Understanding & Awareness

The Worldview of Tauhid-2
By: Murtadha Mutahhary

Every path and philosophy of life is based on a belief, outlook, and value system vis-a-vis being or on an explanation and analysis of the world. The kind of conception that a school of thought presents of the world and of being, the manner in which it contemplates it, is considered the intellectual foundation and support of that school. This foundation and support is termed the world view. All religions, customs, schools of thought, and social philosophies rest on a world view. A school’s aims, methods, musts and must nots all result necessarily from its world view.

Philosophical World View

Although the philosophical world view lacks the exactitude and definition of the scientific world view, it enjoys an assurance and has none of the instability of the scientific world view. The reason for this is that it rests on a series of principles that are in the first place self-evident and undeniable to the mind, carried forward by demonstration and deduction, and in the second place general and comprehensive (in the language of philosophy, they relate to that by virtue of which the being is being). The world view of philosophy answers those same questions on which ideologies rest. Philosophical thought discerns the mien of the universe as a whole.

The scientific world view and the philosophical world view both conduce to action, but in two different ways. The scientific world view conduces to action by giving man the power and capacity to “change” and to “control” nature; it allows him to render nature subservient to his own desires. But the philosophical world view conduces to action and influences action by distinguishing the reasons for action and the criteria for human choice in life. The philosophical world view is influential in the way man encounters and responds to the universe. It fixes the attitude of man to the universe and shapes his outlook toward being and the universe. It gives man ideas or takes them away. It imparts meaning to his life or draws him into futility and emptiness. Thus, science is incapable but philosophy is capable of giving man a world view as the foundation of an ideology.

Religious World View
If we regard every general viewpoint expressed toward being and the universe as philosophical, regardless of the source of that world view (that is, syllogism, demonstration, and deduction or revelation received from the unseen world), we must regard the religious world view as philosophical. The religious world view and the philosophic world view cover the same domain, by Contrast with the scientific world view. But if we take into ‘account the source of knowledge, we must certainly admit that the religious and the philosophical cosmologies are different in kind. In some religions, such as Islam, the religious cosmology within the religion has taken on a philosophical quality, that is, a rational quality. It relies on reason and deduction and adduces demonstrations in answering the questions that are raised. From this standpoint, the Islamic world view is likewise a rational and philosophical world view.

Among the advantages of the religious world view (in addition to the two advantages it shares with the philosophical world view -stability and eternality, and generality and comprehensiveness) is its sanctification of the bases of the world view. An ideology demands faith. For a school of thought to attract faith calls not only for a belief in that eternity and immutability of its principles, which the scientific world view in particular lacks, but for a respect approaching reverence. Thus, a world view becomes the basis of ideology and the foundation of belief when it takes on a religious character. A world view can become the basis of an ideology when it has attained the firmness and breadth of philosophical thought as well as the holiness and sanctity of religious principles.

Criteria for a World View
The good, sublime world view has the following characteristics:

1. It can be deduced and proven (is supported by reason and logic).
2. It gives meaning to life; it banishes from minds the idea that life is vain and futile, that all roads lead to vanity and nothingness.
3. It gives rise to ideals, enthusiasm, and aspiration.
4. It has the power to sanctify human aims and social goals.
5. It promotes commitment and responsibility.

That a world view is logical paves the way to rational acceptance of it and renders it admissible to thought. It eliminates the ambiguities and obscurities that are great barriers to action.

That the world view of a school of thought gives rise to ideals lends it a magnetism as well as a fervor and force.

That a world view sanctifies the aims of a school of thought leads to individuals’ easily making sacrifices and taking risks for the sake of these aims. So long as a school is unable to sanctify its aims, to induce’ feelings in individuals of worshipfulness, sacrifice, and idealism in relation to the aims of the school, that school of thought has no assurance that its aims will be carried out.

That a world view promotes commitment and responsibility commits the individual, to the depths of his heart and conscience and makes him responsible for himself and society.

