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ANSI\ It I
THE
'1'1II': BEACON LI GHT FORGOTTEN PATH OF KNOWLED GE
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further and higher information ab out the chemical consti referred to just now, con tented and happy with the know
tuents and properties, But all those who were there were ledge of a few properties of a few flowers, or, to use the
enj oying the little discussion, and, finding them in their en words of a great scientist, "a few pebbles on the shore"?
joyment, I asked them: "Did these flowers come into exis T~i:iay, the teachers of natural science hardly tell their
tence by themselves, or someone else created them?" students,anything about the Great Architect who made all
There were different answers . Among the agencies held the things they investigate, and our great colleges and Iabora
responsible, were mentioned: the planter, the sower, the - .
tories of science have simply ruled out the very thought
irrigator, and the "mother earth". But when questioning of the Supreme Creator. In the discussions (If moral philoso
ultimat ely exhausted the material causes, all cried out that phy we come across sometimes the idea of God, and certain
G od created them. schools of metaphysics refer to His Existence. But is there
any school, an y U niversity, any Laboratory. which devotes
Thi s was a new conception.s--a conception of reality itself to the Really Real, to the discussion of His Attributes
which is above and beyond the chain of causes, which is the and His Person, and to the knowledge of the ways and
uncaused First Cause. And how did we arrive at it? We means of attaining nearness to Him? If such institutions
arrived by considering the physic al world itself and . by do not exist, (and they do not exist in fact). would it not
plunging into the problem of its origin . Our investigation be true to say that those who claim to pos sess great intellects
into the physical phenomena ult imat ely led us to God. are actually behaving like children? They are playing with
the toys and running after the shcdows, and have abandoned
At this point r invited the att ention of my friends to the the search for the Great Reality which should have been
fact that if the rose flower was so enchanting, how beauti their goal of investigation. Ar d, not only have they for
ful and perfect must be He Who made it, Who brought saken the road which leads to the knowledge of God,
it into existen ce? they have also forgotten the deeper paths which lead to the
true understanding of human personality itself.
The little children who were with me could not show
much interest in this because of their limited intelligence Before his death, Aristotle left an advice for posterity
and undeveloped consciousness. But the elderly persons and ordered it to be inscribed on the walls of his academy.
became thoughtful and appreciated the point. Other great men, before him and after him, gcve the same
advice. The advice was:
Now, in this garden which we e-.1I the world. is it not a o Man know thyself!
fact that there are persons who, in spite of their powerful
intellects and their claim to be expert physicists and meta The purpose of the advice was and is that we should
physicists, behave no better than the children whom I try to understand our own selves, should discover and culri
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vate those powers which have been given to us for penetrat But, here a question arises: "is man only an aggregate
ing the reality of things, an d should ultimately attain to of bones and"tlesh T" If it is so, even the dead man possesses
the knowledge of God . flesh and bones. But we call him a dead body, and do not
consider him tho whole man . Our very first thought about
But, how many ? re those in the world who pay their a dead human body makes us feel that there was something
attention to this problem today? People do go to the houses essential which is no more there . That someth ing was life.
of worship. But in most cases their approach is formal and And we ate sure that it is not only the flesh and the bones but
ritualistic. Do they achieve the end for which worship has life also which combined together can be properly called
been instituted? Are there any persons who have devoted man.
themselves to these problems ?
Now, what is life? When we speak this word, we are
confronted' with a number of conceptions, and the fact is
Dear readers! The importance which a thing enjoys
in human life, its knowled ge shall also enjoy the same im that we, in spite of all our scientific researches, have so
portance, and those who possess that kn owledge shall also far failed in discovering the "reality of life ."
be graded accordingly.
The word "soul" is only a name. What the soul actually
is and how it is to be defined, the scientific world h2.S not
Similarly, if man is superior to all created things, the succeeded so far in telling us that.
importance and status of the knowledge whi ch relates to
him and the posses sors of that kn owledge, must be assessed. Our great scientists are silent on this problem. Either
accordingly. they are, so to say, playing with external things and do not
pay attention to the basic reality at all, or they pay attention
There are two aspects of the kno wledge about man. and find themselves incompetent.
