A Theory of Humanity: Part 2-Conditions for True Universalism M.R. Islam*, Ali O. Islam†, G.M. Zatzman†, Barry Grossman† *Dalhousie University | †Emertec Research & Development ABSTRACT The currently used humanity model is chaotic, devoid of logic or coherence. In Part 1 of this two-part paper, we examined human traits of a scientific model in absence of 'born sinner' starting point. We demonstrated that the so-called 'viceroy model' that is characterized as scientifically sustainable can replace the existing models that are based on fear and scarcity. Part Two of the paper deals with adequate definition of moral campus that conforms to the viceroy model. In this paper, it is shown that the talk of morality or a moral compass is aphenomenal in absence of strict necessary and sufficient conditions. It also follows that natural justice can only be followed after defining the term 'natural' with the same scientific rigor as that of the viceroy model. Once these terms are consistently defined, one is well poised to talk about inalienable rights, moral compass, environmental sustainability, and humanity. The immediate consequence of this model is the demonstration that currently used governance models, such as democracy, is inherently implosive and must be replaced with a new model that is in conformance with the scientific definition of 'natural'. This emerging model is free from inconsistencies and will remain effective as a governance tool that optimizes individual rights and balances with the right of the state as well as a Creator. It is concluded that this model offers the only hope of maximizing individual liberty without compromising universal peace and natural justice. At this point, morality and legality become equivalent to each. The implications of this paper are overwhelming, making all current judicial actions immoral, in essence repudiating the entire Establishment as little more than a mafia entity, bringing back 'might is right' mantra, packaged as 'social progress'. The paper finally shows how a standard that is necessarily and sufficiently universal can become impetus for a true knowledge. 1 Introduction Plato said, "Strange times are these in which we live when old and young are taught falsehoods. And the one man that dares to tell the truth is called at once a lunatic and fool." Few question the ! 1 International Journal of Political Theory | Vol. 2, No. 1, 2017 | ISSN: 2371-3321 Emertec R&D www.emertec.ca Corresponding Author: M. R. Islam, Faculty of Engineering, Dalhousie University, 5248 Morris Street PO Box 15000, Halifax NS B3H 4R2 Canada. notion that this 'strange times' is now when it comes to politics. However, fewer understand the science behind this 'strange times', even fewer appreciate how this 'strange times' have pervaded all aspects of our civilization, and practically no one sees this as a problem in the science and technology development sector. Many dislike the current system but few see the big picture and the direction that our civilization is moving and none can tell us how to fix the system. The runaway tendency to characterize legal issues as political and policy matters continues to go entirely unchallenged. As a result, not only does political apparatus now routinely promote its policy agenda by criminal means but the legal system itself has been largely corrupted and is now entirely ineffective at dispensing justice. The core question is, what is the purpose of humanity and what criteria that we can use with moral authority. Consider the following quote: "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong." Abraham Lincoln quotes (American 16th US President (1861-65), who brought about the emancipation of the slaves. 1809-1865) We have been told that we are constantly making progress. Yet, one may consider the following quote from Late Antiquity and conclude the opposite: An Arab is no better than a non-Arab, and a non-Arab is no better than an Arab; a red man is no better than a black man and a black man is no better than a red man – except if it is in terms of piety. - Prophet Muhammad, 632 In part 1 of this paper, we elaborated how the human family becomes unique under the auspices 1 of conscious and conscientious participation as a viceroy of the creator. This concept that was in existence in every civilization that is known today was stifled by proponents of the Church of Rome, long before Qur'an was revealed during 23 years, spanning over sixth and seventh centuries. Notwithstanding the 1000 years of the Islamic golden era that allowed true scientific cognition to flourish at least in the areas of academic aspects of jurisprudence as well as science and engineering, Europe as such has been influenced only by dogmatic cognition. Even in the 'secular' setting, the modern age has been characterized as being both a time of "technological disaster" (as per Nobel Laureate Chemist, Robert Curl), and of "scientific miracles" (as the most predominant theme of modern education). The situation is worse in case of politics and governance. We have assertions of democracy being 'restored' by the military (Egypt) and peace being exported through military (USA). In the international arena, numerous cases of warfare are being played out like video games in control of a senseless teenager, whose sole purpose is to gain notoriety through insanity. Consider the prolonged wars in Afghanistan, where the shadowy 'Islamic State of Iraq and Syria' is produced as an excuse to prolong military presence. This war has cost nearly $1 trillion to date, and caused the deaths of 3,518 US and coalition troops, ! 