99- OUR ANCESTOR HAZRAT ABRAHAM ALEYHISSELAM AND “AKIL” (INTELLECT- HUMAN MIND)

 

         Allah is neither intellect-mind- nor He has the attributes of intellect. Intellect is an attribute that belongs to human beings and Allah is exempt from mind - thinking.  Allah has the attributes “the One who knows all things-the All-knowing”, “the Knowledge” “Ve hüve bikülli şey’in alim -  Allah has knowledge of all things.” (Al- Hadid, 3)

         The science of Allah is eternal. He did not know afterwards. Intellect is the ability to understand that exists only in man. To understand is a verb. It is not a subject. It is a quality. It is an adjectival verb that has mood - tense. It has forms when conjugated in grammar.

         “Akele: understood, yakilu: understanding, aklün: to understand, “akil-the one who understands, “makul-the one who is understood. “Akıl” is an Arabic word and its Turkish meaning is “TO UNDERSTAND or TO REASON”. Allah does not need to understand anything because the One who knows everything does not need to think. He has known everything since eternity. “Allah has knowledge of what you hide and what you reveal.” (Nahl, 19) Among the Beautiful Names of Allah, the name “Akil- the One who understands” is not written because Allah does not need to understand. To understand-comprehension- is the attribute of human beings. According to Sufis and to most of theologians (according to Maturidy and Ashary) the Universal Intellect is the First Spirit “the Greatest Spirit” of Allah. It is the pure and holy Spirit of Hz. Muhammad. The sample of this spirit is the Sun. “You are a shining light (the sun that emits bright lights)” (Al-Ahzab, 46 / Noah 16) Allah used the word “sirac” for our Prophet and for the Sun.

         Those who call Allah as “the Universal Intellect” are not the scholars, scientists and the wise Gnostics of Islam but they are the Islamic Philosophers. They are Ibni Sina, Farabi, Kindi, Ibni Rushd etc. Their sources of inspiration are Aristotle, the metaphysics of Aristotle and systematic Logic of Aristotle. Imam Ghazzali, who was a great philosopher himself, refuted that philosophy, rationalism and those who made rationalism a taboo. He chose the path of Sufism, which is totally based on divine messages, saying the qualities and the attributes of Allah and metaphysical realities cannot be known by reason, by philosophy and by logic. The books of Ghazzali are obvious. If the Person and the attributes of Allah and the metaphysical abstract beings such as spirit, angels, geniis, satan, paradise and hell could have been known by reason, Allah would not have sent the Prophets and He would not have informed us about these realities that we could not have known. Then, every intelligent person, every philosopher would be a Prophet. IT IS NOT FAIR!

Philosophers did not constitute a community. However, the Prophets had hundred millions of followers. If the Four Holy Books are said to have been the production of the Prophets’ thinking, then all the Prophets and heavenly books would have been denied.

As for logic, it is not “intellect” but it is a method of Aristotle. It means either reasoning by using general rules or principles to form a judgment about a particular fact or reasoning by using known facts to produce general facts or principles. Its classical name is "enfüs-ü âfak" which means to prove the general principles using the individual facts or to prove each fact using all the facts. The Aristotle Logic is not Islamic. Its origin is Athens.

Allah does not need the attribute of understanding. He has already the knowledge of all things. One who knows everything does not need to think and understand afterwards.

THE LAST WORD ON THIS MATTER: In the Koran, mind-intellect- exists; however, there is no rationalism (the Rationalism of Descartes) and the reasoning (the Logic of Aristotle). For, according to rationalism, there is no means apart from “reason-human mind” in order to know the truth. The rationalist logicians do not accept the divine messages-revelation and heavenly books as proof.

They call them a dogma and end it up. Human mind -the common sense- does not deny the Creator. However, it cannot know Him. For, believing in the Creator and knowing the attributes and qualities of the Creator are different things.