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One aspect is physical, and refers to his physical constitu
tion, nutrition and the abnormalities to which his physique Huxley, who enjoy s a distinct status in the fields of
becomes subject sometimes. This last item of investigation science and philosophy, admits in clear words that : " Abo ut
gives birth to the science of medicine. Those who devote the soul we cannot say anything more than th at it is the
themselves to this science are called physicians. There ill no name of a supposed state".
doubt that the science of human cure is a noble science and
ranks high in importance and those who devote themselves We might now ask: if we fail in discovering our O\\TI
to it also deserve great resp ect if their motive ill that of reality by emp irical means and if we feel contented with
service and not purely selfish, that failure can we be regarded to have been faithful to tho
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natural yearnin g for knowledge existing in us? This yearn and logical deduction. Nay, that Path of Knowledge is
ing requires us not to confine our efforts to certain pre entirely different. It is a path of direct perception. The
conceived means but to employ all other means available. knowledge emanates from the "Great Reality" and descends
For, without th at basic knowled ge, we can neither consider upon the human heart in a special spiritual manner. We
ourselves no r our knowledge as perfect. have, of course, the right to judge it with our reason and to
see to it that it is not mere 'dogma' or 'mystery' but some
If we go further, we come across the next problem, '~ thing real and true, whenever anyone gives it to us and
that is, the probl em of knowin g the great "source of life" " I
claims that he has received it direct from God.
or, in the language of Sir Oliver Lodge, the Unknown.
That is the point where the scient ists and the philosophers However, before accepting it, my readers shall surely
stop , after the ir strenuous search of causal connection, and like to know the nature of Wahy (Revelation) and Ilham
at best describe it as the Cau se of all cau ses or the Primary (Inspiration). They would like to understand that they are
Intellect. not synonymous with superstition but something tangible
and real. They would further like to know the criterion with
The fact is that there are numerous universities in the which to judge the genuineness of certain claims regarding
world. They have separate faculties for teaching the various Revelation. Then, they would like to know whether Revela
subjects like history, geography, physics, chemistry, ma tion has reference only to the world of 'abstract things' or
thematics, etc. They have separate laboratories for scientific whether it can also relate to our practical life and can
research. But is ther e any such university or college or school contribute to our practical well-being. If it is so, it will
where man could receive proper instruction about the become necessary to pay attention to it and to take practical
reality of his "Inner Self" , an d about the " Great Reality" steps for the acquisition of that knowledge. The acquisition
which pervades the whole un iverse 7 How can the gates of of that knowledge will further necessitate a complete and
this knowledge be opened? Where can we find the Path comprehensive course of Instruction.
of this Knowled ge ? tJ
i So far we have been trying to re-discover the "Forgotten
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Allow me to say, and to say with all the force at my Path of Knowledge". Now we shall probe into the nature
command, that there is only ONE Institution where this of Divine Revelation and Spiritual Perception and the
kn owledge Can be obtained, namely, the Institution of ways and means relating to them .
Revealed Religion.
We have been blessed with different organs for the pur
The information which is given to us there is not based pose of knowing material things, and everyone of these
on whim an d fancy, guess and conjecture, sense-perception organs has a distinct function. With regard to these organs
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the physiologist finds himself confronted with a very but you hear. Your tongue is not moving, but you speak.
vital question, namely, whether they ate self-motivated, or You walk. You are active. You eat and drink. You have the
they are merely mediums for some faculty which works feelings of happiness and grief, of heat and cold, of sweet and
behind them. bitter tastes . You are subject to hopes and fears. In short,
you have all those experiences which you have in your
When we consider these organs We find that they have waking life. And not only that you have those experiences,
different functions divided among themselves. Every indivi but you can also remember them just like your experiences
dual organ performs only that function for which it is meant, in waking state.
and this "specialisation of function" exists in such rigid
form that if a certain organ is compelled to perform some You call this state the "state of dream". But who is
function for which it is not meant, it will not perform it the actual subject of this state? Is it we ourselve. Of someone
and will, moreover, get spoiled very soon. Thus, the tongue else? And, if we ourselves are its subject, does it not clearly
only tastes and does not see; the eyes only see and do not show that while we possess the power to perform actions
smell; the ears only hear and do not speak; the hands only with the help of our organs and to derive experience from it,
grip and cannot perform the function of the feet. We can have similar experience without employing those
organs'?
