The Potential Contribution of Islam ToWorld Peace

(Dr. Muhammad Rafi u Din) Before one can determine the potential contributionof Islam to world peace one must answer three questions:

(1) What is it basically that is dividing man fromman, causing friction between nation and nation anddisturbing again and again the peace of mankind atpresent?

(2) Is It possible for the human race, in view of thepotentialities of their nature, to be gifted with areal and permanent peace at some stage of theirevolution?

(3) If the answer to the second questions may be inthe affirmative, what is the actual manner in which thehuman race can possibly achieve its unity of thefuture?

Only when these three questions have been answered canwe know what is the potential contribution of Islam toWorld Peace or whether Islam has at all made any suchcontribution. I shall, therefore, endeavor to answerthese questions first. If we look at the map of the world we find the wholeof the habitable globe divided into countries each ofwhich is a sovereign political unit or a state based onan ideology. For example, the ideologies of Britain,Russia, France, America and India are British Nationalismrespectively. There are as many political section ofmankind as there are ideologies. Let us now study brieflythe nature of an ideology.

An ideology is a system of ideas developing around anideal in the course of its application to the variousaspects of practical human life. The ideal of anindividual is the idea of the highest Beauty, Goodnessand Truth known and experience by him as such,irrespective of the fact whether it has really anyqualities of Beauty, Goodness and Truth in it or not.It is an idea of which the Beauty, Goodness and Truth

he feels sufficiently to be induced, to accept it asthe sole determining force of his practical life andnot merely as a concept of theoretical or academicimportance. It is his effective view of the purposeand destination of human life and of the nature of manand the universe which be thin any real significancefor him and, therefore any significance in the worldat all. It is a view of man and the universe in whichhe can actually believe and according to which he canactually act. People love and follow differentideologies because their ideas of Beauty Goodness andTruth differ. Thus Christ, Allah, Economic Equality,Political Equality, the German race, the Frenchlanguage and culture, the Hindu religion and cultureare examples of ideals that, in their application tothe various aspects of practical human life, havedeveloped Into the ideologies of Christianity, Islam,Communism, Democracy, German Nationalism, FrenchNationalism and Indian Nationalism respectively.

The urge for an ideal in the human being controlsand dominates all his other impulses and desires even thosewhich have their immediate source in the instincts. That iswhy, men become ready to deny themselves the propersatisfaction of their instincts and even to lay down theirlives for the sake of t ideals whenever necessary. Everyideology is distinct from all other ideologies. Otherwise itwould not have a separate existence. It has its own ideal,its own internal psychological core or essence and its ownexternal social form. Every human being must have an idealand no ideology. An ideological individual, i.e., a humanbeing, considered as the lover of an ideology, lives onlyfor the sake of his ideology and is similar to a biologicalIndividual or an organism which lives only for the sake ofliving and growing. We know that individuals of the samespecies have an affinity for each other and tend to cometogether and live an organized life. Socially advancedspecies, e.g., bees and ants, are capable of achieving anorganization as perfect as that of a single organism.Similarly Individuals who love the same ideology love eachother and have a tendency to; come together and form anorganized ideological community which in its presentdeveloped form is known as a state. The more the members of

an ideological community love their ideology the more theylove each other and the greater is the unity, thesolidarity, the efficiency and the power of their state ororganization. Like a socially advanced species, a sociallyadvanced ideological community is capable of achieving anorganization almost as perfect as that of a single organism.A highly organized ideological community is in fact apsycho-social organism which behaves like a biologicalorganism the behaviour of which is representative of thebehaviour of a whole species— and is subject to laws whichare similar to the laws of Biology. Like an organism it hasan internal urge which is the love of the ideal and anexternal form which consists of its laws, institutions andtraditions, Like an organism it has the will to live and togrow indefinitely, needs food which consists of allpsychological or educative influences which can nourish thelove of the ideal, has a purpose which is the realization ofthe ideal, meets with resistance in its efforts to achievethat purpose, exerts itself to overcome resistance.Increases and enlarges its power through exertion andbecomes weak when it fails to exert itself or gives upeffort. As biological environment influenced the directionof the development of an organism, in the past, soideological, i.e. psychological or educational environmentinfluences the direction of the growth of an ideologicalcommunity at present. The people of England, for example,are an ideological community because they love the sameideology. But their ideology has come to be what it isbecause they lived in the same country, belonged to the samerace, spoke the same language and had similar habits andcustoms. The influence of psycho-social environment hasgiven a particular direction--in this case a wrongdirection, since theology could not become perfect, itsgrowth having stopped at the stage of a territorialnationalism—to the process which has shaped their ideology. As an organism was subject to a suddenimprovement of its form during the biological ages as aresult of what is known by the biologists today as a“mutation”, so an ideological community is subject to asudden improvement of its form during this ideological age

as a result of an ideological “mutation” which we call a“revolution”. Thus the French Revolution, RussianRevolution, Nazi Revolution and Fascist Revolution changedthe ideologies of France, Russia, Germany and Italy, fromFrench Monarchy to Democracy, from Russian Monarchy toCommunism, from German Nationalism to German NationalSocialism and from Italian Nationalism to Fascismrespectively. Again, like an organism, an ideological group candie owing to internal disease which in Its case is caused bythe elements of imperfection in the ideal. As an organismcan produce another organism through the operation of theurge for procreation in which the male and the female playtheir part, so the follower of an ideology can produceanother follower of the same ideology through the operationof the urge for propagation in which the leader and thefollower play their part. As every biological individual isa descendant as well as a progenitor, so every ideologicalindividual is a follower as well as a leader, live as anorganism, that of an ideological group by its urge to love(and serve) its ideology. As an organism has an organ—theheart—which is the cause of its life and applies the fluidof life to feed and nourish all its parts, so an ideologicalcommunity has an organization—the educational system of thecommunity —which is the Centre of its love and supplies theideas that feed and nourish the love of the ideology in thehearts of all its members. As an organism can overpower andannihilate another organism by capturing its life-centre anddestroying its functions, so an ideological community canoverpower and annihilate another ideological community bycapturing its educational system and destroying itsfunctions. Thus when the conquerors of World War II occupiedGermany, Japan and Italy, they hastened to annihilate theideologies of Nazi-ism, Mikado-ism and Fascism by capturingand controlling the eth systems of these countries. Againjust as an organism gains in health and strength when thereis a perfect co-ordination of its parts and their functions,so an ideological community gains in strength and efficiencywhen it is able to achieve a perfect unity of purpose amongits members. Like an organism it is attracted by objectsthat help it or support its life and growth and is repelledby objects that have the contrary effect. As the activity of

