Gardens of Wisdom

salam o aliakum,
in the introduction of your book, you have stated the following:

"It is an inbuilt nature in human being to always seek for the reason/benefit of a thing/deed. Where the reason is not forthcoming, some people take to superstition – not even rituals are without presumed reasons/benefits. No human being can act otherwise."

reasoning is relative to the purpose or goal. an object has a reason to exist relative to its system. The way this object function also understandable relative to the over all functioning of the system. The things are irrational when they don't participate in the over all scheme of the system.
when i see a computer keyboard i can immediately recognize the reason for its existence, but explaining the existence of it without the existence of computer becomes irrational. when we come to religion we can seek rational explanation of its components relative to its goal, but how can one seek explanation of the purpose itself.
Human goal and purpose can be broken down to its basic desires. e.g survival, innovation, love etc. but we cannot apply the same to the LORD of the worlds. so just accepting his intention becomes "AS IS". here we leave our reasoning because there is nothing on which we can apply our reasoning.


Wasalam
irfan

Salaamun alaikum brother.

Please break down your points and questions for me to understand clearly.

when we come to religion we can seek rational explanation of its components relative to its goal, but how can one seek explanation of the purpose itself.
Human goal and purpose can be broken down to its basic desires. e.g survival, innovation, love etc. but we cannot apply the same to the LORD of the worlds. so just accepting his intention becomes "AS IS". here we leave our reasoning because there is nothing on which we can apply our reasoning.

I do not understand the above statements. Rephrasing with examples may help.

Stay blessed.

Salam O aliakum brother

when we come to religion we can seek rational explanation of its components relative to its goal, but how can one seek explanation of the purpose itself.

Reason is a tool to seek explanation of phenomena/purpose/goal/system etc. purpose of our creation as described by Quran is to worship Allah. now he sent religion, prophets, and revelations to aid this worship. so all the rituals, concepts, tools of religion has a reason to fulfill this goal. but can we explain with reason, why Allah set this goal for us. for this to explain we need a larger system or goal relative to which this goal can be explained. or this is just a desire/wish of Allah.

Human goal and purpose can be broken down to its basic desires. e.g survival, innovation, love etc. but we cannot apply the same to the LORD of the worlds.

all human made goals or systems are relative to either part of a larger goal or system or directly relative to our instincts or desires. A person earning money for his family has an explanation because of his love to his family (direct relation to his heart). at this level nobody seeks further explanation. A business has his information system department to facilitate its financial system (example of a sub system aiding a larger system).

so just accepting his intention becomes "AS IS". here we leave our reasoning because there is nothing on which we can apply our reasoning.

Since the purpose or goal set by the religion itself cannot be explained as mentioned above. so this is just taken "AS IS" or a desire of Allah. and this require no further reason/explanation.

Reason is a tool to seek explanation of phenomena/purpose/goal/system etc. purpose of our creation as described by Quran is to worship Allah. now he sent religion, prophets, and revelations to aid this worship. so all the rituals, concepts, tools of religion has a reason to fulfill this goal. but can we explain with reason, why Allah set this goal for us. for this to explain we need a larger system or goal relative to which this goal can be explained. or this is just a desire/wish of Allah.

There are two things here: our urge to know the reason and knowing the reason. That we are not able to know the reason does not mean that there is no that urge built in us.

A person earning money for his family has an explanation because of his love to his family (direct relation to his heart). at this level nobody seeks further explanation.

It is not only that everything can be related to heart in this way, a person must not engage in anything until he can relate it to his or her heart – worship is not different. All issues must be related to the heart in the way you mentioned above.

Worship means intense love. A person loves based on the understanding that the beloved is of benefit to the heart.

Whenever a heart is presented with information, the heart seeks to know the relevance/importance of such information on the basis of whether it is beneficial or not. This is how we filter the multitude of sensations that come across our minds from time to time.

Since the purpose or goal set by the religion itself cannot be explained as mentioned above. so this is just taken "AS IS" or a desire of Allah. and this require no further reason/explanation.

The purpose of our activities in life is to grow closest to Allah – to love Him intensely – to worship Him.

The purpose of our going closest to Allah is for our hearts to get fused into the truth of life.

The purpose for getting fused into the reality of life is for our hearts to find comfort and tranquility which is the ultimate quest of every heart.

From what I can understand from you, we do not know except what we are designed to know.

It is an inbuilt nature in human being to always seek for the reason/benefit of a thing/deed. Where the reason is not forthcoming, some people take to superstition – not even rituals are without presumed reasons/benefits. No human being can act otherwise.

A human being, as a conscious creature, is motivated by desires.

Desire is based on love and/or hatred.

Love or hatred is a ‘response feeling’ - a subjective feeling. Love or hatred is a reaction of the heart to what is presented before it.

This response of the heart is based on design/reason - something must be responsible for it.

Curiosity is the effort of the heart to get full information so as to identify whether there is a benefit in a thing or not.

Whenever a thing/deed is presented before the heart, it will not react with love or hatred until it can see a benefit/reason for that. The heart in the same way tries to understand things based on their benefits or harm. This is an imbedded nature in us.

A person either finds the true reason or he may be deluded.

Even those who take to rituals (as instructions without known reasons) still struggle to look for one benefit/reason or the other. There are no rituals in al-Islam because there is nothing without known reason.

We do admit however that what we know is little compared to what is there.

That we do not know the reason for a thing presently does not mean that we do not want to know. It is an inbuilt nature in us to seek for reasons.

Aslam o aliakum Brother,
Eid Greetings,

here are two things here: our urge to know the reason and knowing the reason. That we are not able to know the reason does not mean that there is no that urge built in us.

i think there is no disagreement on this.

t is not only that everything can be related to heart in this way, a person must not engage in anything until he can relate it to his or her heart – worship is not different. All issues must be related to the heart in the way you mentioned above.

As i said reasoning is a means to achieve a goal. the goal is to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. the thing i am trying to convey is that we cannot understand why He wants us to worship him. Since he is the ultimate cause and we cannot have infinite causes. we just take his will as ultimate cause. if we indulge into this then we end up into metaphysical speculations and go nowhere.

irfansaeed wrote:Aslam o aliakum Brother,
Eid Greetings,
As i said reasoning is a means to achieve a goal. the goal is to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. the thing i am trying to convey is that we cannot understand why He wants us to worship him. Since he is the ultimate cause and we cannot have infinite causes. we just take his will as ultimate cause. if we indulge into this then we end up into metaphysical speculations and go nowhere.

MY BROTHER,

WHAT IF WE LOOK AT IT FROM THIS PERSPECTIVE?
We have a creator 100% independent of us on whom we are totally dependent.
His request that we worship Him ALONE is for our benefit.
Our quest for tranquility of heart can only be attained when we worship the actual benefactor.
His request that we worship Him ALONE is out of His mercy for us.
THINK ABOUT IT.