2 including 158 Canadians who blundered into a war none of them understood. No one has the courage to end this pointless war. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been killed. No one at the Democratic or Republican Conventions had time to think about the endless war in forgotten Afghanistan. These cases illustrate a greater problem in today's culture: the establishment has done absolutely nothing to convince that its various policies are moral, sound, or even legal. At the same time even if we ignore some of the more colourful, conspiracy theories which seem more like a Psyop of discredit genuine complaints about government excesses the establishment's various policy positions have done a great deal to convince us that the political and security apparatus has completely abandoned the rule of law and will do anything to advance the establishment agenda. To understand just how unaccountable, unilateral, and illegitimate the machinery of state has become, one need only look at: 1. events in Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan, and Africa; 2. the establishment's Iran; 3. events in Palestine; 4. the complete domination of corporate money both in the policy making machine and in elections; 5. the failure to tackle corruption in accordance with existing laws both domestic and international; 6. the bureaucratic branch of government's now almost complete lack of responsiveness to public complaints; 7. the utter break down of our legal systems as a mechanism for delivering justice and certainty; and 8. overwhelming support for the now dominant ideology of corporatism. Central to this issue is the arbitrary dehumanization of certain groups of humans. The activist emergency surgeon Mads Gilbert summarized this dilemma in the context of Palestine, "In 1938, the Nazis called the Jews "Untermenschen," subhuman. Today, Palestinians in the West Bank, in Gaza, in the Diaspora are treated as Untermensch, as subhumans who can be bombed, killed, slaughtered by their thousands, without any of those in power reacting." In Part 1 of this two-part paper, we have demonstrated that the absence of standard is linked to the absence of a confirmed communication from the Creator as to the role humans must play. In this paper, we show that role can be carried out only with a logical and universal standard against which every human action must be tallied. At the time that the original paper was being drafted, authors did not know the kind of irony this part of the paper will create, but it turned out the world is at the cusp of witnessing the leader of morality having to select between two most untrustworthy candidates that are nominated from the two principal parties of the United States. 2 The fact that Donald Trump is being called 'the emperor with no clothes' and that the Clintons are the ones that advised Trump to run for presidency in a contest that has no parallel in history 3 in terms of lack of public trust makes the paper both necessary and timely. 2 The Need for a Logical Standard The previous paper shows that in the face of out current situation, the most important requirement of global morality is a logical and universal standard. The most serious, most important, most significant, most truly acid test of such a standard is that it accounts for ! 3 everything necessary and sufficient to explain the phenomenon - its origin, its path and its endpoint - thereby rendering it positively useful to human society. In science, such criterion was used by Khan. He argued that the same criterion was used in previous civilizations to 4 distinguish between real and artificial. This criterion uses the notion that a true criterion has to be continuous as time approaches infinity. This is equivalent to the truth criterion of Plato as well as Averröes that floated the notion that truth cannot be transient. This definition avoids scrutiny of the intangible source of individual action (namely, intention) as long as the time infinity condition is met. However, Zatzman et al. pointed out that the end-point at time t = infinity can 5 be a criterion, but it will not disclose the pathway unless a continuous time function is introduced. Such continuity cannot be assured in absence of both major and minor premises to be true, as in being insensitive to time. It is important to note that this condition is exact and cannot be replaced with premises that are 'approaching' the truth. In this paper, we will cite a number of examples from social science in order to demonstrate the need for a logical standard. Consider the following syllogism: All Americans speak French [major premise] President Francois Hollande is an American [minor premise] Therefore, President Hollande speaks French [conclusion-deduction] If, in either the major or minor premise, the information relayed above is derived from a scenario of what is merely probable (as distinct from what is actually known), the conclusion, which happens to be correct (in its face) in this particular case, would be not only acceptable as something independently knowable, but reinforced as something also statistically likely. This, then