20.

Modern Primitiveness or Primitive Modernity

According to the worldview of agnosticism, certainty and knowledge are impossible and we
will never be able to know the true reality. A constant sceptical approach to epistemology,
thus, ought to be a norm. Exemplifying somewhat this doctrine, Albert Einstein once
remarked: “I don’t try to imagine a personal god; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of
the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.”

However, one wonders if agnostic thought, which originated most likely in ancient Greece in
the form of scepticism, was a premeditated philosophical choice or a desperate reactionary
repositioning against the inability of established religions to provide a sense of both
epistemological and spiritual certitude. The latter seems to be the case, in that the majority of
agnostic views and tenets exude opposition and aversion, rather than a homogenous system of
thought and action. The sentiment is sufficiently epitomised by the words of Thomas Henry
Huxley (d. 1895), a famous English biologist and evolutionist: “Agnosticism simply means
that a man shall not say he knows or believes that for which he has no grounds for professing
to believe.”

In reality, the problem was never agnosticism as such, or merely subscribing to the notion
that nothing can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material
phenomena. Agnosticism was just an effect, the root causes of which were certain deficient
religious creeds and their people whose intellectual as well as spiritual impulses were not
entirely fulfilled.

Hence, the problem was official religions and ideologies. They were the culprits; people were
the victims. Such terms as agnosticism, disbelief and scepticism might have been at first a
derogatory portrayal by the former of those restless souls who never stopped exposing
religions’ inadequacies and inability to solve their endless queries and curiosities. However,
such was the situation that agnostics took the matter in stride, preferring creative or
ontological ignorance over dogmatic and unproven – yet often outright flawed -- knowledge
and wisdom. While the former, to some extent, invigorated and enriched, the latter
completely inhibited and withered. This, surely, induced Clarence Seward Darrow (d. 1938),
an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, to assert: “I
do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend
to know where many ignorant men are sure -- that is all that agnosticism means.”

The peril of agnosticism

Accordingly, the more the role of religions weakened and its limitations and failings became
wide-open, the stronger the voices of agnosticism became and its followers increased. So
much so that it has been estimated that in 2010, the agnostics made up about 9.6% of the
world's population. In some especially Western countries, the rate was as high as between 30
and 35%.

This predicament, indeed, is alarming, and it is not set to recede anytime soon, never mind
come to an end. As a result, people are increasingly feeling at ease with the grave prospect of
living and dying without knowing about and experiencing metaphysical truths. But we all
know that such truths are out there. If not, we would not search for them. As a matter of fact,

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every person’s life pattern -- regardless of what it may seem outwardly -- is a quest for the
meaning and purpose of life. It is a journey of (self)discovery. People cannot function
differently, as they have been thus fashioned and “programmed”.

Existing and operating in the name of science and invention, and powered by such ideas as
absolute intellectual and spiritual freedom and self-determination, agnosticism never stopped
appealing to the religious and intellectual dissenters. Since there was never a serious answer
to the advances of agnosticism – which further amalgamated itself, partly or completely, with
the ethos of almost all recent and current Western secular ideologies and worldviews – the
damage was extensive and seemed irreparable, becoming a phenomenon of global
proportions.

The limited temporal benefits generated by agnostic thought is negligible when compared
with the magnitude of the actual civilizational damages it accrued over centuries. What is
more, the former is often resorted to and greatly exaggerated in order to mitigate or conceal
completely the harm of the latter and its severity. It is used as blinders, or a smoke screen.

This explains why people in the era of enlightenment, reason, reawakening, modernity and
science still seem comfortable with their state of not knowing the answers to the most
fundamental questions which, when all is said and done, signify a dividing line between
civilization and primitiveness or backwardness, and between knowledge and ignorance. That
people, despite their existence on the face of the earth for thousands of years, discuss ad
infinitum, failing to fully understand and appreciate, for example, the origins, meaning and
purpose of life, the origins, purpose and mission of man as a species, the meaning and
purpose of death, human rights, human cultural and ethnic diversity, the role of woman,
marriage and family, the universe, outer space, the idea of metaphysics or the fundamental
nature of reality, etc. – all these denote serious stains on the quality and integrity of modern
materialistic civilization.

In other words, man remains an ignorant and, at the same time, arrogant being. The basic
truths about himself and all the other physical and metaphysical realities around him, he fails
to comprehend and forge sound relationships with. And he seems happy to go on with the
status quo indefinitely. No wonder ignorance about the truth crept into virtually every aspect
of human existence, ostensibly counterbalanced by trifling and inherently short-lived gains in
the oscillating realms of science, innovation and technology.

Man is increasingly becoming his own slave. He deifies nothing and nobody except his very
self and his material achievements, for everything else is either unknown or utterly
unknowable. His cerebral capacities alone stand out as the point of reference for evaluating
successes and failures. Accordingly, issues and problems of special importance for mankind
are never thoroughly solved because people are bogged down in frivolous and unnecessary
concerns and debates. Trapped in the fetters of his raging ego, animal desires and at once
confused and discontented intuition and conscious mind, man thus fails to rise and explore
life from elevated vantage points.

