Pointers / Muhammad Tariq Ghazi

Erudite and Ignorant

A page from an under-pen book on civilizations

Civilization, or culture if you wish, emerges out of knowledge. It is the quality of knowledge that decides weight of civilization/culture –its demerits and merits, its rise and fall, its chances of survival and demise. Stable and timeless knowledge raises a strong and universally beneficial civilization; transient and unhinged matter-based knowledge produces a dusky, oppressive and fleeting civilization. Purpose of this (under-pen) book is to explain this statement.

         A simple human condition to understand which one need not be Plato is that, for example, human dwellings exist in African rainforests and deserts, ravines of central Indian hills and northeastern ranges, east European rural settlements, ice-covered swathes of northern Canada, yet these communities do not appear on world civilizational records of the past or news of the day. These peoples have dress codes, cook and relish food, build houses, have ceremonies for birth, marriage and death. Nevertheless, these societies are devoid of creative ability and inventive skill; they do not have strong natural urge or social arrangement to develop those qualities. They live on instincts and ephemeral experiences which are their guide in life.

         However, a civilization does not develop on the basis of life’s mundane experiences. Conurbia is not a product of people having familiarity with ebb and flow of life. Instinct itself does not strike wonders without abiding by laws of nature. Chengiz and Hulagu, Hajjaj and Saffah, are not noted for contributing to civilization and culture. Abbasi Harun and Mamun and Mu‘tasim of Baghdad, Umawis and Ahmaris and Berbers of Andalus, Seljuki and Ottoman Turks of Persia, Anatolia and Eastern Europe, Mughals of Uzbekistan and Transoxania and India, emerged as architects of high levels of civilization which however are hardly the standard for their modern counterparts and in the newer world. All those human groups were guided by the Quraysh and Ansar of the seventh and eight centuries who had laid foundation of The Civilization that became model for future nations.

         These examples confirm that civilization is not defined by sky-kissing towers, sprawling palaces, delicate or demonic machines, wealthy but eternally hungry economies, savage wars and weapons that burn and evaporate millions of people in just a few moments. Civilization and culture is an ethereal rather than material statement, a character. Buildings, gadgets, implements, material comforts, civic amenities are not civilization per se, but only the expression of workman’s quality of knowledge which proves man to be a species primarily concerned with the welfare of fellow human beings. Edifices, machines, tool and appliances, means of comfort and comfort itself, are labels of man’s artistic talent which, inter alia, decide the nature of a people’s civilization. However, since those who know do not equal to those who do not know (The Qur’an Az-Zumar/The Troops 39:9), one can find a sky of a difference between the demeanor of civilized and uncivilized, cultured and coarse societies.

         So knowledge or its absence differentiates one community from other. This simple truth was candidly declared in The Qur’an: “And He taught Adam all the names” (The Qur’an Al-Baqarah/The Cow 2:31), thus asserting that the honor of First Human Being – Adam – was his knowledge which is inherited as an innate merit by all his progeny ever to come and that because of that merit man deserved superiority over all other creations.

         This is a significant statement because no other book or philosopher ever said it so succinctly – in just five Arabic words. Unfortunately, man divinely honored thus, failed to realize his own status in Universe and on Earth to begin with. Modern men, including Muslims, believe that man is just another animate species, having no distinction over other species. Charles Darwin could have derived his theory of evolution from misquotes of the Bible. Critical interpreters of the Bible like Robert Jamieson (1829-1878), Andrew R Fausset (1821-1910) and David Brown (1803-1897) said in their Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible / 1871 that The Torah does not have a direct mention of knowledge as man’s distinction but it is talked about in biblical interpretations. The commentators are unable or avoid to disclose the source of that explanation, because The Bible says that Adam and Eve were specifically forbidden from tasting fruit of the Tree of Knowledge (Genesis 2:8, 3:5). The tree whose fruit would make man sinful – vide doctrine of Original Sin – could not add to his honor and reputation. It is intriguing how can it be described as a human merit even in interpretation. This may be the reason why education is more fun than quest for knowledge in the west.

The Qur’an declared knowledge as man’s greatest merit that the angels had prostrated to Adam just because he was knowledgeable and they were not. In this setting if knowledge is not accepted as his exclusive honor all human civilizational endeavors and his scholarship, intellectual finesse, creative and inventive contribution suddenly becomes illogical. From materialist standpoint this theory establishes that man can achieve all that he did over several millennia without the merit and knowledge, just by being one of the many other animate species.

         Now, if being animal-like is enough for achieving civilizational and cultural perfection, then forget wolves, hyenas, vultures, turtles, crocodiles, and mice, and think about noble animals like lions, cows, lambs, falcons and doves who too could not create wonders like ziggurat of Ur/Iraq, pyramids of Egypt and Mexico, Colosseum Amphitheater of Rome, Taj Mahal of India, cities like London and Tokyo, edifices like Empire State Building of New York, plane like jumbo jet, rockets like Saturn and space shuttle; and wasn’t knowledge required in concept, draft and construct of these wonders which man possessed, other species didn’t.

012 Pointers / Sunday 30 November 2014

Articles in this series are also published by e-newspaper The Caravan Daily of the world renowned journalist Aijaz Zaka Syed and the Canadian Dream edited by Asma Khan.