Already we have briefly examined the faith and the decrees of different religions and have explained what we thought about them. Now, what about the religion of Islam? First of all, is it permissible to philosophize in Islam?

Philosophy is the name of the results discovered by men after they have examined and researched certain subjects using their own wisdom, logic and experimentation. In short, it means: "looking for the origin of everything and finding out the reason for its coming into existence." Philosophy means "Philosophia" (love of knowledge) in the Greek language, and it is based on the fundamentals of thinking deeply, searching, comparing, and examining. It is necessary for those who deal with philosophy to have deep knowledge in science as well as in psychology. But, no matter how much knowledge he has, a man can be in error with his own thoughts, or, at the end of his experiments, his conclusion may be wrong, too. That is why, the results given by philosophy cannot be guaranteed.

There are two kinds of ayats (verses) in the Qur'an al-Karim. The meaning of some ayats (verses) are very clear. These are called "muhkam ayats" (solid ayats). The meaning of some ayats cannot be understood easily. They need to be explained. These ayats are called "mutashabih ayats" (parabolic ayats). The hadiths, the words of the Prophet (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam), are divided into two parts, namely, the solid ones and the parabolic ones. The necessity for interpreting them gave rise to the establishment of the science called "Ijtihad" in the religion of Islam. Our Prophet (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam) too, performed ijtihad himself. Those ijtihads performed by our Prophet and his Sahabi (companions [radi-Allahu ta'ala alaihim ajmain]) are the main sources for Islamic knowledge. When new Muslims asked about what would happen to the things they had deemed to be sacred before and what Islam thought about them, Islamic scholars had to answer their questions. The answers to the questions concerning faith formed a branch of Islamic knowledge called kalam. The scholars of "Kalam" had to prove logically why their previous religions were wrong. These scholars (rahimahumullahu ta'ala) strove very hard to solve these matters. A lot of facts plus the very valuable knowledge of "logic" came into existence. On the other hand, it was necessary to tell the new Muslims these facts about Allah He is one, ever-living; He has not fathered anyone, nor was He fathered. This had to be done in such a way that could be easily understood. The scholars of kalam were very successful in their efforts. But, Islamic scientists helped them in this holy task. For example, Yaqub Ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, a scholar of logic and astronomy, studied for years to keep the idolaters Sabii and Vasan'a, who deem the stars sacred, away from their wrong belief. At last, he proved that their belief was wrong by showing them many proofs. But what a pity he himself was influenced by the ideas of the ancient Greek philosophers and became a "Mutazila." He died in Baghdad in 260 (873).

During the era of Harunur Rashid (79), the fifth Abbasid Khalifa, an institution called "Darulhikma" was founded in Baghdad. This institution was a large translation center. Not only in Baghdad, but also in Damascus, Harram, and Antiochia (Antakya) were such centers of science founded. In these offices the works written in Greek and Latin were translated as well as the books written in Hindustani and Persian. In fact, the real Renaissance (returning to ancient valuable works) started first in the city of Baghdad. For the first time, the works of Plato, Porphyrios, Aristotle were translated into the Arabic language. These works were examined carefully by Islamic scholars (rahimahumullahu ta'ala). They concluded that some of the opinions of the Greek and Latin philosophers were correct, but most of them were defective. They were contrary to "Muhkam ayats, hadiths, logic and wisdom." It was discovered that they were ignorant of most scientific and religious facts, and that they made the most mistakes in the areas which could not be understood through wisdom. Real Islamic scholars, for example Imam-i Ghazali and Imam-i Rabbani (rahimahumullahu ta'ala) saw that these philosophers did not believe in the most important fundamentals related to faith; consequently, Muslim scholars reported in detail their wrong ideas, which resulted in them being disbelievers. There is detailed information on this matter in a book called Al-munkizu Aniddalal written by Imam-i Ghazali. While Islamic scholars were explaining the "mutashabih" ayats (verses) and hadiths, they followed (depended) only on ijtihads given by the Prophet Muhammad (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam) and his Sahabas (companions). They rejected the ancient philosophers' opinions that were contrary to Islam; hence, they protected Islam from being corrupted as Christianity had become. But, ignorant religious men gave themselves up to such philosophers thinking that their every word was true. Thus, a corrupt creed was formed in Islam called "Mutazila." Our Prophet (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) revealed that seventy-two corrupt creeds would appear in Islam. Some philosophers, inspired by Greek, Indian, Persian and Latin philosophies, such as Ibni Sina, FArabi, Ibni Tufeyl, Ibni Rusd, and Ibni Bace appeared. They deviated in some matters from the true way of the Qur'an al-karim. Ibni Khaldun (80) divided Islamic knowledge into two parts, namely, "Ulum-i Nakliyya" [Tafsir, kirat, hadith, Fiqh, Feraiz, Kalam, Tasavvuf] and Ulum-i akliyya [Logic, Physics, Nature, Chemistry, Math, Geometry, Measurement, Munazara, Astronomy]. The first group is called "Religious Knowledge." A few of the branches in the second group, which can be understood by experimentation, are called "Scientific knowledge."