What is genuine civilization?

One wonders, therefore, if those failings are the hallmarks of civilization or the attributes of
primitiveness, or if we live today in the age of modern primitiveness or primitive modernity.
This is so because genuine civilization is not solely about complex societies characterized by
remarkable material progress in such fields as urban development, social stratification,

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symbolic communication forms, specialization of labour, monumental architecture and other
advanced socio-political-economic factors and features. Rather, genuine civilization is about
people’s total wellbeing and happiness, as well as about creating a total and lasting legacy
that will attest to people’s realization of their existential purpose and successful
accomplishment of their life mission. Material progress is secondary, playing second fiddle to
the true spirit of civilization. It is but a means, a carrier and a physical locus of the latter.

Civilization, it goes without saying, ought not to be only about matter or physics, for
obviously life is more complex, multidimensional and so, more consequential than that. In the
same vein, civilization should represent a result of people’s comprehension and recognition
of the truth and their living it. Anything short of that suggests a level, or a state, of
backwardness and primitiveness, regardless of how and in which wrapping such a level, or a
state, might be presented.

Civilization, furthermore, is not about endorsing and advancing ontological ignorance,

disorientation and confusion, swathing them in appealing and ostentatious scientific jargons.
Nor is it about cleverly asking questions, while knowing that answers are not forthcoming,
exacerbating in the process people’s existential anxieties and dilemmas. Instead, civilization
is about providing answers and dispelling people’s perennial fears and uncertainties, while at
the same time ensuring their spiritual, intellectual, social, ethical and material wellbeing. This
is to be accomplished by realizing and delivering appropriate means of subsistence, types of
livelihood, settlement patterns, forms of government, social and economic systems,
education, and other necessary life systems and cultural traits.

People need to know in order to act and create. Only certitude and confidence can breed
authentic civilization and refined cultures. Doubt and confusion, on the other hand, breed
only dissent, dissonance and conflicts of all kinds and at all levels of human existence. Only a
knowing man is a civilized and cultured man, disposed to recognize, create, appreciate and
sustain. An enduringly sceptical and unknowing man is the polar opposite of the former, bent
more on the manipulating, depleting and outright destroying of life and its constituents as
well as resources in the name of his myopic interpretations of civilization, cultural refinement
and progress. A knowing man is civilization’s (earth’s) asset; an unknowing man is its
liability.

Islam’s response

On account of it being a natural, pragmatic and rational religion (code of life), Islam
recognized the magnitude of the conundrums posed by the proponents of agnosticism and its
derivatives, facing them head-on. Islam knew that the problem lay in people and their
epistemological sources and methods. The problem was with-in, rather than with-out.

As a result, Islam’s remedial measures focused much of their attention on the arousal and
purification of human mind and soul. Man is constantly taught about his self, his noble
purpose and calling as God’s vicegerent on earth, his rights and responsibilities towards his
self and other life realities, his place and role in the universe, his physical, spiritual and
mental capacities and strengths, etc. Man is thus taught to be fair and just, most of all, to
himself, then to others, for the latter is impossible without the former. He is also taught to
come to terms by means of his gifts and faculties with the undeniable verity that absolutely
nothing in life is without a purpose, so to claim that the entire phenomenon of life is
meaningless and purposeless would be grossly absurd and illogical. Similarly, everything in
life functions perfectly and in accordance with the highest standards of unity, harmony and

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equilibrium, so to claim that the whole of existence originated and subsists as a result of a
series of coincidences would be as irrational and strange.

Man, by definition, is an intelligent and inquisitive being created but to learn and know.
Every day and moment, and in every situation, he is to discover and learn something new.
His fleeting stay on earth is but a journey of self-realization, development and enrichment. It
is by all means implausible to have such a restless and curious being living and operating in
the unknown and the unknowable. Such a situation would defeat the whole purpose of
existence and the meaning and purpose of man himself and everything he strives for. Even
saying that positively knowing about the existence of God and the supernatural might one day
come to pass -- even in some measure only -- is nothing but an archaic cliché, or a form of
philosophical escapism, in that thousands of years have elapsed and thousands of great minds
and a lot of scientific effort have been “wasted” only to hear again and again that we live in
the unknown and the unknowable. What is going to make the future scientists, philosophers
and their voluminous scientific efforts fare any better? While humankind might be running
out of time, two wrongs will never make a right.

Indeed, reasoning that the ultimate truths are either unknown or unknowable represents such
a huge mismatch between the innate character and ambitions of man and his life undertakings
and general challenges that it appears as though an insult to his remarkably unique self and
identity. It leaves man bereft of any genuinely meaningful sense and value he could
authenticate and sustain his temporary life with. The matter, in actual fact, is almost on a par
with such hypothetical mismatches or absurdities as, for instance, man living in water and
fish on land, or as man living on another planet and someone, or something, else replacing
him on earth. The latter examples are deemed absurd and far-fetched because they violate the
basic laws of existence. The notion of agnosticism is seen in the same light, too, as it also
contravenes some of the most basic paradigms of life.