That is to say, to believe and to know are different concepts. Mind solves the physical and social matters; however, it cannot solve or know the metaphysical abstract realities, the essence of Allah and the attributes of Allah. They are known through the Koran and by the divine messages. The attributes of Allah, His beautiful names, spirit, angels, genies, satan, paradise, hell are abstract realities and concepts. They cannot be known by reason. Allah informs us about them through divine messages and revelation. And we learn them from the prophets and the Heavenly books. To believe in the Creator and to know the Creator are different things. Everybody believes in the sun but not everybody can know what the sun is and its qualities are.

 

OUR ANCESTOR HAZRAT ABRAHAM A.S  

        

The great man Hz. Abraham (A.S.) is one of the great Prophets. Some said that he knew Allah by reasoning (using his mind). No! Hz. Abraham had not known Allah by reasoning. He only accepted His existence using his mind. For, as mentioned above, believing and thinking are different things. According to the Glorious Koran, Hz. Abraham was a child of an ignorant family who were pagan that believed in carved stones, idols, made-up, false gods. When he had a mature mind, his mind would not accept why they worshiped the carved stones, idols that neither did harm nor benefited people. For that time being, Hz. Abraham had only intellect (mind) and conscience. He could not have had anything else as he did not have the pages of Adam, Enoch and Noah (May peace be upon them!) who had lived thousands of years before him. During the Prophets, mentioned above, writing had not been invented yet and the Four Holy Books had not been revealed yet either.

         Hz. Abraham and his people were informed about neither the essence of Allah nor His attributes and divine revelation (divine messages). They were in primitive state. However, it should not be forgotten that Hz. Abraham had a very strong holy spirit furnished by Allah. He Himself did not know that he was a prophet, then. However, Allah has known that he has been a prophet since eternity. Allah would open to him the Melekut (the Kingdom of the Heavens- supreme dominion) of the Heavens and of the earth and He would speak to him through revelation. Hz. Abraham, who was a fervent young man at that time, had only one means and it was his pure conscience and common sense. The Prophet Abraham had to use these means: his conscience and his mind in those circumstances. He thought in this way: He looked at the stars first as they were bright and up in the sky, afterwards, at the Moon and at the Sun. He said: They may be my Lord (in the meaning of owner, creator). When they disappeared, he came to the opinion “My Lord does not sink, decline or set” and said: “My Lord, my Creator is Fatir-The One who opens the Heavens and the earth.” He used the word “Fatır” and said “Fatiressemevatı vel ard”. “Fatır” means the “One who opens”. Hz. Abraham had not had any knowledge about the Essence, the Attributes of Allah yet. When the Prophet Abraham had this opinion, Allah the Most High said: “I showed him the Kingdom of the Heavens and the earth and thereupon he had a firm belief and became contented.” Therefore, one cannot be totally satisfied by reason or by thinking. After that, Allah started to speak to him and entered into dialogue with him. Then, Hz. Abraham learned all the qualities, attributes, the beautiful names of his creator, his Lord from his Lord.  He became the one who learnt his Creator while he believed in Him with the knowledge he learned from HIS LORD. Hz. Abraham is the Sole-Unique in the world. Nobody else had found Allah by reasoning. He did not acquire the realities of his own, by reasoning. He acquired them by the help of his Lord. What we have written so far are confirmed with the Koran. (An’am 75-79)

         There is nobody else in the History of mankind who acquired realities by reasoning except Hz. Abraham. Allah has already created him as a Prophet. If anybody says that there is “one”, he must prove it. Here is the opportunity! Not anyone can be like the Prophet Abraham and there is no need for this anyway. There are divine revelations and Four Books at present. The Koran and these Books have already declared the existence, the oneness and the attributes of Allah.