Imam-i Muhammad Ghazali (rahima-hullahu ta'ala) struggled against the old Greeks. He examined Greek philosophy and rejected those ideas he did not agree with. The philosophy which was mixed with Islamic beliefs during the era of Harun Rashid (rahima-hullahu ta'ala) had been the guide for some philosophers, such as Montesquieu and Spinoza. Who openly confessed that they were under the influence of FArabi, whose philosophy was called "Farabius."

Imam-i Ghazali (rahima-hullahu ta'ala) struggled against members of the Dai faction of the Shiism sect, which was the first of the seventy-two deviated sects to appear. According to the philosophy of the Daee's, the Qur'an al-karim has two aspects, namely, the inner aspect (batini [invisible]) and the outer aspect (Zahiri [visible]). They called themselves "the batini group." Imam-i Ghazali (rahima-hullahu ta'ala) easily disproved their philosophy. After they had been defeated, they deviated from Islam more and more by giving false meanings to the ayats (verses) and Hadith ash-Sharifs of which the meanings were not clear. At last, they became "Mulhids" (heretics). Furthermore, since they were also politically active, they became intolerable and a great nuisance for the "Ahl as-sunnat" Muslims (the true Muslims).

The Shiites mixed the Islamic religion with a new philosophy and claimed themselves to be followers of Hadrat Ali ('radi-Allahu 'anh). But later on different branches of Shiism appeared. A group called Hariji claimed themselves to be the followers of Hadrat Ali, but later on they became his enemy. According to their philosophy "A Muslim who commits a mortal sin becomes a disbeliever." That is why they claim that Hadrat Ali and Hadrat Muawiyah (radi-Allahu ta'ala anhuma) are kafirun (disbelievers). Later, a new belief appeared contradicting this idea. They depended only on their logic and said, "Man cannot make a judgement in this world about a Muslim who commits a mortal sin, such as killing another Muslim. A judgement concerning them will be given in the hereafter by Allahu ta'ala. Because of this, this group of people are neither Muslim nor kafir (disbeliever)." The followers of this new philosophy were called "Mutazila." Another philosophy springing from Shiism appeared with the name "Galiya," which means "exaggerators." They Claim that Paradise and Hell are on the earth. They are completely kafirun (disbelievers). No relation is there between them and the religion of Islam.

The enemies who wanted to demolish Islam from within formed new corrupt groups, by disguising themselves under the name of Islam. The Bahai, Qadiyani and Tabligh-i Jamaat are groups from among them that became famous.

1- BAHAIS: Their chief is a Persian named Albab 'Ali. He used to call himself a mirror. He used to say, Allah is seen in this mirror. When he died, Bahaullah and then Bahaullah's son, Abbas, became their chief. When Abbas died in 1339 (1921 A.D.), his son Shawqi took his place. Bahaullah used to say that he was a prophet. According to them, nineteen is a sacred number. Every sort of immorality is considered an honor. They have many books in many languages. They know how to deceive people very well.

2- QADIANIS: These are also called 'Ahmadi'. M.Abu Zuhra, a professor at Jami-ul-azhar, says, "Mirza Ahmad, founder of the Qadianism died in 1326 (1908 A.D.). He was buried in Qadian town near Lahore. They say, "Isa (alaihi's-salam) came to Kashmir after escaping from the Jews. He died in Kashmir." They call Ahmad Qadiani a Prophet." They say, "The Qur'an al-Karim reveals that the Jews and Christians are benevolent. Therefore, it is an act of worship to love the British." They say, "The commandments for jihad came to an end. If anyone does not call us 'kafir,' we will not call him a kafir." We are not allowed to let our daughters marry non-Qadianis. But we may marry their daughters." They call 'kafirun without books' for those Muslims who do not believe them.

'Allama Husain Muhammad (rahmatullahi 'alaih), a mudarris in the madrasa of Deer-i zur, writes in detail the words of the Qadianis which causes kufr in his book Ar-raddu 'Alal-qadianiyya. Disbelievers disguising themselves under certain names introduce themselves as Muslims. They prove that Islam is a true religion and the only way to happiness by debating with the Christians and the Jews. Those who understand this immediately become Muslim. But Bahais, Qadianis, Shiis and Wahhabis attract these poor people to their corrupt groups by deceiving them. The Physics scholar Abdussalam, who won the Nobel prize, is a Qadiani. Ahmad Deedat, who attracted Christians to Islam in 1980 by debating with them, is not of the Ahl as-sunnat either. Such people prevent new converts to Islam from attaining the true path of the Ahl as-sunnat and eternal happiness.

FOOTNOTES

(79) Harun Rashid, passed away in Tus in 193 (809 A.D.).

(80) Ibni Khaldun, passed away in 808 (1406 A.D.).