an organism is directed by its brain, so the activity of anideological group is directed by its leader. A species has a tendency to grow and procreateitself indefinitely. But since the amount of available foodand the means of existence are limited, it can satisfy thistendency only at the expense of all other species. Henceever since the beginning of animal life there has proceededan unending war of species in the animal world. The basis ofan ideology is an idea of the highest Beauty and Power knownto its lovers. Its lovers therefore feel the urge to displayto the world all the Beauty and Power that they imagine tobe latent in it. That is why an ideological community has atendency to grow in power and expand the number of itshelpers and adherents indefinitely. But since the availablearea of land and resources (human as well as material) arelimited, it can satisfy this tendency only at the expense ofall other ideologies. Hence ever since mart has becomeconscious of himself there has proceeded an unending war ofideological communities in the human society. An importantpart of the history of our race is a record of the struggleof ideological communities against each other, as animportant part of the history of the animal world is ahistory of the struggle of species against each other. Inthe war of species the activity of every organism, everyindividual of a species, was motivated by two impulses.Firstly, the impulse which enabled the organism to defendits life against the efforts of all other species to growand multiply at its expense. Secondly, the impulse whichenabled it to grow and multiply itself at the expense of allother species. In the war of ideologies the activity ofevery state as an ideological community is motivated by twodesires. Firstly the desire to defend itself against theexpansion of all other states. Secondly, the desire toexpand itself at the cost of all other states. It may besaid that the weaker states have no aggressive designsagainst other states and that all that they desire is to beallowed to continue their existence. But let us not forgetthat these states are never satisfied with what they cantake from other states in order to continue their existenceand that there was a time when the bigger states too werevery weak and wanted only to be left alone. Rome that becamea big empire began as a single city.

A modern state employs a number of methods to fightout its ideological war against all other states. It setsup, first of all, a system of external education carried onthrough News Agencies, Publicity Literature, Radios Pressand Cinema with the object of winning over to its side asmany lovers of other ideologies as possible. But whenever itfeels that its efforts to expand are being thwarted or maybe thwarted by another state directly or indirectly,immediately or ultimately, it resorts to other tactics liketreaties, pacts, peace conferences, disarmament proposals,direct persuasions propaganda. Criticisms of policy andaction, diplomatic, economic or political pressure and as alast resort to violence in order to remove the direct orindirect, immediate ultimate opposition of that state, Sinceevery state tends to expand and gain in power more and moreat the expense of all other states, as time goes on, everystate is, by the potentialities of its nature, headingtowards an ultimate violent conflict with every other state. A state may enter into a fast friendship with ananother state in order to defend itself against a hostilestate or a group of hostile states, but the allies are allthe time the secret enemies of each other and as soon astheir common enemies are defeated their latent animositiesrise to the surface again. This explains why it happens sofrequently that the same states are sometimes intimatefriends and at other times sworn enemies of each other. Thewar of states may be sometimes open and violent, at othertimes concealed and peaceful; it may take the form of abattle field or a peace-conference, but it is going on allthe time without a truce or a break. Hence I can answer the first question by sayingthat the real force disturbing the peace of mankind againand again can be expressed by a single word of eight letters—IDEOLOGY. That the human race will be ultimately gifted with areal and permanent peace can be safely concluded from thefact that what man really desires is peace and not war. Heresorts to war only when he feels that his purposes—allderived from his own ideology—are meeting with a resistance—proceeding entirely from the ideologies of others—thatcannot be overcome without violence. There is no trace of

any such resistance within a real ideological group devotedto a single, definitely known ideology however large thegroup may be. That is why an ideological group of this kindenjoys, as long as it exists, a real and permanent peacewithin its own boundaries. There is no reason why the stateof mutual love, peace and amity which can be achieved andsuccessfully maintained by a section of humanity, i.e. anideological community, should not be achieved andsuccessfully maintained by the whole of it. As the unity ofthe family developed into the unity of the tribe developedinto the unity of the state, so the unity of the state mustdevelop into the unity of the whole of the human race oneday. Such facts indeed point to the conclusion that theunity of the human race is not only possible but alsonecessary in the long run. That eoncludes my answer to the second question. When we endeavour to find an answer to the thirdquestion we notice that there are only two possible ways inwhich the human race can achieve its unity of the future.Either

1. The various states will arrange to live in harmonywith each other, ignoring their differences orsettling them peacefully by mutual negotiations orunder political, economic or military pressure from aworld organization of states like the defunct Leagueof Nations or the present U.N.O.

Or II. Some single ideology will prove to be soscientific and so sound and attractive intellectually, thatit will be accepted willingly, though gradually, by thewhole of mankind, thus turning the entire human race into asingle ideological community. The possibility mentioned under No. 1 above isprecluded by the very laws of human nature which areinexorable and by the characteristics of ideologies andideological communities which no one can alter. As I havesubmitted above, ideology is the only force that rules thelife of the individual, the community and the state. None ofthem can, therefore, do anything that is contrary to therequirements of their ideology wherever they may be

represented. An organization like the U.N.O Intended tounify conflicting ideologies cannot work smoothly andsuccessfully even for a single day. It may, no doubt, assumea false appearance of working smoothly and successfully forsome time but its real, impracticability cannot remainhidden from the eyes of the world for long. The reason isthat a real co-operation with such an organization is notpossible for any state on account of its very nature as anideological community. No state can agree to become itsmember except to use it as an instrument to safeguard andfurther its two-fold ideological interests of growing at theexpense of other states and defending itself against theirgrowth at its own expense. Every decision of such a bodywhich may appear to the world to be agreed to by all itsmembers is either a secret deal in which some nations batteraway the ideological interests of some other nations for thesake of some advantages which further their own ideologicalinterests or a decision which is really accepted by eachstate with secret reservations which, it believes, willreduce it practically to a decision which is favourable toitself and unfavourable to all the other states in the longrun. That is why we had a World War in spite of the Leagueof Nations and we are expecting another World War everymoment in spite of the U.N.O. Even when a state has a very sincere and honestdesire to serve the cause of peace, justice and freedom, asa member of such a body it is forced, by its irresistibleideological urge, to qualify, unconsciously and in spite ofitself, the meaning of these terms in such a way that therealization of values represented by them does not involvethe least danger to us own ideological interests whetheroffensive or defensive. Actually, therefore, such anorganization as a battlefield in which every state enters tofight the incessant and relentless war of ideologies andcalmly and peacefully, consciously or unconsciously and withthe help and co-operation of other states, secured in thename of peace, justice and freedom, till it has the need,the power and the opportunity to fight it out openly dadviolently to the end. In this peaceful war as in any violentwar, some states win while some others Iose and as in aviolent war so in this peaceful war it is the most powerfulstates that generally win.