finesses determining the truth or falsehood of any of the premises, ... and, eventually, someone is bound to "reason backwards" to deduce the statistical likelihood of the premises from the conclusion! Indeed, this latter version, in which eventually all the premises are falsified as a result of starting out with a false assumption asserted as a conclusion, is exactly what has been identified and labeled elsewhere as the aphenomenal model. This model cannot be rectified unless one replaces both major and minor premises with something that is true. This truth, eventually, has to go back to absolute truth – something that cannot be verified through tangible experience. Consider another syllogism (the concept of "virtue" intended here is "that which holds positive universally at all times", not just for some individual or arbitrary subset of individual members of humanity or for a certain time interval): All virtues are desirable. Speaking the truth is a virtue. Therefore, speaking the truth is desirable. ! 4 Even before it is uttered, a number of difficulties have already been built into this apparently non-controversial syllogism. When it is said that, "all virtues are desirable", there is no mention of a time factor (pathway) or intention (source of a virtue). For instance, speaking out against an act of aggression is a virtue, but is it desirable? A simple analysis would indicate that unless the time is increased to infinity (meaning something that is desirable in the long-run), practically all virtues are undesirable. For instance, even giving out in charity requires austerity in the shortterm, defending a nation requires self sacrifice – an extremely undesirable phenomenon in the short-term. In the same way, if giving charity is a virtue, would that make giving away stolen goods a charity? Robin Hood may be an acceptable hero in the post-Renaissance culture, but is such a categorization logically grounded? Giving away stolen goods can be a virtue only if the history (time function) is obliterated. This would make the process inherently aphenomenal. The third component is in the source of an act. For instance, is giving away with the intention of recovering something in the future a virtue? Is helping an oppressor, who would use the information given to increase oppression a virtue? Can someone give out state secret to the enemy just because it is the truth? How about speaking the truth when it brings in animosity? For instance, if a person has spoken ill of another person, is it a virtue to convey that message to that person even if the allegations are true.? This logic shows the need for highlighting both the source (intention) and the pathway (time function going back to the origin) of an action in order to qualify it as a virtue. The scientifically correct reworking of this syllogism should be: All "virtues" are desirable for all humans [major premise]; Speaking "the truth" is a virtue at all times [minor premise]; Therefore, speaking "the truth" is desirable at all times. What is mentioned as the 'major premise' can stand for generic – the essence of universality – whereas the minor premise relates to specific. However, the conclusion is true universally and at all times under two conditions: 1. The definition of 'virtue' is based on fundamentally correct premise that includes intention as well as pathway; 2. The definition of 'the truth' is based on fundamentally correct premise. The logic goes back to even more fundamental premise that must provide one with the definition of true virtue and then qualify the truth. It essentially shows that there has to be a duality of premises that can form an axis, which can then be used to define universal laws. The duality here is similar to the yin yang duality that has been shown in science as ubiquitous, first starting with creator and creation. We will see in latter section, this duality in cognition sense refers to law maker and law giver. ! 5 The immediate outcome of this analysis is the complete disclosure of the source, pathway (time function), and final outcome (time t approaching ∞) of an idea, prior to initiating the action. This analysis can and does restore to its proper place the rational principle underlying the comparing of natural thought to spurious or aphenomenal ones. ! Figure 3. All arguments based on false premises end up increasing ignorance Figure 3 shows the two contrasting pathways, one based on fundamentally true major and minor premises and the other on false premises. It can explain why none of the conformists' outcomes can be trusted when conformity is based on false premises. In fact, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously pointed out, "We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany," unless one starts off on a set of correct premises, there is no way to correct the degradation. The aphenomenal process (downward curves on Figure 3) is not amenable to self-correction. If the source (first premises) were to be ignored, there would be no difference between regimes such as political Islam and Communism, both of which apply very similar political and socio-economical processes. With the current 6 ! 