Now, we are confronted with a questicn: Do we ever
experience any such state in our life when our conscious One might say that we started with a talk of reason
ness is active and we have perceptions while our organs and consciousness' and now we are discussing things which
of knowledge are inactive? I would remind you in this co 11 are dreamy. And, about the dreams, one might think
nection of your state when, after the day's tail, you are that just as in our waking state, thoughts come and wander
resting on.your soft bed, your eyes are closed, your hands about our minds and make us happy Or grieved, similarly,
and feet are enjoying a well-earned repose, your ears are during our sleep, though our organs of sensation are inac
indifferent to the sounds vibrating around them, your tive, yet our digestive organs and the heart are active, and
the imaginative faculty is active teo,-and, therefore, all
muscles are relaxed; in short, your whole phys ical being
those experiences which we have in our dreams are merely
is in a state of inactivity. This inactivity increases until
phantoms of thought and nothing more.
you are plunged in "deep sleep" and become fully dis
sociated in your consciousness from the physical world.
We might stay in this thought for a moment. But let us
transport our imagination from the physical world to that
You are asleep. You are, evidently, in a state of uncon
vast world which is called the "World of Thought". In that
sciousness. But it is a strange type of unconsciousness.
world We transcend time, and we get this experience of trans
Your eyes are closed, but you see. Your ears are inactive,
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cending nrne on a vaste r scale during our dreams. How often people like to call it the imaginative faculty and consider
it happens that we close our eyes at 12 O'Clock and in our the bra in as its seat. But we shoul d try to go further. If we
dream we pass through a vast panorama of events in the analyse the state of sleep, we will find that sometimes,
background of the past and we experience things in the during this state, we get certain stray and un-coordinated
perspective of the future. And when we have finished our experiences like those we have while day-dreaming. But
journey on the long road of time, and open our eyes, and sometimes our experience is highly integrated and has a
cast a glan ce at th e clock on the wall in front of us, we meaning. It may be compared to that experience
find th at we have been asleep only, say, for 10 minutes. in waking life when we close our faculties of perception
What is this mystery? If all this is mere thought, does from all sides; concentrate our thought and focus it power
t hought also possess the power whereby we may be able fully on a fixed point; dive deep into th e infinite ocean of
to see the events of the past and the future with full con tho ught, and find ourselves tra nsported to a world which
sciousness, while OUf sense-organs are in a state of suspen is very much of a different character tha n this mate: ial
sion of activity? world in which we live and move.
One might consider it the work of the "imaginative The scient ist, when he is absorbed in his scientific pur
faculty". The exactness of this term may not be challenged suit and concentrates with full effort on a certain problem
just now . It may, however, be remarked in passing that in the penetrates into the mysteries and brings back to us valuable
term inology ofthe experts ofmetaphysical and psycho logical gems of knowledge.
prob lems, the experience which one has in the state of deep
sleep when even the imaginative faculty becomes virtually The Philosopher fastens to h is being the wings of logical
suspended, is termed as a flash of Spiritual Consciousness. premises; closes his mind to all ulterior considerations;
That is, the perception which one has in such a state 19 soars into the vast expanse of thought and opens before us
"spiritual perception" if it is free from those elements new and fascinating p aths .
which should be considered as products of imagination.
We have not yet arrived at that stage of discussion. Hence This has been mentioned here only to invite attention
we might first consider the problem that "the knowledge to the fact that the preliminary condi tion of research in the
of oneself can be based only on the knowledge of one's domain of higher realities is complete concentration and
qualities or attributes". undivided interest. It is this , again, which gives us great
discoveries in the domains of science and philosophy.
We just realised that in our being there is a faculty which It is this whereby the mesmeriser and the hypnotiser brings
can help us in traversing certain stages of consciousness about a transformation in the "thought-world" of his
and perception without employing the sense organs. Some subject. Thus the suspen sion of the activity of sense-organs
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and the complete concentration of mind is the starting point from its cultivation. We will try to understand it through
of our activity on the path of knowledge. an illustration:
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If anyone questions us about the taste of the orange, us and we will receive the clear perception of truth. More
try as we may, but we will not be able to translate the exact 'over, as pointed out at the very outset, knowledge is a means
taste and its inherent pleasant quality into words. We and not an end, and the immediate end Is the attainment
know it ourselves as a direct experience but words cannot of good and avoidance of evil.
define and express that experience or the experience of a
spiritual reality like the Divine Attributes. We can only Islam has defined Worship by saying, in the words of
have the experience but we cannot describe it truly. As the Holy Qur an:
for its genuineness and its beauty, even those who confine
their effort to the very first exercise mentioned before "Verily Prayer safeguards against indecencies and evil
can have an experience of it which is simply unique. actions; and, indeed, God's remembrance is the greatest
(good.)".