Some of us believe that the U.N.O. is a great forcefor the peace and unity of mankind at present. But ourbelief is no better than that of a child who runs draggingbetween his legs a stick held elosely in his hands believingall the time that he is riding a horse. How can anorganization which is based on the disunity of mankind, beever expected to unite them? The existence of the U.N.O.marks our ignorance of the laws of human nature and. humanpsychology. It is a toy invented by man to while away hischildhood. The grown up man of the future will simply laughat it. The second possibility—that of a single ideologydominating the world permanently bringing a permanent peaceto mankind—alone is thinkable. Indeed if we study the trendsof ideological evolution in the light of biologicalevolution, we come to the conclusion that it is not apossibility but a veritable certainty. Some of the mostimportant features of biological evolution are as under (1) Evolution concerned itself throughout with thecreation and development of biological forms of life orspecies. (2) Every species was distinct from every other onaccount of its outward physical form consisting of theorgans and features acquired by the first individual or thefather of the specie. They were passed on to all succeedinggenerations without any fundamental alteration, as a fixedand permanent biological heritage of the species. (3) Of all the species that emerged there was onlyone the human type of life that was able to dominate theearth finally and completely. It was biologically the mostperfect of all species and its perfection as a speciesconsisted in the perfection of its brain. (4) Thus the perfect biological form, man, was thereal objective of biological evolution. It was on him alonethat the forces of evolution were concentrating theirattention all along. He was in existence from the verybeginning of animal life. He continued to develop slowly andthrough innumerable stages of biological forms right fromhis earliest stage as a unicellular organism to the stage ofhis perfection as a full-fledged human being dominating the

earth. All other species were the incidental bye-products ofthe creation of man. They were deviations or defections atvarious points from the main path (or the right path) ofevolution leading to the final stage of man, as a result ofthe misdirection of some of his potentialities as theperfect biological form, under the influence of unfavourablebiological environment. That is why every one of thesespecies could manifest only a portion of the instincts andurges of the perfect biological form and not all of them. (5) As soon as the perfect biological form, man, hadcome into existence the emergence of new biological forms onthe main line of evolution was discontinued as it was nolonger possible for the simple reason that a perfectbiological form could not be superseded by another perfectbiological form. But new deviations from the main line ofevolution and the emergence of new species along thebranches of the main line, representing previous deviationsfrom the main line, still continued over line periods oftime during which man, as a weak and unprotected form oflife, struggle for his existence. But since all the otherspecies represented a departure from the main line ofevolution and a fraction of t potentialities of the perfectform, they wore not destined to reach the stage ofbiological perfection. Hence in spite of the tremendousphysical power of some of them, they all soon exhaustedtheir possibilities of progress with the result thatbiological evolution came to a dead stop everywhere. Theunprogressive and unwanted species became gradually extinctor else lingered on without evolving, waiting forextinction. (6) Every species became involved from the moment of itsemergence in a desperate struggle for existence againstother species. Some of these species e.g. elephants, tigers,lions, bears, etc., were far more powerful than man in spiteof biological perfection. They were gifted with a physicalpower and instruments of attack and defence which man didnot possess. As a consequence he was force to take shelteron trees and in caves in order to save his life. It was amiracle that he able to survive in his unequal struggle forexistence against these mighty species.

(7) But man not only survived in the midst of suchdangers, he also flourished and prospered slowly butcontinuously in spite of them. On account of his cerebralperfection he was soon able to invent weapons of attack anddefence which were far more powerful than any organspossessed by the most terrible of species and against which,therefore, all other species were helpless. The result wasthat he multiplied rapidly and profusely in numbers till hespread to the ends of the earth vanquishing and dominatingall other species finally and completely in all parts of the1 globe. This brought the war of species to an end. Thus the perfection of man which enabled himultimately to win the war of species and dominate the worlddepended upon the perfection of his brain and not upon theabundance of his physical strength or the efficiency of hisorgans in which he was far behind other species. The process of evolution continued even after man hadreached his biological perfection but now its nature wasdifferent. Since its medium could be now only the humanbeing, the highest form of organic life, and since the humanbeing had developed a new character—a psychological capacityto love ideals and ideologies—all future evolution couldonly depend upon the unfoldment of the potentialities ofthis character. Hence the process of evolution shifted fromthe biological to the ideological plane. Life must express the same characteristics generally atthe ideological stage of evolution as it did at thebiological stage. For its fundamental qualities must remainthe same wherever it may be found to be active. The veryword evolution denotes progress or movement towards a stageof perfection. At the biological stage of evolution theactivity of life centred around the requirements of theorganism, at the ideological stage it centres around therequirements of the ideology. The driving force ofbiological evolution was the perfection of the organism. Itcaused, by a process, exhibiting particular characteristics,the emergence of a biological form of life that was perfectand enabled it to dominate the world and end the war ofspecies. The driving force of ideological evolution must bethe perfection of the ideology. It must cause, by a processexhibiting parallel characteristics, the emergence of an

ideological form of life that is perfect and must enable itto dominate the world and end the war of ideologies. We havealready seen how close is the analogy between a species andan ideological community and how the points of similaritybetween the two can be counted almost unlimitedly. In viewof all these facts we can be sure that, when ideologicalevolution has run its course to the end, a man who islooking back at its past will be able to outline its broadfeatures as follows; (I) Evolution concerned itself with the creation anddevelopment of ideological forms of life or ideologicalcommunities. (2) Every ideological community was distinct from everyother by reason of its external ideological form consistingof the laws and institutions which were laid down by thefounder of the ideology. They were passed on to allsucceeding generations of the community without anyfundamental change or alteration as a fixed and permanentideological heritage of the community. Just as a speciescould not change its physical form made up of its organs andfeatures fundamentally without changing into a new species,so an ideological community could not alter its ideologicalform made up of its laws and institutions fundamentallywithout changing its ideology. (3) Of all the ideological forms that emerged there wasonly one that was able to dominate the earth finalIy andcompletely. It was ideologically the most perfect of allideological forms and its perfection as an ideological formconsisted in the perfection of its ideology. (4) Thus the Perfect Ideological Form of life was thereal objective of ideological evolution. It was on the formalone that the forces of evolution were concentrating theirattention all along. It was in existence from the verybeginning of human life. It continued to develop slowly,through innumerable stages of ideological forms its earliestcondition as a family loving the Perfect Ideal to the stageof its perfection as a full-fledged world: state of thePerfect Ideology. All the other ideological forms of lifewere the incidental bye-products of the creation of thePerfect Ideological Form. They were deviations or defectionsat various points from the main path (or the right path) of