6 analysis, both source and pathway are taken into account, blocking the way to such premature and counterfeit declarations. This is not to say there may not be ways to improve upon the best uses humans can make of whatever has already been given in the natural realm. If, however, any such improvements are to be sustainable - the only test of truth in nature being that which eventuates over the passage of time - they cannot simply substitute something "identical", completely discounting or ignoring the source(s) and pathway(s) of the phenomenal original. In this, the validity of any conclusion would depend on the intention. If the intention is not phenomenal (real or consistent with the phenomenal first premise), every conclusion will be aphenomenal. Here, there is only one phenomenal intention, which coincides with the true first premise. This aspect will be clarified in latter sections. 3 The Invocation of God What are the origins of the invocation of God in discussions of truth? The notion of God as the maker of standard of truth goes back to most ancient of civilizations, ranging from ancient Chinese, Indian, to Greek. However, much of this information has been lost, and if it was not 7 for the Muslim scholars that took great pain in translating ancient works into Arabic, we wouldn't have access to the work of many of the ancient scholars. In particular, the work of ancient Greeks drew particular interest in modern Europe. Still, much of this knowledge was lost in the process of dogmatization that twisted all information to fit the dogmatic narration of humanity. This explains why all European theories, including those of the self-proclaimed 'secular' origin, are in reality some regurgitated form of the 'original sin' model of humanity. One has to read carefully to discover instances in ancient Greek civilization where reference is made to God as the Creator as well as the absolute truth. In fact, a narration of Plato that is widely accepted as the 'idealist view' stipulates that God is the only entity that is not nonfleeting, thereby, being the Truth or the Real. This is in line with the oriental concept that 'truth unravels itself'. 8 Every civilization recounted in history other than post-Roman Catholic church's Eurocentric era had a clear connection of God with what constitutes truth. Plato understood it as synonymous with real that doesn't change with time (the physical world being fleeting or a function of time is not 'real'). Aristotle understood it as what really 'is'. In ancient India, Truth was defined as "unchangeable", "that which has no distortion", "that which is beyond distinctions of time, space, and person", "that which pervades the universe in all its constancy". These, along with the national motto of India, "Satyameva jayate" (Truth alone wins), as well as "Satyam muktaye" (Truth liberates), are entirely consistent with what how Qur'an defined Truth as one of the 99 traits of the Creator. Other traits matching 'unchangeable', 'no distortion', beyond time, space, and person', etc. This was so well known in Islamic golden era that each scholar (e.g., Avicenna, Averroes, Alhazen) started off re-stating what constitutes the truth. The first distortion was introduced by Saint Augustine, who was the first one to break down the most important feature of truth – uniqueness. He wrote in his "Trinity", that "God is truth for he, too, has a true [real] soul who has not a great soul; since the essence of body and soul is not the essence of the truth [reality] itself; as is the Trinity, one God, alone, great, true, truthful, the truth..." Next came ! 7 Thomas Aquinas. He had access to Avicenna, Averroes, as well as Aristotle (through Muslim scholars' translations). He wrote: "A natural thing, being placed between two intellects, is called true insofar as it conforms to either. It is said to be true with respect to its conformity with the divine intellect insofar as it fulfills the end to which it was ordained by the divine intellect... With respect to its conformity with a human intellect, a thing is said to be true insofar as it is such as to cause a true estimate about itself." 9 All of a sudden, truth became subject to human intellect. This would be the beginning of today's illogical definition of truth. Ever since, God has been disconnected from logical discourse, making the truth criterion the first casualty. Consider the nature of following theories and hypotheses. 1. Correspondence theory (stresses a relationship between thoughts or statements on one hand, and things or objects on the other). 2. Coherence theory (truth is primarily a property of whole systems of propositions, and can be ascribed to individual propositions only according to their coherence with the whole, i.e., Authority). 3. Constructivist theory (truth is constructed by social processes, is historically and culturally specific, and that it is in part shaped through the power struggles within a community.) 4. Consensus theory (truth is whatever is agreed upon, or in some versions, might come to be agreed upon, by some specified group. Such a group might include all human beings, or a subset thereof consisting of more than one person.) 5. Pragmatic theory (truth is verified and confirmed by the results of putting one's concepts into practice.) 6. Minimalist theories (truth does not denote a real property of sentences or propositions.) 7. Redundancy and related theories (truth is a redundant concept; that is, it is merely a word that is traditionally used in conversation or writing, generally for emphasis, but not a word that actually equates to anything in reality.) 