon any such fine tuning, while a universe less compatible with life will go unbeheld. Most often such arguments draw upon some notion of the multiverse for there to be a statistical population of universes to select from and from which selection bias (our observance of only this Universe, apparently compatible with life) could occur.

There is a need to explain Anthropic Cosmological Principle from Islamic viewpoint via Kalam

The Ads/CFT Correspondence

The duality represents a major advance in our understanding of string theory and quantum gravity. This is because it provides a non-perturbative formulation of string theory with certain boundary conditions and because it is the most successful realization of the holographic principle.

On one side of the correspondence are conformal field theories (CFT) which are quantum field theories, including theories similar to the Yang–Mills theoriesthat describe elementary particles. On the other side are anti-de Sitter spaces(AdS) which are used in theories of quantum gravity, formulated in terms of string theory or M-theory.

We need a Kalam approach to explaining this correspondence , especially to such question as the holographic principle , “what was before Big Bang” , how to understand the Multiverse , Planckscale physics and other frontier research.

It is the search for meanings and connection with the Creator.

Thank you very muchfor your attention !

وهللا أعلُم بالـصـواب