evolution leading to the final stage of the PerfectIdeological Form as a result of misdirection of some of thepotentialities of this form, under the influence ofunfavourable ideological environment. That is why every oneof these ideological forms could manifest only a portion ofthe qualities and attributes of the Perfect Ideal and notall of them. (5) As soon as the perfect ideological form came intoexistence the emergence of new ideological forms of the mainline of evolution was discontinued as it was no longerpossible for the simple reason that a perfect ideologicalform could not be superseded by another perfect ideologicalform. But new deviations from the main line of evolution andtile emergence of new ideological forms along the branchesof the main line, representing previous deviations from themain line, still continued over long periods of time duringwhich the perfect ideology, as a weak and unprotected formof life, struggle for its existence. But since all the otherideologies represented a departure from the main line ofideological evolution and a fraction of the potentialitiesof the perfect ideological form, they were not destined toreach the stage of ideological perfection. Hence in spite ofthe tremendous economic and material power of some of them,they all soon exhausted their possibilities of progress withthe result that ideological evolution came to a dead stopeverywhere except in the Perfect ideological Form. Theunwanted and un-progressive ideologies became graduallyextinct or else lingered on without evolving waiting forextinction. (6) Every ideological community became involved from themovement of its emergence in a desperate struggle forexistence against all other ideoIogical communities. Some ofthese communities were far more powerful than the communityof the Perfect Ideology in spite of the latter ideologicalperfection. They were gifted with material and economicresources and armaments consisting of atomic weapons ofattack and defence which the community of the Perfectideology did not possess and which, therefore, obliged it toavoid their displeasure. It is a miracle that it was able tosurvive in its unequal struggle for existence against thesemighty ideologies.

(7) But the Perfect Ideological Form not only survivedin the midst of such dangers, it also flourished andprospered slowly but continuously in spite of them. Onaccount of its ideological perfection it was soon able toinvent weapons of ideological attack and defence in the formof convincing intellectual and scientific ideas about thenature of man and the universe which as instruments ofideological conquest were far more powerful than anyarmaments possessed by the most terrible of ideologicalcommunities and before which, therefore, all otherideologies were helpless. The result was that the PerfectIdeology got such a large number of converts and itsfollowers multiplied so rapidly and profusely in numbersthat it spread to the ends of the earth vanquishing anddominating all other ideologies finally and completely inall parts of the habitable globe. This brought the war ofideologies to an end. Thus the Perfection of the Final Ideological formwhich enabled it to win the war of ideologies and dominatethe world depended upon the perfection of its ideology andnot upon the abundance of its material and economicresources or the power of its armaments in which it was farbehind other ideological forms. This completes my answer to the three questionpropounded above. I can now turn to my real subject; thepotential contribution of Islam to World Peace. The question arises. Has the perfect ideological formalready emerged? If it has not, then neither Islam nor anyother ideology in existence at present can do anything tobring about world-peace. If it has, then world-peace dependsupon the expansion and world-domination of that ideology andthe retirement, whenever it may be possible, of all otherideologies which by their existence and self-assertion standin the way of that ideology’s inevitable destiny of world-domination and mission of world-peace. What is the placeoccupied by Islam in this picture? Is it the ideology thatwill bring about: world-peace or is it one of all the otherideologies that are thwarting the arrival of world peace bytheir very existence? To know the answer to these questions we have to findout first of all what is a Perfect Ideology.

An ideology eon be perfect only if its essence and formare both perfect. The essence of an ideology is itspsychological core or the ideal or the idea on which it isbased. The form of an ideology is the application of itsideal to the various aspects of practical human life. Hencean ideology will be perfect only if it is an application ofthe perfect ideal to alI the important aspects (viz. thereligious, social, economic, educational. ethical, legal,political and military aspects) of natural human activity.An ideal is perfect if its perfection is unassailable fromthe positive as well as the negative points of view, inother words, if it only possesses up to the highest degreeall the qualities and attributes which we by our nature lookupon as lovable, admirable and beautiful and which wedescribe briefly as the qualities of Beauty, Goodness andTruth, but is also free from every short-coming, defect orblemish that we can possibly think of. Such an idea can beonly one and that is the idea of God by the very definitionof the term God. For if the idea of God has any defect orlacks any of the qualities of Beauty, Goodness and Truth, tothe highest degree, it is not the idea of God at all. Sincethe Perfect Idea, the Idea of God is the Idea of a Living,All-powerful, All-knowing, All-nourishing and All-evolvingPersonality, the application of this idea to human life in amanner which may have any real meaning for the evolution ofman can imagined to have been made by God Himself i.e. bysomeone who speaks on behalf of God. This accounts for thephenomenon of prophet hood which is already so well-known. This means that the main line of ideological evolutionis the line of the Prophets which begins with a propheticideology and ends with one, there being innumerable prophetsin between the beginning and the end, applying the idea ofGod to ever larger and larger areas of human life accordingas it develops and complicates in the process of evolutionthe last of them applying the idea to the whole of humanlife. The earliest application of the idea of God was to thereligious life of man, that is, to his life as a worshipperand a propitiator of the object of worship and later on alsoto his social, ethical and legal life and last of all alsoto his economic and political life. As the earliest form ofthe human being was the first perfect organism of a singlecell, so the earliest form of the Perfect Ideological

Community was the first single human family, the family ofthe first perfect human being (who was also The firstProphet), worshipping, True God as the God of the family.Its next form was a tribe combining a number of families(like that of the Israelites) worshipping True God as theGod of the tribe and still next a kingdom combining a numberof tribes ruled by a king (like that King Solomon)worshipping True God as the God of the kingdom and its lastform must be an ideological statement expanding in alldirections to embrace the whole of humanity and loving,worshipping and serving True God as the God of the entirehuman race (Rabb-ul-‘Alamin—Al-Qur’an). We can expect thefirst perfect specimen of humanity to be also a Prophetbecause nature which gives him a perfect biological form andalong with it the urge to love an ideal must give him alsothe knowledge of the ideal that can satisfy this urgeperfectly i.e. the knowledge of the Perfect Ideal to be ofuse to him and to his offspring. Nature creates no needwithout creating simultaneously the means of itssatisfaction, so that those who starve their natural needsof their proper satisfaction have always to blame themselvesand not nature for their misfortune. It follows that the Perfect Ideology of the futuremust have the following characteristics:(1) It must be a prophetic ideology having the idea of God