8. Pluralist theories (there is a particular property the having of which makes a belief or proposition true. Pluralist theories of truth assert that there may be more than one property that makes propositions true: ethical propositions might be true by virtue of coherence. Propositions about the physical world might be true by corresponding to the objects and properties they are about.) ! 8 In summary, what we have is a comical assembly of research questions ranging from Harvard College's "How many angels can dance on a pin head?" to the 18th century classic "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" These have created a world in which systematic falsehoods have become the truth while the truth can be dismissed as 'conspiracy theory' whenever it happens to gore some powerful individuals' oxen. We have graduated from Dogma only to fall for a conception multiple-history of the same physical point - otherwise known as quantum theory. In the words of Niels Bohr (1885-1962), "The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth". The opposite to light is a falsehood but the opposite to falsehood is not necessarily the truth. Considering that there are an infinite number of falsehoods contending with each absolute truth, it is almost miraculous if one finds the truth by countering falsehood alone. Bohr was wrong in using the simplest of logic. All these 'intellectual' talks assume that the probability of having any phenomenon take place (including such absurd possibilities as multiple history, ubiquitous existence of same matter, having absolute vacuum or infinite mass, infinite temperature, infinite growth rate) is finite and non-zero but having a creator that is external to creation (Qu'ran 112:2) is zero. 3.1 Why is God required to involve absolute truth?: Towards a Model of Sound Logical Cognition. Albeit claims of secularism, today's society continues to invoke God, either in its proper name, God, or in its secular alternative 'Nature'. In addition, in many instances, philosophers have invoked themselves to the rank of law maker . The most infamous invocation of God is in the 10 US currency that says 'In God we trust' (Picture 3). This invocation has no meaning unless that 'god' is qualified with evidence. For instance, the question to be answered is who is that God? And What does trust in that entity mean? Let us consider the syllogism, implied in this phrase. There is God [major premise]; We have trust in that God [minor premise]; Therefore, we do the right thing. The above syllogism is the essence of the faith-based cognition process that has no functional meaning. Had the major premise meant God – the creator, trusting in God wouldn't have an 11 action item unless it was a command of God to trust Him for whatever reason. Trusting in God does not create a certain behaviour or accountability. In reality, it indemnifies a person from being accountable. In addition, doing the 'right' thing also becomes arbitrary, in absence of any communication from God. However, this logic works 'perfectly', if the alleged god is actually Money – the source of worldly power in the Eurocentric culture. As a result of this model, anything can be justified as long as there is enough money to pay for the required propaganda and spinning. This Money god is more than symbolic. Money represents the ultimate of the focus on tangibles or the doctrine of 'Might is right'. Money as a power construct paves the road to the control of access to true information in order to control the past. In the words of Nobel ! 9 laureate economist, Joseph Stiglitz, "Those with power used that power to strengthen their economic and political positions, or at the very least to maintain them. They also attempted to shape thinking, to make acceptable differences in income that would otherwise be odious." The lust for control, sex, and money has replaced the original Trinity. All we have is falsehood after falsehood so the first premises are never questioned, be it in science, laws or supposed 'moral actions', or individual or corporate intentions. The non-justifiability of moral actions that resulted from a disconnection between God and God's commands is a "History is written by the victor" model to morality. This principle become the governing principle of our knowledge that must seek guidance from history. A corrupt history is the essence of misguidance and gateway to ignorance. Each falsehood has enormous ripple effects and cannot be corrected without addressing the source, which is never touched in modern day cognition. Contrary to some beliefs, we have become progressively more dogmatic in our cognition, arriving eventually at the HSSA degradation detectable universally throughout every pore of contemporary society. At no time in known history was it actually recognized that history is not immutable. Both in science (quantum theories of the origin of universe) and moral philosophy now openly accept the notion of multiple histories as fact. Today, if someone does not like the past, all he needs to do is rewrite it and spend some money selling it as a fact. Whereas previously, someone actually had to disprove the factual errors of history, Dogma has erased this by invoking the Authority of God. The invocation of God is most certainly not the problem; rather, it is the fact that