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7/29/2019 What Matters the Most

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WHAT MATTERS THE MOST JUNAID FAROOQ

REVIVAL OF FAITH ACADEMY Page 1

WHAT MATTERS THE MOST

(Comparison between different philosophies about human self and human nature)

By

JUNAID FAROOQ

Student at:National Institute of Technology Srinagar (B.Tech)

Islamic Online University (B.A in Uloom al-deen)

[email protected]

facebook.com/zargarjunaid

REVIVAL OF FAITH ACADEMY


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WHAT MATTERS TH

REVIVAL OF FAITH ACADEMY

Question: What is the reali

the human with universe?

Founding fathers of the ph

Marx and Machiavelli.

1.(Charl

"Ifmen were rearedcan hardly be a doubt t

think it a sacred duty to

fertile daughters, and

Descent of Man and Sel

p. 99.]

Impact: The implicatio

anywhere in the univer

man with all his reason

chance. Religion, ethic

are the outcome of the

impulses. This theory

disciplines of biology,

etc

2. William McDougallTheory: Humanity is a

(natural biological pre

movers of all his action

Impact: He means that

alone and distinguish

politics, knowledge, ar

satisfaction of instincts

and his offspring and

nature. In fact, McDo

instincts.

E MOST JU

y of human self and human nature? Wha

losophies of West: Darwin, McDougall,

Darwin: (12 February 1809 19 April 1

s Darwin in 1868)

nder precisely the same conditions ashat our unmarried females would, like

kill their brothers, and mothers would

o one would think of interfering." [Cha

ction in Relation to Sex. Second Edition.

s of his theory are that no thoughtful

e. It is all random. Even the existence

, conscience and love for ideals is a mer

, knowledge, philosophy, politics and ar

ction and reaction of animal desires an

is taught all over the world in th

edicine, history, psychology, philosoph

(22 June 1871 28 November 1938):

form of animality. Man is an animal

ssure to act in a particular direction

.

the higher activities of man which ar

him from the animal, for example, r

and love of ideals etc have originate

i.e. to assure the continuation of the life

have no higher source or purpose to

gall has tried to prove that the sour

AID FAROOQ

Page 2

is the relation of

reud, Adler, Karl

882)

hive-bees, therethe worker-bees,

trive to kill their

rles Darwin. The

New York. 1882,

plan is at work

f

e

t

e

nd his instincts

) are the prime

specific to him

ligion, morality,

d in and for the

of the individual

serve in human

ce of all this is


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3. Sigmund Freud (6 May 1856 23 September 1939):Theory: Human psyche could be divided into three parts: Id

(unconscious mind), ego (conscious mind) and super-ego

(moral law of society). Unconscious mind is the actual human

personality. The conscious mind is nothing but a small portion

of the unconscious mind which has risen up to observe the

external world.

The unconscious mind contains a storm of desire which is

sexual in nature and every man and woman wishes to gratify it endlessly. So the

source of ideals for humans is sexual desire. The unconscious mind can satisfy

the sexual desires through the conscious self alone. So it forces the conscious

self to strive for sex and the conscious is obliged to do so. But the pressure from

the society prevents this. This results in a clash of Id and super-ego and the manfaces depression and anxiety. To prevent this and divert the attention of man

from his real purpose (sex), the society takes certain measures like invention of

religion, morality, philosophy, science, art etc.

Thus Freud tells us that man can achieve full satisfaction only when he stops the

unsuccessful attempts to compensate for his sexual desire (like religion). He has

to come out of the innovations of the society and fulfill his sexual desire.

Popularity: Freuds theory is a part of curriculum of universities worldwide.

Thousands of books have been written and are being written day and night on it

on the name of modern psychology. The propagation of this theory haseliminated the restrictions imposed by the society and religion on sex in the

west. The people commonly believe that these restrictions are harmful for

health, cause mental disorders and to adhere to them unscientific and illogical.

Impact: Obscenity, sex literature, pornography, sex cults, women merely a sex

object.

4. Alfred W.Adler (February 7, 1870 May 28, 1937):Theory: Adler, a student of Freud, believes that the

storm of desire which is surging in the unconscious isnot sexual love but love for self assertion. Purpose of

mans whole struggle is to fight the inferiority complex

and assert himself over others. He disdains religion,

morality, philosophy, science and art etc considering

them innovations of the society and their value and

worth as illusory. Source of ideals is the love for self

assertion.

If Freud considers man as a brute dominated by sex, Adler thinks him to be a

devil suffering from the incurable disease of asserting himself over others.


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5. Karl Heinrich Marx (5 May 1818 14 March 1883) :Theory: There is neither mind nor Allah. The only reality is

matter. Matter passed through (physical, chemical &

biological) evolution reaching the human stage. After

reaching the human stage the evolution is that of the

economic conditions of the human society. The real purpose

of human struggle is satisfaction of the needs of food,

clothing and shelter.

When man can not satisfy these needs he invents deceptions

and play-things like Allah, religion, philosophy, politics, science, art etc to

compensate for them mentally. Economic conditions are the source for ideals.

