Rediscovering Epistemology of Islam

EPISTEMOLOGY :

ISLAM a draft for all of us .

Epistemology,or theory of knowledge,is the central core of any word-view. it is the parameter which delineates what is and what is not possible within the purview of Islam, what is possible to know and ought to be known, what is possible to know but is better avoided, and what is simply not possible to know .Epistemology seeks to define knowledge,distinguish it principal varieties,identify its sources and establish its limits, what can we know and how do we know ?"are questions central to epistemology, but these are not merely philosophical questions.They have a strong bearing in concrete reality:the response to these questions has implications for every aspect of human activity.

Indeed, the Quranic concept of "Knowledge" commonly translated as "ILM" orignaly shaped the main features of muslim civilization and guided it towards its zenith. Then as it should be now, Knowledge shaped the muslim mode of thought and inquiry. It determines how muslim can best preceive reality and shape and develop a just society. Knowledge is the glue that binds the Muslim Society with its envoirement, Hence giving Islam a dynamic, living form However, while the scholors and intellectuals of the classical period recognized that Knowledge was concept on which rested the very foundations of the muslim civilisation, and that it was an all pervasive value, contemporary scholars, both modernists and traditionalists, are largely oblivious to the key role that epistemology plays in shaping a society.


The epistemological emperialism has deep roots going back over 300 years. Its origins lie in the beginnings of the Euorpean colonial adventure and the emergence of scientific rationality as the only legitimate method for understanding and controlling nature. It is the epistemology of modern science which characterises the way in which individuals in industrialism scientists think about their world, seek to know, understand and control it. This epistemology emphasis-es the distinction between objective and subjective, between the observer and an external world, between subjective states of emotion and a 'reality' which lies outside the observers and which can be known only by observation and reason. The dichotomy between 'facts' and 'values' 'objective reality' and 'subjective emotions' is the main charachterstic of the epistemology of modern science. It is the way of knowing that contrasts sharply from that which is prevalent in many societies where knowledge and wisdom are seen as residing in a state of inner consciousness . The dominant method of inquiry produced by Western epistemology is reduction, the true nature of reality is 'discovered' by digging deeper and deeper beneath the surface of analyses the forces and structure underlying appearances. The success of reduction and the epistemology of modern science lies in its pragmatic value. It has yielded knowledge which can be checked with refrences to a separate reality and which has brought unimagined dividends for mankind.

However, the awareness that there are serious faults in Western epistemology is not altogether new, the theory of objective knowledge, as developed by such diverse figuers as Descartes and Popper, has been under attack for over 200 years. What makes a piece of knowledge 'Objectivity' is decided by a set of criteria , and it is this criteria of objectivity which has been systematically attacked, most notably by DavidHume and, more recently, by T.S Kuhn.

In his treatise on Human Nature,Hume attacked the theory of Objective Knowledge and questioned the justification of postulating a world outside ourselves, or indeed a self for it to be outside (as against a mere of experiences). He declared that repetition has no power whatever as an argument, although it plays a key role in our "understanding" of things. Indeed, Hume was convinced that reason and arguements play only a small role in our understanding 'knowledge was nothing more than belief which could not be defended.

More recently, Kuhn has taken the argument further to a position where any objective stance is completely denied. Kuhn's work, based on the examination of the role of discovery in the history of Science, suggest that scientists work with in belief systems are paradigms from which they seldom depart. " Science is essentially problem solving with in paradigms. Nature does not describe itself it does not perform according to mathematical formula and equations". It is the scientists who give meaning to her messages by determining how they should be fitted into existing concept and beliefs, and how far our existing concepts and belief should be modified and extended to accommodated them. In Kuhn's epistemology, an objective, value-free, neutral science does not exists.