         All the attributes, His beautiful names exist in the Koran. During Hz. Abraham’s time, there were not any sciences concerning Allah and His attributes and about the inner world (metaphysics). It is also a fact that any sensible person already says: “this immense Universe, this great nature must have a very great and knowledgeable owner and creator”. That’s all! He cannot comprehend beyond this. A sensible person accepts the existence of Allah but he cannot know the essence, the attributes of Allah and the metaphysical abstract beings. This can be known only by divine messages. Allah knows Himself- who He is and what His qualities are- and He makes others know them. Allah reported that He is Divine Light with the verse: “Allah is the Divine Light of the Heavens and the earth” (Nur, 35). There are many people that believe in the existence of Allah. If mind-intellect is sensible, he accepts that “the earth and the heavens have a Creator”. Mind believes in the Creator and accepts Him. However, he cannot know the Creator with His essence and attributes.

         Therefore, our Prophet (A.S.V.) related knowing the Lord to man’s knowing himself”. “Men arefe nefsehu, kad arefe rabbehu - He who knows his true essence, what human is- surely knows his Lord.” (Kasfu’l Hafa, Ajluni, vol.2, p. 132)

         For, man (Adam) is the greatest work of Allah because he combines the inner world with his spirit and the outer world with his physical body in his own person. The worlds are also the work of Allah. However, the spirit of Allah exists only in human among the worlds. “I breathed into man -into his brain and into his heart- from My spirit.” (Sad, 72)

         Mind is not spirit. It is one of the qualities and attributes of His qualities and of His attributes. Spirit has some other hundreds of qualities or attributes. Human beings actually understand that there is a creator of the earth and the skies and they take refuge in that Creator when they are in trouble. They turn their back on Him when the trouble is over. Therefore, Allah does not like them and does not guide them. He wants them to be deprived of His paradise and His beauty.

         Allah said addressing our Prophet: “Say: ‘Lord, increase my knowledge’.” (Ta Ha, 114) In this situation, the Prophet acquires the knowledge directly from Allah and his knowledge increases in this way. He does not learn the knowledge using pen and paper. According to the verse: “O Lord! Bestow knowledge and mercy on me from your own presence!” (Kahf, 10), he gets his knowledge directly from Allah.

          Allah has reported the knowledge and wisdom through the Koran. Learning divine knowledge through revelation (from the Koran) is the way of the Prophet and Muslims. The Logic of Aristotle and Rationalism (Descartes) is the way of philosophers. Sufism and Scholastic Theology (Maturidy and Ashary Doctrines) are directly based on divine revelation. Depending on Divine messages is depending on revelation and the Prophet. It is to depend on the Koran. It is to learn the knowledge from the Koran, from the Prophet and from the Holy sayings of the Prophet. This science is naturally DIVINE. They are religious sciences. Some people are confusing human mind -intellect- with rationalism and they are causing the confusion of concepts. Mind is a quality of one of the qualities of spirit. It is not artificial or manmade but it is natural. It is a gift of God. Rationalism and Logic are a movement invented by Aristotle and Descartes and they are artificial and human made. They are the opinions of Aristotle and Descartes. It is a human view. Moreover, intellect is restricted at a point. It cannot comprehend infinity. As for us, we must obey divine messages as we were born after the Four Books. There were not any divine messages during Hz. Abraham’s time.

         Allah also made an explanation in the meaning “Whatever I tell you is the truth. Will you know better than Me?” in Chapter Baqarah. There are also some other verses for the Prophet meaning: “The Apostle (the Perfect Man) recites to you the revelations of Allah and purifies you of sin and he teaches you the Book, wisdom and what the Prophethood is. He teaches you what you do not know.” (Baqhara, 151)

         By means of this, He declares that our Prophet depended on divine messages and He is exalting our Prophet and declaring that he is an instructor, the one who purifies and a guide.

 

Note: Having been praised by them I was declared as a great Sufi in the “Adıyaman’da OLAY” newspaper on 15 June 2007. I am but a humble dervish who has been serving Sufism and saying everywhere that I am a handful of earth. That is all. I would like to present this to your attention.                                                      

 

KAZIM YARDIMCI (ADIYAMANLI)

                                               ADIYAMAN /TURKEY

 

                                                        16 June 2007

 

www.varliktanveriler.com

varliktanveriler@hotmail.com

bilgi@varliktanveriler.com