as its essence.(2) Its Idea of God must be absolutely pure and perfect andit must lay all stress on the maintenance of its purity andperfection.(3) Its external ideological form, as bequeathed by itsfounder to the succeeding generations of its followers onthe authority and example of his own practical life, mustbe an application of this idea to all the important aspects,namely, the ethical, religious, social, political, economic,legal, educational and military aspects of natural humanactivity. The reason is that no prophetic ideology whichignores any of these aspects at the time of its birth in thelife example of its founder can have anything to do with itlater on. No ideology that is born imperfect can becomeperfect by subsequent development unless it “mutates’’ into

a new ideology having a new founder and new laws andinstitutions.(4) This further implies that the Prophet who is the founderof the Perfect Ideology must be a historical figure and theimportant details of his own practical life as the leader ofa community which accepted that ideology must be availablein the records of history. Without such historical recordthe original ideological community of the prophet will betaken to have ceased to exist like one of those unwantedspecies which disappeared from the animal world in the past.(5) The fact of its perfection or finality and all that itimplies must form a part of its teachings, otherwise it willbe lacking in one of its most important ideologicalconstituents which will enable it to maintain its wholenessas well as finality and perfection to the end. In otherwords the teachings of the founder of this Ideology mustexplicitly mention the following points:(a) That be brings to a perfection the teachings of allearlier prophets.(b) That he is the last of the prophets and there will be noprophet after him.(c) That he comes for the guidance of the whole of the humanrace.(d) That his ideology will dominate the world whether thefollowers of other ideologies may like it or not.(e) That his teachings will remain intact, in theory as wellas in practice, in the hands of his followers till the endof the world.(f) That his followers will be the leaders of mankind.(g) That in due course of time the discovery of scientificfacts relating on the one hand to the external universe (ithe facts of Physics and Biology) and on the other to thehuman mind (i.e. the facts of Psychology) will justify hisideology to such an extent that all the non-believers willbe convinced of its truth. All these characteristics belong eminently to Islam.If this is true, it means, that no ideology, other thanIslam, whether in existence at present or coming into

existence in future, can be a Perfect Ideology and thatIslam alone is the Final Ideology of mankind destined tounite them into a single ideological community, enjoyingpermanent peace and prosperity. The reason as I have saidabove, is that a Perfect ideology cannot come into existencetwice over. It also means that we shall be able tounderstand more clearly the broad features of theideological evolution of the past and future, an outline ofwhich is given above, if we substitute the world Islam forthe term Perfect Ideology, and the expression MuslimCommunity for the term Perfect Ideological Form, in thisoutline. Since it is the analogy between animal species andhuman communities studied and understood in the light of thefacts of evolution which has led us to this conclusion here,it is significant to note that the Holy Qur’an not onlyaffirms this analogy but also alludes to it as an importantfact which God Almighty has the power to reveal as a sign ofthe truth of the Qur’an which the non-believers demand fromthe Prophet. And they say, why has not a sign been sent down to himfrom his Lord? Say, surely Allah has the power to send downa sign but most of them know not. And there is no animal inthe earth, nor a bird that flies on its two wings but arecommunities like you. We have not left out anythingimportant from this book: then (at the end of their earthlylife, human communities) will be gathered together beforetheir Lord (along with their leaders).(6: 37, 38) I now take up the characteristics of a PerfectIdeology one by one in the order in which they have been putforth above to show how they belong to Islam and thereforeto Islam alone for ever.(1) Islam is the ideology of Prophet Muhammad (peace be uponhim) and its core or essence is the idea of God. A personwho desires to enter the fold of Islam is required topronounce the following: I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and Ibear witness that Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. (2) Islam lays a great stress on the oneness of God and theabsolute purity and uniqueness of all His attributes. In

fact it is one of the fundamentals of its mission to correctpeople who have distorted or altered the true idea of Godoriginally taught by all prophets. Attributing any of thequalities of God to anything else in the least is the onlyunpardonable sin according to the Holy Qur’an. Surely Allah forgives not that a partner should be setup with Him and He forgives all besides that to whom Hepleases. And whoever sets up a partner with Allah, hedevises indeed a great sin.(4: 48)(3) In the life-example of Muhammad (peace be upon him) asthe creator and leader of an ideological community we findall aspecis of the natural activity of such a community(e.g., Religion, Ethics, Economics, Education, Law, SocialRelations, Politics and Military activity) being controlledand dominated by t single idea of God. Muhammad (peace beupon him) was ordered to say: Say: Verily my prayer, my sacrifice, my life and mydeath are all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds. He has noassociate: and this is what I have ordered to observe and Iam the first of those who submit. (6: 163, 164) Muhammad (peace be upon him) not only worshipped oneGod and did his utmost to teach others to worship Him but healso lived a married life, prepared his followers to resistthe opposition of his own people who were bent upondestroying his mission, created a state, ruled andadministered it, defended it from its enemies by militaryaction, solved its internal and e problems and gave it therudiments of a plan of informational services, a scheme ofresearch and education, a socio-political system, aneconomic-legal order and a foreign policy. The example ofhis life can, therefore, satisfy the evolutionaryrequirements of his community till the end of the world. It does not mean that the Muslim community will neverneed any laws other than those ordained by their Prophet. Itmeans only that these original laws will form the foundationand the nucleus of other laws that may be required in futurefrom time to time as the community evolves from stage to

stage. Because the original laws will be kept intact as asacred heritage, they will enable the devoted followers ofthe Prophet who happen to have entered deeply into thespirit of his teachings to derive from them other lawsconsistent with their Ideal as the ramifications andamplifications of the original laws, to satisfy therequirements of the evolving community and to meet newsituations arising from time to time not directly covered bythese laws. Where laws enforced by the Prophet (peace beupon him) already exist, no change has any evolutional valueand no change is possible. But where there are no such lawswe are free to enact in the light of the original lawswithout prejudice to the evolution of the community. Imagine a beautiful picture complete in all its majorand essential details. It may be possible to amplify it alittle more by introducing into it some more lines andcolours representing some of its minor and insignificantdetails. But the artist who undertakes to do so will have tocontrol his activity by two considerations. Firstly, that hedoes not interfere in the least with the details of thepicture that have already emerged. SecondIy, that hisadditions are perfectly consistent and in complete harmonywith these existing detail. Evidently this can be done onlyby a man who is thoroughly inspired by the beauty of thepicture and who loves it passionately on account of hisperfect appreciation of the idea of its original creator.If, however, the picture is allowed to be handled for thispurpose by a man who is unable to be inspired by it and tocatch the thought at the back of it, he will act like a andsenseless artist rubbing off certain portions of it andadding new irrelevant portions to it in their place. Farfrom amplifying the picture he will ruin its beauty andsplendour permanently. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has given us apicture of the Perfect Ideology which is complete in all itsmajor and essential details. It is now the minor details ofit that may call forth the spiritual effort (Ijtihad) of hisfollowers on occasions when they may be really needed.Further laws to Supply these minor details of the ideologyof the Prophet can now be framed with the help of theoriginal and fundamental laws and institutions which the

