TRUTH, REVELATION AND OBEDIENCE MUSLIM DIALOGUE Papers presented at the Broumana Consultation, 12-18 July 1972 Edited by: S. J. Samartha and J.B. TaylorTRUTH, REVELATION AND OBEDIENCE Zafar Ishaq Ansari! Revelation provides gui ince for man’s life The quest for the ultimate truth, for the meaning and purpos: of existence, for the true end of human life, for the way leading « self-fulfilment and happiness is characteristic of man. Revelation is the benevolent and compassionate response of God to this peren- nial and universal need of man. This response of God is not essen- tially different from His providential system in response to the phy ical needs of mankind. Out of mercy and compassion, God does not leave man to grope and stumble in darkness in quest for truth. For man’s cognitive capacity is inadequate as a fully reliable guide to the ultimate truth. Revelation, in the Islamic tradition, signifies the revelation of God’s guidance for mankind, rather than the revelation of God, as is the case with Christian doctrine. Whatever is essential for inan’s guidance is first supernaturally communicated to prophets (who are impeccable), and they in turn communicate it to others. As God's creature, man has the duty to respond with faith, love, grat- itude and devotion, and to commit himself to follow the revealed guidance of God. This commitment to obey God’s guidance is islam — man’s conscious, unreserved surrender to God. This explains why all prophets and their followers have been designated in the Qur'an as muslim and mu’min; for the essential message of all proph- ets was the same — submission to God. This process of author- tative revelation reached its zenith with the advent of Muhammad, the last of the prophets (peace be on them all), for with him it wa given its final and perfect form and declared valid till the end of tim De Ansar isa Pakistani who has taught in Karachi ‘the College of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, 80 sity and who is now teaching in udi Arabia.The Qur'an is revelation par excellence, the uncreated Word of God. The Qur'an, as explained and elaborated by the inspired life and utterances of the Prophet (known as Sunnah), is man’s unerring guide. Embodying Gods infinite knowledge and wisdom, the qur'anic guidance is naturally the ‘most right’ (S. 17:9), incompa- rably superior to whatever ideologies may be developed by human beings. Thus dogma and individual and social ethics embodied mainly in the religious law developed in Islam with revelation as their primary source, their touchstone, their ultimate criterion of judgment. Thé importance of this revelational basis of Islamic think- ing can hardly be overemphasized, for during the early centuries the Muslim mind definitively refused to acknowledge the validity of any non-revelational source of guidance. The Islamic concept of verbal revelation and of its inerrancy, and the wide range of activities that it covers, combined with the emphasis on obedience to revealed guidance, seem to many people quite out of tune with the temper of the present age, when man seems to be in revolt against the chains and fetters of traditional authority, and the disposition to change seems to have developed into a cult. Even if the over-zealous rebels are ignored, there remains the fear that an elaborate body of dogma and law belong- jing to several centuries ago might not only perpetuate ideas and institutions which are out of step with the needs and spirit of the contemporary world, but might also stifle man’s creative impulse, stamp out human initiative and freedom, and impede the over-all progress of man, The picture of religious dogma and law as a set of chains and fetters is partly the outcome of contemporary man’s spiritual poverty and arrogance, fostered by the thorough-going seculariza- tion of human life and outlook during the recent centuries. It is partly also the outcome of the failure to appreciate th® nature of the contents of revealed guidance. To return to the Islamic tradi- tion in the realm of dogma, it provides us with an essential know- ledge about God, about the hereafter, etc., so as to lay down the proper bases for man’s relationship with God. On the one hand, the knowledge provided by revelation belongs to the supernatural realm, and thus does not strictly lie within the jurisdiction of sci- ence. On the other, while this knowledge has a binding character for a Muslim’s understanding of God, ete., there is no reason why he may not further enrich his understanding by contemplation and 81