Islam, therefore, made compulsory the enterprise of knowledge seeking, for both men and
women, and from the cradle to the grave. Seeking knowledge brings a person closer to God
and renders his admission into paradise (jannah) much easier. Knowledge is associated with
light, piety, peace, happiness and success in both worlds. Ignorance, doubt and uncertainty,
conversely, are regarded as the sources of every misfortune and failure. Allah declares in the
Qur’an that only His knowledgeable servants truly fear Him (Fatir, 28), and that those who
know and those who do not are not equal, but “Only they will remember (who are) people of
understanding” (al-Zumar, 9). The inhabitants of hell will say on the Day of Judgment,
emphasizing the substance of the earthly life and its relationship with the Hereafter: “Had we
but listened or used our intelligence we should not (now) be among the Companions of the
Blazing Fire!” (al-Mulk, 10).

The Prophet (pbuh) summed up the Islamic view of knowledge and the importance of its
seeking as follows: “If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, Allah will cause him
to travel on one of the roads of paradise. The angels will lower their wings in their great
pleasure with one who seeks knowledge, the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth and the
fish in the deep waters will ask forgiveness for the learned man. The superiority of the
learned man over the devout is like that of the moon, on the night when it is full, over the rest
of the stars. The learned are the heirs of the Prophets, and the Prophets leave neither dinar nor
dirham, leaving only knowledge, and he who takes it takes an abundant portion” (Sunan Abi
Dawud, Book of Knowledge, Hadith No. 1)

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Islam made the knowledge of the ultimate truths both readily available and attainable. That is
done by means of utilizing intuition, the five senses, reason, the natural or physical world,
and revelation. The key is the revealed knowledge which realigns and guides the other four
epistemological sources. It also awakens and nourishes in man his spiritual dimension. It sets
him free from the shackles of the physical world and propels him to the unprecedented
stations and viewpoints whence he could behold the life wonder in its truest multidimensional
physical and metaphysical light.

Since its inception, Islam as a guidance based on the human primordial nature and reason,
declared a war against falsehood, ignorance, blind following even in sheer religious matters,
deliberate mediocrity, apathy and intellectual indolence. Anything that promoted or
facilitated such spiritual and mental disorders was as sternly proscribed. It stands to reason
that Islam as a comprehensive worldview and way of life is virtually synonymous with true
knowledge and genuine civilization. What is more, it is their solitary cause. It is only when
there is Islam, both in the realm of ideas and thought and in the world of human experiences
and palpable realities, that there will be authentic knowledge and genuine civilization. It its
absence, there could only be fiction, or at best, some fragmented and ephemeral triumphs.

Revelation – which proves its own heavenly origin and authenticity -- gives man a true
empowerment and uplifting. It opens his eyes, mind and soul, enabling him to rise above the
stifling obstacles of scepticism, doubt and uncertainty -- which are fuelled and sustained by
the state of man’s being trapped within the vicissitudes of the material world -- and behold as
well as read Allah’s incalculable signs in the universe which are as manifest in the smallest as
in the grandest.

The truth is deposited everywhere, but only the right guidance, means and equipment can
unearth it. The Quran thus proclaims: “Their messengers said: ‘What! Can there be a doubt
about Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth? It is He Who invites you, in order that
He may forgive you your sins and give you respite for a term appointed!’ (Ibrahim, 10).

“And why should I not worship He who created me and to whom you will be returned?” (Ya
Sin, 22).

In other words, man’s ego, spiritual illiteracy and blindness are taken care of most. Man is
convinced thereby that he must and can know, and as God’s vicegerent on earth, he is meant
and facilitated but to do so. It is all down to man and how much he is willing and ready to
know. Such is the nature of the knowledge of the transcendent realm of existence that, in the
end, man will get only as much as he honestly wanted and was ready for. Referring to this
powerful truth, Allah says: “So have they not travelled through the earth and have hearts by
which to reason and ears by which to hear? For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but
blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts” (al-Hajj, 46).

Also: “And certainly We have created for hell many of the jinn and the men; they have hearts
with which they do not understand, and they have eyes with which they do not see, and they
have ears with which they do not hear; they are as cattle, nay, they are in worse errors; these
are the heedless ones” (al-A’raf, 179).

It is only relatively true that life is what we make it, or that life is what we think it is.
Absolutely speaking, life is not what we make it out to be; life is what the Creator of life, and
of us, says it is. We are not to live life according to our own will and whim, but according to
the will and word of the Creator of the universe and life. It is only when our will and the will

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of our Creator and Master concur that the veils concealing the ultimate realities and truth start
falling. The life of true believers is all about removing those veils and constantly growing in
knowledge, wisdom and grace.

It follows that agnosticism should be countered and remedied by discovering and learning
about the self, first and foremost. This is so because only by completely knowing his self,
man can know other transcendent realities of life -- including God. Only when there is
epistemological and spiritual peace between man and his very self, there can be peace
between him and the rest of life constituents. Man is a microcosm of the ultimate truth. If he
really wants to find it, he need not go far.

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