community has inherited from him As often as required, bypious and God-fearing men who are inspired by the beauty ofthe ideology, have entered into its Spirit and grasped theidea behind it, without altering or disturbing any of theseoriginal laws and institutions in the least. Thus thecommunity will evolve in the right direction on account ofthese laws and institutions and not in spite of them.Anybody who will make an attempt to alter them will be likea bad and senseless artist who will mar rather than make thepicture of the Perfect Ideology. But in spite of what someof our short sighted, self-styled “saviours of Islam” maywish to do, these laws and institutions will never bealtered. Only those who will attempt to change them willenter into a deviation from the main line of evolution todisappear into the world of non-existence forever. It is neither accidental nor meaningless that aprophetic ideology has an unconquerable tendency to persistin the form in which it was left by its founder. It is dueto a fundamental characteristic of life. Whatever form lifetakes in its nascent condition—whatever the apparent causesand conditions that may have enabled it to take that form—because fixed forever. This is as much true of the form andinstitutions of a newly emerging natural ideology as it isof the form and features of a newly born organism or a newlyemerging natural species. That is why as long as a religionlives, its followers resist heresy and innovation with allthe power that they command. As there is a law of biologicalheredity which protects the original form and features of aspecies by an arrangement within the organic form itself, sothere is a law of ideological heredity which protects theoriginal laws and institutions of an ideology by anarrangement within the ideological form itself. The failureof the Marriage Laws Commission set up recently by theGovernment of Pakistan indicates how the law of ideologicalheredity is working to preserve the essential ideologicalfeatures of Islam even in this age. Heredity whether biological or ideological has notonly a meaning for evolution. It is one of the essentials ofevolution. It preserves the past achievements of life andthus prepares the ground on which further achievements canbe built up. It assures that change takes place only in the

right direction, i.e. in the direction of the next higherstage of evolution, and without evolving the loss of any ofthe achievements of life secured in the past. In the case ofthe Muslim community the next higher stage of evolution thatwe can expect, is an extraordinary development of their lovefor Islam (for it prophet as the greatest personality of alltime, for its laws and institutions, ordained by theprophet, as the most appropriate for a progressive societyin view of the nature of man and for the spirit behind themas the spirit of all future progress) as a result of theirintellectual realization of it as the Last of the DivinelyRevealed ideologies as well as the only True and ScientificIdeology in the world. The realization will raise themgradually to a very high stage of moral and spiritualdevelopment where alone it will be possible for them tounderstand the original laws of Islam properly and todiscover their appropriate ramifications and derivationsneeded from time to time and where these laws, in so far asthey are concessions or permissions, will not be miss-usedand in so far as they are correctives, punishments will notbe required to be moved. How far the laws of a community actually assure itsprogress depends more upon the mental attitude with whichthey are approached than on the laws themselves. Laws whichmay appear to us to be extremely good may prove worthlesswhen approached with a morally bad attitude of mind, whilelaws which may appear to us to need improvement may actuallyconduce to the best progress of the community, whenapproached with a really moral and spiritual attitude ofmmd. The idea of the sacred and the holy is the essence ofa prophetic ideology. The moment it is deprived of thisidea, it is reduced to a secular or materialistic ideologyutterly useless for the purposes of evolutions. The specialachievement of life registered by the emergence of aprophetic ideology is an intense love of its followers forGod as a result of their faith that now they have a direct,intimate and personal contact with Him Through His Prophetwhose word is the sacred word of God and like all its otherachievements life preserves this achievement of it own atall costs. If we now change any of the laws of Islam

enforced by the Prophet we shall damage the wholeness andprestige of Islam as the last of the prophetic ideologies,deprive it of its quality of sacredness and thus make itimpossible for the Muslim community to love itwholeheartedly and to pass on to the next higher stage oftheir evolution. That is why the law of ideological hereditywill, in the Interest of evolution, prevent such a thingfrom happening. Imagine a surgeon biologist who is not satisfied withthe existing organs an features of the human being and wantsto alter them by surgical operations with a view to improvethem. He can only argue like this: --- “The present organs and features of the human beinghave come down to us from a very distant past when theconditions of the world were far different from what theyare now. Unfortunately his biological environment of thosedays could not permit him to evolve better organs andfeatures than these. In this age of automobiles and aeroplanes, bombs and rockets, supersonic speeds andstratospheric flights, the ears of man should have amechanism by which they can be made proof against loud andshrill noise of all kinds at will, and the eyes of manshould be able to see much farther off into the atmospherethan they can at present. As an expert surgeon and biologistI have devised a method by which these qualities can beeasily imparted to the ears and eyes of man by a series ofsurgical operations. I have, moreover, conceived of a newsuperior artistic design of the human face in which therelative positions of eyes, ears, nose and lips are changeda little and this change can be brought about by the samesurgical operations. Let the Government start a clinic underme so that these operations may be carried out on a largescale for the good of the community.” The surgeon-biologist may succeed in convening somepeople but he forgets that the poor human beings whom hewants to improve and bring up-to-date in this way may notsurvive his surgical operations (they may involve such ahuge loss of blood) at all or may live the rest of theirlives as invalids. He also forgets that the law ofbiological heredity will not cooperate with him and hisalterations will not be inherited by future generations

whose organs and features will nevertheless continue to beas they were at the time the human race was born. Nature’s reply to such a mad biologist will be: --- “We have given a definite set of organs andfeatures to the human being as the last and the most perfectof the species. If you think they are the outcome of anunfortunate accident—a certain unfavourable biologicalenvironment—from which we could not save man, you aregrossly mistaken. For how could we have in that case givenhim the rest of his qualities—cerebral and intellectual—which make him the Perfect Biological Form capable ofbearing the burden of all future evolution, which you knowhim to be. These organs of man go with the rest of hisqualities as a perfect species and make him a singleintegrated whole suited eminently to our aspirationsregarding the future of the Universe. You cannot change any part of this wholewithout damaging its integrity and robbing it of its latentcapacity to continue the process of evolution till the end.These organs of man are the best that could be possibleconsidering everything. Whether they appear to you to begood or bad we have ordained that they must remain as theyare. And we tell you, we have taken upon ourselves toprotect them as they are and you cannot change them, howevermuch you may endeavour to do so. As a perfect species, thehuman race is, however, gifted with an amount ofintelligence which will enable them to attain to such a highstage of intellectual and scientific advancement that theywill invent instruments by which they will be able to addthe usefulness of these organs and turn them to their bestpossible advantage under all circumstances, for the sake oftheir continued evolution of the future. Very much similar is the case of the jurist-ideologist who is not satisfied with the existing laws andinstitutions of Islam and wants to alter them with the helpof laws to be enforced by the Government. He argues likethis:— “The present laws and institutions of Islam havecome down to us from a very distant past when the Conditionsof society were far different from what they are now.

