Subjects learnt in school ;)

Bismillahir rahmanir raheem,
Alhamdulillah,
Assalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah

Lately, 2 things set me back reflecting on some of the things I have learnt in school. I am now currently engrossed in reading and understanding and appreciating Stephen Hawkings’ a Briefer History of Time, a book I highly recommend reading as it presents difficult theories in a manner easily appreciated by laymen.

Firstly, as part of the outset, he highlights the point that any theory postulated by scientists is just a model that seeks to explain natural phenomena. A theory, a model, is considered good when it can explain and it can predict, to a high degree of accuracy. I particularly like the emphasis that a theory can never be 100% proven to be absolutely correct or true, regardless how many times experiments ascribe to that theory, or even law for that matter. Because it only takes a single instance of an event not ascribing to a particular theory to have it disproved, even abandoned.

So a theory is a model that ought to fit with what happens in nature and not the other way round.

Moreover, it should be noted that the fundamentals of laws of science are are always taken for granted, worked with henceforth, without so much as anything that even seeks to explain why the law is as such.

So if you ask why do like charges repel, who can answer you? Or why does mass have inertia?

This set us realizing, big time, that whatever Man postulated about science, while it is commendable, admirable and highly encouraged even in Islam, it can never supersede or overwrite what Allah wills 

So while Allah has His Sunnah (Sunnatullah) that govern the world via causes and effects, He, Transcendent and Almighty, as an active agent governing the world always has the power to intervene, even if it means going against Sunnatullah that we are more familiar with. Events that testify to this are many: some classics include the fire being cold and peaceful for Ibrahim a.s.

So it should be surprising when a particular theory is taken as the gold standard of measure for all things in the universe, say for example when the Darwinian Theory is imposed on fields outside the Evolutionary Biology. This would then more and more become like an obstinate-insisting on something, which can also be called a demagogic dogma or dogmatic demagogy. It is rather amusing how people like Christopher Hitchens can accuse people who ascribe to the religious texts as being arrogant in their insisting of the Truth in the revelations, and that Doubt is seen as humble since the one who doubts is making a statement that he does not know and is willing to “learn”, to find other explanations, which is to me just as excuse to escape Belief.

But what about this: Doubt comes from pride, you doubt only when you are not humble enough to believe…

Keraguan sebagai Penjana Pengetahuan dan Pemacu Utama Kemajuan: Satu Kritikan Pendahuluan by Dr Mohd Zaidi explained all this very clearly. What Stephen Hawkings said about the limitations of a theory seems to agree with what was said in this paper.

So we all will agree that the acceptance of reality cannot be a free-for-all thing, like a person trying to be a goody-two-shoes when he wants to accept all ideas regardless of their truthfulness, in an attempt to so called appease people. Truth has to be absolute and stand out from Falsehood, mutually exclusive.
I am not sure, but it seems to me that there is a ‘danger’ when Truth is coupled with arrogance, because then people can accuse you of being arrogant, narcissist, self-flattering etc, and then people will use that as an excuse to run away, regardless the Validity of the Truth.

It struck a chord with what the Prophet s.a.w said: I am the Master of the Children of Adam and it is no boast. What can be more Truthful than such a statement!

Subhanallah.

Lately, Ust Hasbi was emphasizing that the khasyieen, those who are humble, who fear their Lord, are on Truth’s side ;)

I am grateful to Him who made my beginning learning journey full of pieces that fall together nicely.


Yes, while I do admire what physicists are finding out about the universe, I have always in me felt a sense of regret, regret that I did not do physics in JC, thanks to a revamp in the curriculum that made it compulsory to have a contrasting subject. I had to sacrifice in choosing between Biology or Physics, what made me chose Biology was the recent popularity of life sciences, whether or not the reason, or the idea of the reason behind my choice was wise, I do not know. Not that I hate Biology, it is just that I kind of felt a pain in having to leave physics in JC lah.

But recently also, I learnt a module in pergas on muamalah, and I am also beginning to be more exposed to the idea of International Monetary system in Shaykh Imran Hossein’s works.

Suddenly H1 Economics came in handy;) I was recently waken up to the fact that Islam is opposed to some of the fundamental assumptions in Economics. I could appreciate what was presented when it criticized western Economics, and say things like “this was what I learnt in jc!”

As always, there is a lot out there to learn. An entire lifetime is never enough, isn’t it??

Jazallahu anna nabiyanaa muhammadan, sallallahu alaihi wasallam.

May Allah guide us all, amin.