But, remember, the ultimate aim is not only the ex
perience of the taste and its pleasantness. lfwe eat an orange Thus, if the process of focussing attention upon God
we will not only add to the experiences of our tongue, continues and this exercise is performed at certain intervals
but We will at the same time provide nourishment to our during the day and the night, even though for short
body which will ultimately help us in performing great moments. it will nroduce a two-fold result. On the one hand,
many things. In the same way, though not as a perfect we shall have a realisation of our own selves, a clear grasp
analogy, when we perform the spiritual exercise mentioned of the reality of the soul, and a perception of the Attributes
above our spiritual faculty will develop. And, just as the of the Supreme Being. On the other hand, our belief in God
development of physical power gives us the strength to that He is the Creator of the Universe and that He is Ornni
OVercome infirmities and attacks of diseases and enables present and Omniscient, WIll be transformed from mere
us to enjoy a more complete physical existence, we will words into a practical and living reality. which will ulti
gain in spiritual power by focussing your attention on God mately become a sure means for witholding us from com
with single-minded concentration. This increase in spiritual mitting cruelities, injustices and indecencies and, in fact,
power will lead us towards spiritual perfection which will all those deeds which take us away from the higher levels
manifest itself in high and sublime morals and will. enable of humanity or bring us down to the beastly standards.
us to fight tho se diseases which arise in the moral sphere.
And the more we advance on that path, the nearer we will ' Dear Readers! Every teacher of physical sciences urges
be to the concept of the "Perfect Man". his students to perform practical experiments after they
have learnt the theory, and it is those experiments in the
This is the "Forgotten Path of Knowledge". If we tra Laboratory which make the knowledge of ~ ~le student
verse this path, the doors of real knowledge will open before ultimately perfect. Similarly, when we teach metaphysics
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ALEElVllYAH MEMORIAL SERIES:
in the schoo l of Religion an d give th eor etical exp lanations
of such rea lities as so ul o r G od, we invite human ity to th e WHY RE LI GI ON?-- S.Z. Hasan
PR,INCIPLES OF ISLAM-M. A.A . Siddi qui
sp iritual labor ato ry and tell th em abo ut the methods o f Q PEST FOR TRUE H AP PIl' U:SS- M .A.A. S iddiqui.
performing pract ical experiments . Let it be empha sised that ISL AM versus M ARXISM-F.R. Ansari
j ust as we can test th e co rrectness of the scientific theory WH AT IS I SI ,AM ?-F. R . Ansa ri
abo ut water by pr act ically preparing water with the help ISLAM AND CHRISTIANI TY lJ.~ THE MODERN
of oxygen and hydro gen , we can simila rly test the th eory WO RLD- F.R . Ansari
SH AVIAN AND A THEOLOGIAN-A n Illuminating
of religion regardin g W OI ship an.d its p ractical results in discussion 0 11 Islam between G.B . Shaw and M.A.A.
reforming o ur moral life and in illuminating our personali Siddiqui
ty. But before expe rimenting wit h th e exercise to which SCIE NCE AND GOD- S. Shamim Ahmad
reference has been mad e, it is necessary to have th e theoret i SCIENTIFIC RELIG ION OR REVERENT SCIENCE
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INTRODUCING THE AUTHOR
Every religion and every ideology has in every age its
great expon ents who per sonify in a distinguished manner
the cause they cheri sh and uphold and whose labours for
that cau se form land-mark s in human history. One such
great personality of recent times was His Eminence Maulana
Shah Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddiqui Al-Qaderi (R .A.).
Born in the Pak-Bharat sub-continent, his noble soul soared
beyond the limitations of territory and race. Imbibing
Islamic as well as Western education, he rose to combine
the best in ancient and modern disciplin es and became a
distinguished expon ent of the message of orthodox Islam
to modern humanity. With these great qualities of head
and heart. he travell ed continuously for forty year s from
town to town, country to conn try and continent to conti
nent , until his labours of love for the spiritual reform and
uplift of humanity covered a major part of the world .
Millions of hum an sou ls belon ging to divers ra ces and na
tionalities in Asia, Africa, Europe and America received
spiritual blessings th rou gh his dynamic and refulgent per- .
son ality and numerous Islamic missionary societies, mos
ques , schools, ho spital, libraries, infirmaries, orphanages
and period icals spra ng up in the wake of his immortal
missionary labours. He worked with single-minded devo
tion for the cause of Islam and humanity until his noble
soul returned to Allah's Mercy at Medina in 1954.
Ferozsons, Karachi.