Satisfaction of economic need remains incomplete due to moral and spiritualvalues.

Marx uses Darwins theory of evolution describing the evolution from the

beginning of life to rise of man. But Marxs theory of Historical Materialism

tries to take if further. According to him the mechanical forces, which resulted in

biological evolution, are taking the evolution further on human plane. The

climax of the evolution is a universal socialist revolution.

Impact: Marx presented socialism as a philosophy. This philosophy resulted in

communist revolution of Russia at the hands of Lenin, himself a philosopherimpressed by Marx. The shockwaves of this revolution spread throughout the

world, making nearly half of it socialist. It was believed that only socialism can

solve the economic problems of man. But time has proven it untrue.

6. Niccol di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 21June 1527):

Theory: This Italian philosopher was the founder of the

philosophy of nationalism. He gave it a form of social

philosophy, believing that the protection and progress of the

state is the greatest aim of mans life and source of his ideals.

Therefore, religion and morality must be subservient to it

and it is legitimate, even necessary, for a ruler to employ perfidy, treachery and

cruelty to whatever extent he can if the interests of the state demand so.

According to Machiavelli, the only importance of religion is the emotional

support which the state authorities can get for whatever they do to strengthen

the state.Machiavelli explains repeatedly that religion is man-made, and that thevalue of religion lies in its contribution to social order and the rules of morality


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must be dispensed if security required it. While fear of God can be replaced by

fear of the prince, if there is a strong enough prince, Machiavelli felt that having

a religion is in any case especially essential to keeping a republic in order. For

Machiavelli, a truly great prince can never be conventionally religious himself,

but he should make his people religious if he can.

Impact: Machiavelli's ideas had a profound impact on political leaders

throughout the modern west, helped by the new technology of the printing press

and media. Scholars have argued that Machiavelli was a major indirect and

direct influence upon the political thinking of the Founding Fathers of the United

States: Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson.

The impacts of the Machiavelli's ideas can be felt by observing the existence of

the national states in West and the methods of the European politicians and

leaders and their Asiatic and African followers for its protection and progress inwhich they treat other nations cruelly in different ways in the name of religion,

morality, virtue, civilization, human justice, nobility, freedom, war against

terrorism etc. All this is the result of teachings and preachings of this

philosopher.

Falsehood on the part of politicians is considered an art named as diplomacy,

statesmanship and propaganda. Every national state safeguards its own

interests, damaging the interests of other nations for this purpose. Jealousy and

hatred are common among nations. Even if they believe in Allah/religion, their

claim is nominal and superficial. The Muslim World divided into a number of

small nation states testifies to that.

!

]


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Dr Mohammad Rafiuddin

Dr Mohammad Rafiuddin,born in Jammu in 1904, is considered to be one of the

greatest muslim philosophers in the 20th century. He

passed Intermediate Examination in Science ,Honours

in Persian, got Masters in Arabic (1929), Ph.D in

Philosophy (1949) and D.Litt in Educational

Philosophy (1965). In his early career he taught

Arabic and Persian in Sri Pratap College, Srinagar

(1929-32) and Prince of Wales College , Jammu (1933-

46) where he wrote his widely acclaimed book "

Ideology of the Future". He was selected as Principal

of Sri Karan Singh College, Mirpur in 1946 where he worked for one year. He served

as Research officer in Department of Islamic Reconstruction Pakistan from 1948 to

1949 and Institute of Islamic Culture from 1950 to 1953. He remained Director of

Iqbal Academy Pakistan from 1953 to 1965. After his retirement from Iqbal

Academy he founded All Pakistan Islamic Education Congress in 1966. In

Novemeber 1969 he met a fatal road accident in Karachi. He was inspired by Iqbal

and was the greatest interpreter of him. He also inspired Dr. Israr Ahmad, who

acknowledged being benefitted a lot from his books, especially Ideology of the

future and Quran aur Ilm -e- Jadeed.

His important contributions to Muslim thought include:

Books in English:

1) Ideology of the future

2) Manifesto of Islam

3) First Principles of Education

4) Fallacy of Marxism

5) The Meaning and Purpose of Islamic Research

Books in Urdu:

1) Quran aur Ilm -e- Jadeed

2) Hikmat-e-Iqbal

Periodicals, Journals :

1) Hikmat-e-Quran


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2) Islamic Education

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The Analysis of Human Nature by Dr Muhammad Rafi-ud-Din

The Analysis of human nature two levels of natural human desires

We now need to analyse in detail what mans nature means and what is the

character of his natural love? Mans nature means his instinctive desires. They havetwo levels as follows.

a. The Lower Desires of Man

Firstly, the desires on the animals or biological level, e.g. feeding, sex, fear, or dislike

of things which are harmful to the maintenance of life and liking for things which

aid in its maintenance and are favorable for it etc. These Desires of man are

common to him and the animals below him in the scale of evolution because man is

also an animal, though a rational one. The Purpose of these desires is to enable man

to preserve his life and race. Therefore they have an internal biological compulsionwhich compels him to seek their satisfaction. If this completion had not been there

in these desires, man would have ignored them because of which life and that of his

race would have been in danger. These desires of man, which have an internal

biological compulsion and are common to him and the animals, have been given the

name of instincts.