such actions are disconnected to a single source of Truth (God), and now, Truth is changed by the will of the victor. Nowadays, the dispute is in what constitutes 'truth'. After the rise of pragmatism as the new dogma, 'truth' has become anything that can be 'believed in'. The newer version of pragmatism adds 'scientific' flavor to the same nonsense and makes it more difficult to counter with logical discourse. Such a collapse of science has profound implications going forward. This conflation of the Money god and creator God is not new and arguably Money was the reason Roman Catholic Church gained legitimacy of 'state religion' from the Roman Empire. Today, this conflation continues. Only recently, the 'in God we trust' symbolism on US currency was challenged in the United States Supreme Court. The plaintiff lawyer wrote, "The vast 12 majority of nations manage to function without religious verbiage on their money." Absent in this narration is the acknowledgement that there is a religion that has a distinctly different and wholly logical first premise, that is: There is no Ilah (someone worthy of being obsessed with, deity) but Allah, changing the center for any approach of cognition. This is followed by the minor premise: Muhammad is Allah's messenger. This set of premises immediately recognizes the existence of the Qur'an, the communication from the Creator that was revealed on prophet Muhammad. If these premises are true, he would be the most educated person ever and a role model for the rest of the humanity, being a result of cognition that allows for singular, and existentially justifiable truth. ! 10 ! Picture 3. Unless it involves the Money god, this invocation is meaningless. 3.2 What About the Derivation of Absolute Truth? For a criterion to be universal and time-honored, it must fulfill two requirements: 1) it must conform to natural traits; 2) it must have authority from an external entity that is independent of time and space. Even though scientists and philosophers have invoked God or Nature implicitly, few in modern era have attempted to understand the traits of either nature or God. The vast majority of them conflated God with the Natural and traits of God with the traits of nature. Before we can proceed, this understanding of nature and God must be clear. Islam described 13 the characteristic features of Nature as presented in Table 1. It also lists the nature of artificial version of the natural products. It is important to note that the left hand side statements are true – not in the tangible sense of being "verifiable", but because there is no counter-example of those statements. Table 1. Typical features of natural processes as compared to the claims of artificial processes Feature no. Feature of natural Feature of artificial 1 Complex Simple 2 Chaotic Ordered 3 Unpredictable Predictable 4 Unique (every component is different), i.e., forms may appear similar or even "selfsimilar", but their contents alter with passage of time Normal 5 Productive Reproductive ! 11 *With the exception of humans that have freedom of intention. 14 6 Non-symmetric, i.e., forms may appear similar or even "self-similar", but their contents alter with passage of time Symmetric 7 Non-uniform, i.e., forms may appear similar or even "self-similar", but their contents alter with passage of time Uniform 8 Heterogeneous, diverse, i.e., forms may appear similar or even "self-similar", but their contents alter with passage of time Homogeneous 9 Internal External 10 Anisotropic Isotropic 11 Bottom-up Top-down 12 Multifunctional Unifunctional 13 Dynamic Static 14 Irreversible Reversible 15 Open system Closed system 16 True Artificial 17 Self healing Self destructive 18 Nonlinear Linear 19 Multi-dimensional Uni-dimentional 20 Zero degree of freedom* Finite degree of freedom 21 Non-trainable Trainable 22 Continuous function of space, without boundary Discrete 23 Intangible Tangible 24 Open Closed 25 Flexible Rigid 26 Continuous function of time Discrete function of time 27 Balanced Inherently unstable ! 12 The left hand side of Table 1 shows the characteristic features of Nature. These are true features and are not based on perception. Each is true insofar as no example of the opposite has been sustained. It is important to note that the following table describes everything in existence as part of universal order and applies to everything internal, including time, and human thought material. At the same time, all the properties stated on the right-hand side are aphenomenal, they are only true for a time period approaching zero, resulting in being "verifiable" only when the standard itself is fabricated. In other words, every statement on the right-hand side only refers to something that does not exist. For instance, honey molecules are considered to be extremely complex. They are complex because they have components that are not present in other products, such as sugar, which is identified as made up of "simple" molecules. Why are sugar molecules simple? Because, by definition, they are made of the known structures of carbon and hydrogen. A further review of Table 1 now will indicate how every item on the right-hand side is actually a matter of definition and a false premise. If one considers the features of artificial products in Table 1 with those of Table 2, it becomes clear that any science that would "prove" the