Unfortunately the ideological environment of the MuslimCommunity in those days could not permit them to evolvebetter laws and institutions than these. In this age ofDemocracy and Freedom, Industrialization and intellectualAdvancement, Economic and sex equality, the laws andinstitutions of Islam must be changed for fit the newconditions. I have a proposal regarding the manner in whichthey can be changed for this purpose. Let the Governmentaccept my proposal and enforce the new laws suggested by meat the point of the sword for the general good of the MuslimCommunity.” Like our biologist he may also succeed in convincingsome people. But he does not know that the Muslims wreconcile themselves to these laws after they are enforcedmay, instead d becoming better and up-to-date Muslims, notremain Muslims at all—their faith in Islam as the last ofthe Divinely Revealed ideologies may be shattered so much—ormay live the rest of their lives as bad Muslims or halfMuslims only. Nor does he know that the law of ideologicalheredity will not co-operate with him and that true Muslims,who undoubtedly constitute the majority of the community,will never feel reconciled to these laws and will insist onthe continuation of the original laws of Islam given to themby their Prophet at the time the community was born. Nature’s reply to such an ideologist will be: --- “We have given a definite set of laws andinstitutions to the Muslim Community as the last and theMost Perfect of the ideological forms of life. If you thinkthey are the outcome of an unfortunate accident—a certainunfavorable ideological environment—from which we could notsave the community, you are grossly mistaken. For how couldwe have in that case given it the rest of its qualities—ideological and spiritual—which make it the Perfectideological Form, capable of bearing the burden of allfuture evolution, which, you profess, you believe it to be.These laws and institutions of Islam go with the rest of itscharacteristics as a Perfect Ideological Form and make it asingle integrated whole suited eminently to our aspirationsregarding the future of the Universe. You cannot change anypart of this whole without demaging its integrity androbbing it of its latent capacity to continue the evolution

of the human race till the end. These laws of the MuslimCommunity are best that could be possible consideringeverything. Whether they appear to you to be good or bad, wehave ordained that they must remain as they are. And we tellyou we have taken upon ourselves to protect them as theyare, and you cannot change them, however much you mayendeavour to do so. As a Perfect Ideological Form, theMuslim Community is, however gifted with a knowledge of thePerfect Ideal which will enable them to attain to such ahigh stage of moral and spiritual advancement that they willhave an outlook on life by which they will be able to add tothe usefulness of these laws and turn them to their bestpossible advantage, under all circumstances for the sake oftheir continued evolution of the future.”

(4) Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) lived in thefull view of history. As a consequence not only everyword of the Holy Qur’an but also every importantutterance of the Prophet and every important event ofhis life are preserved faithfully to this day. The factthat a large number of the traditions attributed wrongto him by alien or interested people were discoveredand rejected by a consensus of learned opinion amongthe Muslims within a short period of the emergence ofIslam and that there is still a difference of opinionamong them about a few traditions only shows how keenthe Muslims are to differentiate the true from thefalse in the historical material relating to the lifeof the Prophet. The followers of Muhammad (peace beupon him) have evolved a science and a methodology fortesting the veracity of his tradition, which have noparallel in the history of other peoples.

(5) It is a part of the teachings of Islam: --- (a) That Muhammad (peace be upon him) brings to aperfection the teachings of all the earlier prophets.The Qur’an says: --- Today I have perfected for you your ideologyand completed my favour to you and chosen for you Islam asan ideology. (5:3)

(b) That Mohammad (peace be upon him) is the Lastof the Prophets. There will be no Prophet after him. TheQur’an says Mohammad is not the father of any of yourmales but the apostle of Allah and the Last of the Prophets.(33:40). The Prophet (peace be upon him) announced;

There will be no prophet after me. (c) That Mohammad (peace be upon him) comes forthe guidance of the whole of the human race. The Qur’ansays: --- And we have not sent thee but as a bearer ofgood news and as a warner to all mankind. (34:28). (d) That his ideology will prevail all otherideologies whether the opponents of Islam may like it ornot. The Qur’an says: — They want to extinguish the light of Allah withtheir mouths and Allah will allow nothing save theperfection of His light though the followers of otherideologies be averse. He it is who sent His Messenger with guidanceand the ideology of Truth so that He may cause it to prevailover all other ideologies though the followers of wrongideologies be averse. (9:32,33). (e) That his teachings will remain intact intheory as well as in practice for the guidance of mankindtill the end of the world. The Qur’an says: --- Surely we have revealed the Reminder and surely,we are its Guardian. (15:9).The Prophet predicted that his community will split up intoa number of Sects but out of these sects there will alwaysbe one that will continue to be on the right path till theend of the world and it will be the sect that will followhim and his companions strictly.

Those who will follow my creed and that of mycompanions.The sect which strictly follows the Prophet and hiscompanions happens to constitute the majority of the MuslimCommunity. The major part of the Muslim Community has neveraccepted any innovations or miss-interpretations of the truecreed of Islam traceable by history and tradition to theProphet and his companions. Such innovations and miss-interpretations of Islam, some of which have now becomeseparate isms, are caused by the miss-direction of some ofthe potentialities of the Perfect ideology owing to theinfluence of unfavourable ideological environment. They havealways been ignored by the majority of Muslims as defectionsfrom true Islam and have always died their natural deathafter some time, thus meeting the fate of all biological orideological deviations from the main line of evolution,while true Islam has passed on intact through the centuriesto the succeeding generations of the community. (f) That his followers will be the leaders ofmankind. The Quran says:— You are the best community raised up forthe guidance of mankind. You enjoin good and forbid evil andyou believe in Allah. (3:109). (g) That the discovery of scientific facts relatingto the external world (facts of Physics and Biology) and tothe human mind (facts of Psychology) will ultimately provethe truth of the Qur’an to the entire satisfaction of thenon-believers. Thus the Qur’an says: --- We will soon show them our signs (i.e. thelaws of nature working) in the external universe and intheir own minds until it is quite clear to them that theQur’an is Truth. Scientific facts relating to the two domains ofexistence--- the domain of the internal mind of man and thedomain of the external universe—must be consistent with eachother. If the nature of man really demands a particularideology according to the laws of Psychology, the laws ofPhysics and Biology cannot be irrelevant to that ideology.If an ideology is really i.e. if it is really an applicationof the idea of Truth to all aspects of natural human