If man only had these desires in him, there wouldnt have been need for any

prophets to satisfy them because he would also have satisfied them as does an

animal under compulsion. Then, why should man have been a human being; he

would have been only an animal and called no more than an animal.

b. The Higher Desires of Man

Secondly, those desire which are of a level higher than that of the biological level. It

is this level of his desires which differentiates man from the animal. It is the Special

privilege of man which is not shared by other animals. The desires of this level are

not biological but physiological in nature. In other words, their aim is not the

development of the body but that of the soul or the human self. All the desires on

this level are sub-ser-vi-cent to one desire alone. Thus it will be correct to say that

there is virtually only one desire on this level. This desire takes the form of an

intense love for a beautiful ideal (i.e. an ideal to which a person may ascribe the

limit or beauty and perfection, whether it may exist in it or not).

(Thus Dr M Rafiudeen says that the love of ideals is the basic, greatest and intrinsic

desire of human self. It is not the outcome of Darwins chance, McDougalls instincts,

Freuds sex, Marxs hunger or Machiavellis nationalism. Love of Ideals overpowers

them all. This can be observed in the fact that a man is ready to sacrifice all these

for the sake of his ideal.. Junaid )


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Qualities of An Idealby Dr Muhammad Rafi-ud-Din

What are the actual qualities of the ideal which man may take as his beloved? The

answer to this question is contained in man's nature itself or in the nature itself or

in the nature of his urge for love. This urge can only be satisified by ideal which is

free in its qualities of every element that man can describe as a defect from an

angle, for defect is the enemy of love. Human nature can not love an ideal with the

awareness that it is defective. It can love an imperfect ideal too but only as long as

its defect remains hidden from the human eye and it sees nothing but perfection in

it. On the Contrary, man's beloved ideal must possess all those qualities up to the

highest degree of perfection to which he may be attributing or may attribute beauty.

Then, its beauty must be unlimitied, for If there is a limit to it, the human nature is

such that it is satiated with it, and once satiated with it, and once satiated, grows

weary of it. One of its reasons is that man's natural love is meant for an ideal whose

beauty is unlimited. Moreover, that ideal must be such that no one else shares itsqualities and excellence to even the smallest extent because human nature can love

only one and not two at the same time

Allah has not put for any man two hearts inside his body. Surah Al Ahzaab Ayat 4

Then since man is himself alive, he cannot take for his ideal anything which is

dead. To be dead is a defect. Moreover, the life of this ideal must be eternal, ever

lasting and never subject to destruction. A Persian poet says :

Ishq aan Zinda gazzeen khh baqeest

Waz sharab-i janfizaiyat saqeet

(Choose the love of that Alive who is immortal and gives you to drink a life

giving/invigorating wine)

Its reason is that if it can ever die, it is potentially dead even to day. Then, it is

neccesary that it must posssess, upto the highest degree of perfection , all the

attributes of life with which man is familiar in his own case. This means that it is

capable of hearing, seeing, knowing, is well aware, understands man's everything,

knows about his love, can appreciate it and respond to it. Human nature can love

only such personalities as is itself capable of love, that is to say, it is loving. Then

man also wishes that his ideal must have all the authorities in his hand i.e. it must

be all powerful. Otherwise, someone else will share its love through there is

absolutely no room in his heart for any one else. Again, his ideal must be his creator

and that of the whole universe becaues if the whole universe including his whole

person has come into being of itself and is out of control of his ideal, then why

should he show any interest in it and adopt it as his ideal. In such a case, he can

even claim equality with it. But man's nature does not need a peer or partner. On

the contarary, it needs a being which possesses all the glory, greatness and


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grandeur much more than that. That is not all. He wishes that his ideal must have

certain likes and dislikes and some will or purpose to be achieved so that he may

fulfill it and thus gain pleasure out of its service and obedience. Without this his

love does not find an out-let. Then, that ideal must not be powerless so that

whoever may wish may oppose its will and it may be unable to punish him. Itsreason is that if its powerless, while its lovers will carry out its will, its opponents

will undo its endeavors with ease and impunity with the result that its purpose will

never be achieved and its lovers will also consider obeying, serving and loving it as

a useless task thinking that their ideal is a weak and powerless being which is

completely unworthy of love. Therefore, along-side the qualities of beauty, man's

ideal must also possess the attributes of power, such as wrath, anger and revenge

otherwise it will also not have the qualities of beauty

(Extract from "The Essence of Islam by Dr Muhammad Rafi-ud-Din")

The Ideal is a call for action. It impels the self to change the actual

conditions in the world to suit itself and its ideal. If a self-conscious man does

not oppose the resistance of the ruling wrong ideal with the maximum of his

power, which is, of course, always a harmonious combination of courage,

prudence, planning co-operation and discipline, he has given himself up to a

wrong ideal, has reconciled himself to a slavery and has sacrificed the growth

of self-consciousness.

- Ideology of the Future - Dr Muhammad Rafi-ud-Din

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