The All-Encompassing World View of Tauhid
All the features and properties that are organic to a good world view are summed up in the world view of Tauhid, which is the only world view that can have all these features. The world view of Tauhid means perceiving that the universe has appeared through a sagacious will and that the order of being is founded on goodness, generosity, and mercy, to convey existents to attainments worthy of them. The world view of tauhid means the universe is unipolar and uniaxial. The world view of tauhid means the universe has for its essence “from Him-ness” (inna lillah) and “to Him-ness” (inna ilayhi raji’un) [Qur’an, 2:156].

The beings of the universe evolve in a harmonious system in one direction, toward one center. No being is created in vain, aimlessly. The universe is regulated through a series of definitive rules named the divine norms (sunan ilahiva). Man enjoys a special nobility and greatness among beings and has a special role and mission. He is responsible for his own evolution and upbringing and for the improvement of his society. The universe is the school for man, and God rewards every human being according to his/her right intention and right effort.

The world view of Tauhid is backed by the force of logic, science, and reason. In every particle of the universe, there are indications of the existence of a wise, omniscient God; every tree leaf is a compendium of knowledge of the solicitous Lord.

The world view of Tauhid gives meaning, spirit, and aim to life because it sets man on the course of perfection that stops at no determinate limit but leads ever onward.

The world view of Tauhid has a magnetic attraction; it imparts joy and confidence to man; it presents sublime and sacred aims; and it leads individuals to be self-sacrificing.

The world view of Tauhid is the only world view in which individuals’ mutual commitment and responsibility find meaning, just as it is the only world view that saves man from falling into the terrible valley of belief in futility and worship of nothingness.

The Islamic world view is the world view of Tauhid
Tauhid is presented in Islam in the purest form and manner. According to Islam, God has no peer-“There is nothing like Him” (42: 11). God resembles nothing and no thing can be compared to God. God is the Absolute without needs; all need Him; He needs none-“You are the ones needing God, and God is. the One Free of Need, the Praiseworthy” (35: 15). “He is aware of all things” (42: 12) and “He is capable of all things” (22:6). He is everywhere, and nowhere is devoid of Him; the highest heaven and the depths of the earth bear the same relationship to Him. Wherever we turn we face Him. “Wherever you turn, there is the presence of God” (2:115). He is aware of all the secrets of the heart, all the thoughts passing through the mind, all the intentions and designs, of everyone-“We created man, and We know what his soul whispers to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein” (50: 16). He is the summation of all perfections and is above and devoid of all defect-“The most beautiful names belong to God” (7: 180). He is not a body; He is not to be seen with the eye-“No visions can grasp Him, but He comprehends all vision” (6:103).

According to the Islamic world view, the world view of Tauhid, the universe is a created thing preserved through the divine providence and will. If for an instant this divine providence were withdrawn from the world, it would cease to be.

The universe has not been created in vain, in jest. Wise aims are at work in the creation of the universe and of man. Nothing inappropriate, devoid of wisdom and value, has been created. The existing order is the best and most perfect of possible orders. The universe rests on justice and truth. The order of the universe is based on causes and effects, and one must seek for every result in its unique cause and antecedents. One must expect a unique cause for every result and a unique result for every cause. Divine decree and foreordination bring about the existence of every being only through its own unique cause. A thing’s divinely decreed fate is identical with the fate decreed for it by the sequence of causes leading to it.

The intent of the divine will operates in the world in the form of a norm (sunnah), that is, in the form of a universal law and principle. The divine norms do not change, what changes is based on the divine norms. For man, the world’s good and evil depend on the kind of behavior man adopts in the world, how he encounters it and how he acts. The good and evil of actions, apart from the fact that they revert to man in the other world in the form of rewards and punishments, do incur reactions in this world as well. Gradation and evolution are the divine law, the divine norm. The world is the cradle of human evolution.

Divine decree and foreordination preside over the whole universe; in accordance with them, man is free, empowered, and responsible and presides over his own fate. Man has essential nobility and dignity and is worthy to be God’s vicegerent. This world and the next are related in the way the stage of sowing and the stage of harvest are related, in that each finally reaps what he sows. It is like the relation between childhood and old age in that one’s old age is formed in one’s childhood and youth.