activity, it must be true and therefore perfectly relevantto all the scientific facts belonging to the spheres ofPhysics, Biology and Psychology which it may be possible forman to discover and its relevance to these facts must beestablished more and more definitely with theiraccumulation. In other words, the ever increasing sum-totalof scientific facts that man may come to have at hisdisposal from time must prove more and more consistent withthe Perfect ideology and less and less consistent with everyother ideology till there is a stage when all possiblerational justification is easily ascertained to lie on theside of the Perfect Ideology and to be completely lost toevery other ideology in the world. This stage can be reachedby only one ideology in the world and not by two or moresince there can be only one ideology that can be true andhence perfectly relevant to all the scientific facts. In theabove verse the Holy Qur’an predicts that due course of timethis stage will be reached by Islam. It may be noted thatthis prediction of Qur’an is wonderfully consistent with theassertion quoted earlier that Islam is the Perfect andUltimate Ideology of mankind destined to dominate the world. The question arises: When is Islam going to reachthe stage predicted by the Holy Quran, when the discovery ofscientific facts will establish its intellectualjustification sufficiently to convince the non-believers? Myanswer is that Islam has already reached that stage and theintellectual justification of Islam that will ultimatelyconvince the world of its truth has already emerged and itis the Philosophy of Self which was out lined by Iqbal anddeveloped subsequently by some of his followers. Thisphilosophy which is on the one hand a scientificinterpretation of the nature of man and the Universe and onthe other hand a scientific interpretation of thefundamentals of Islam, is certain to be accepted by theintellectual world sooner or later as the only philosophy ofthe Universe that is true. I briefly explain the reason. The core of every philosophical system, which isreally the starting point of the process of its formulation,is the philosopher ideal or intuition or vision of theReality of the Universe. The philosopher attempts to show

that all the known facts of existence---and they can beeither the facts of Physics or Biology or Psychology—arerelevant only to his view of Reality of his ideal of humanlife which may be either true and perfect or wrong andimperfect. When it is wrong and imperfect the facts ofexistence cannot be relevant to it and the attempt that hemakes to show that they are so, does not succeed. Hisreasoning becomes faulty and the philosophical system thathe evolves becomes incoherent and discrepant. Such has beenthe case with every one of the philosophies of the pastbecause every one of them was based on an imperfect ideal oran incomplete intuition or vision of Reality. The Philosophyof Self is the first systematic modern philosophy that hascome to be founded on the Perfect Ideal. Its central ideaviz., that the urge for an ideal is the sole dynamic powerof human activity, is perfectly relevant to all thescientific facts known up to date. These facts have,therefore, found their place in it in a perfectly naturaland national order, thus giving it the coherence and thewholeness of a perfect philosophy, capable of inspiring itsreaders with the conviction that it is the only Physico-Bio-Psychological explanation of the universe that is possibleand hence the only one that is true. Thus my conclusion thatIslam is the ultimate ideology of mankind does not dependonly on the analogy between animal species and humancommunities explained above. Its validity is rationallytested and verified by the Philosophy of Self. The fact that the Philosophy of Self has properlyabsorbed all scientific facts (real scientific facts) knownso far, is an indication that it has also capacity to absorball such facts that may be discovered by man in future. Thereason is that a truth is always relevant to all othertruths. It attracts them and they attract it. All truthsbelong to a single system, a single family. Hence aPhilosophy in which a few truths have already found theirproper place, is the only one in which all of them can findtheir proper place. The greater the number of scientificfacts which such a philosophy has absorbed, the greater willbe its affinity as a whole for other scientific facts notyet discovered. It will not be possible to discover anyscientific facts which contradict such a philosophy. If itappears at any time that such scientific facts have actually

come to light, the scientists will have very good reason tosuspect the validity of their own conclusions and to revisetheir research with a view to locate the error. Such aphilosophy will be, therefore, by its nature, a guide to thescientists in their research. This means that as scientific knowledge willaccumulate the Philosophy of Self will gain in the clarityand force of its arguments and become more and moreconvincing till mankind will be compelled by their own innerurge for Beauty and Truth to discard all other philosophiesand to accept it as the only true philosophy of the natureof man and the Universe. If hitherto the philosophers of mankind were not ableto evolve a true or perfect philosophy, it was not theirfault. It was not possible to evolve it earlier. It couldnot have come into existence as long as the teachings of theProphets had not brought our knowledge of the Perfect Idealand the meaning it has for the various aspects of naturalhuman activity to a stage of perfection. This was achievedby man with the arrival of Muhammad (peace be upon him),Again it could not have come into existence even whenmankind had acquired the requisite amount of knowledge ofthe Perfect Ideal so long as the mass of scientificknowledge at all levels of existence had not accumulatedsufficiently to indicate its relevance to the Perfect Idealand to the Perfect Ideal alone. This happened in thetwentieth century when it became possible for man to makeimportant discoveries in the spheres of Physics, Biology andPsychology which definitely favored a spiritualinterpretation of the Universe. An lqbal or a philosophy ofthe Self would not have been possible in the nineteenthcentury or in the beginning of the advent of Islam. That iswhy the emergence of a convincing philosophy of Islam ismentioned in the Holy Qur’an as a prophesy to be fulfilledin future. It is now too well-known in this age of great ofintellectual advancement that the only sphere in which theknowledge of man has made no progress whatsoever, so far, isthat of his own nature and that the present crisis in worldaffairs is due mainly to the ignorance of man about himself.A scientific knowledge of human nature is thus the crying

need of mankind at present. The Philosophy of Self fulfillsthis great need of hour. The intellectual world will have to accept thephilosophy of “Self” on account of its supreme intellectualjustification as well as on account of its dire need tomankind at present. This philosophy is, therefore, anintellectual weapon in the hands of Islam before which allthe other ideologies, with all their armaments, willultimately find themselves helpless. For armaments candestroy nations and countries but cannot destroy the forceof ideas the beauty and truth of which is able to conquerthe hearts of men and women all over the world. Thepotential contribution of Islam to World Peace is that italone has the capacity to unify the human race finally andpermanently by attracting them all to the Beauty and truthof its ideas.

The articles contained in this compilation, FACETS OFISLAMIC WORLDVIEW, were published as independent articlesfrom time to time. The Congress endeavored to compile acompendium of these scattered articles so that these arepreserved for our younger generation. Later on, however, itwas decided to divide the compendium into several volumes ina series and the present volume is the first of the series.

Lahore : June 1, 1993 MUZAFFAR HUSSAINAcademic & Administrative DirectorALL PAKISTAN ISLA MIC EDUCATION CONGRESS7-Friends Colony, Multan Road, Lahore