features (based on a false premise) in Table 1 is inherently spurious. However, the science of tangibles does exactly that and discards all natural processes as "pseudoscience", "conspiracy theory", etc. Table 2. True difference between phenomenal and aphenomenal processes The case in point can be derived from any theories or "laws" advanced by Bernoulli, Newton (regarding gravity, calculus, motion, viscosity), Dalton, Boyle, Charles, Lavoisier, Kelvin, Poiseuille, Gibbs, Helmholz, Planck and others who served as the pioneers of modern science. Each of their theories and laws had in common the first assumption that would not exist in Phenomenal Aphenomenal Progressive/youth measured by the rate of change Non-progressive/resists change Conservative/youth measured by departure from natural state Unlimited adaptability and flexibility Zero-adaptability and inflexible Increasingly self evident with time Increasingly difficult to cover up aphenomenal source 100% efficient Efficiency approaches zero as processing is increased Can never be proven to be unsustainable Unsustainability unravels itself with time ! 13 nature, either in content (tangible) or in process (intangible). Of course, all these 'laws' are derived from Newtonian mechanics – something that has also fueled every theory of social science. At this point, it is appropriate to familiarize the readership of Table 3 that lists the fundamental features of the external entity. The existence of an external entity is necessary condition in order to eliminate the notion of void that had been inherited from Atomism philosophy and was carried forward by first Thomas Aquinas and then by subsequent scientists, without exception . 15 Table 3. Features of external entity (from Islam, 2014) Feature no. Feature 1 Absolutely external (to everything else) 2 All encompassing 3 No beginning 4 No end 5 Constant (independent of everything else) 6 Uniform 7 Alive 8 Infinity 9 Absolutely True 10 Continuous 11 All pervasive in space 12 All pervasive in time 13 Infinite degree of freedom 14 Unique 15 Open system 16 Dissimilar to everything else 17 Absolute Time that control time that controls mass 18 Absolute mass (pure light) ! 14 This external entity was first recognized as God (from the ancient Greek philosophers to Avicenna and Averroes of the Islamic golden era), then conflated as plenum and aether . While 16 the existence of such entities has been denied and sometime 'proven' to be non-existent, the traits of this external entity have been included in all forms of 'fundamental' particles, ranging from photon to the Higgs boson. In addition, such features have also been invoked in galactic models in the form of various entities, ranging from "dark matter", "black hole" to "absolute void". Newton introduced this as 'external' force and defined it as the originator of differential motion. The original Averroes concept, as supported by the Qur'an was that such originator of motion is the Creator, whose traits are all different from the traits of creation. 4 Example: An Absolute Set of Fundamental Premises Nearly a millennium ago, long before the Renaissance reached Europe, Averröes (1126-1198 AD, known as Ibn Rushd outside of the western world) pointed out, that Aristotelian logic of the excluded middle cannot lead to increasing knowledge unless the first premise is true. In another words, the logic can be used only to differentiate between true and false, as long as there is a criterion that discerns the truth from falsehood. The difficulty, all the way to the present modern age, has been the inability to propose a criterion that is time-honored. For Averröes, the 17 fundamental premise was that the Qur'an represented the absolute truth. It was not a theological sermon or a philosophical discourse, it was purely rationalistic. Inspired by the Qur'an that cites the root word ilm (meaning "science") more than 700 times (the second most used word – second only to Allah – that is cited over 2500 times (2598 to be exact) in the Qur'an) is the only external standard there is. It is a fact that the Qur'an is the only available communication with the creator that remains intact since inception over 1400 years ago. This Qur'an itself outlines the major and minor premises that are absolute, constant, and external to human subjectivity. It invokes prophet Muhammad as the communicator and further shows how to cognize to make the process of knowledge gathering complete. The first word revealed in the Qur'an is (96:1) is iqra (meaning 'deduce'). The word 'deduction' has the Latin root of 18 deductio that means 'leading away', 'drawing out', similar to the latin word, educere – the root word of Education that means process of "bringing forth" or "leading out" one's inherent qualities and unique traits necessary and sufficient for increasing one's knowledge. The Qur'an also outlines in clearest terms the purpose of human worldly life. However, starting off with the deductive cognition, one can discover the rest as long as a conscious and conscientious effort is made. Let us review the major fundamental premise stated in the Qur'an, along with minor fundamental premise and possible outcome: • There is no ilah except Allah [major premise] • Muhammad is Allah's messenger [minor premise] • Therefore, emulating the prophet Muhammad is the key to long-term success ! 15 Logically, it flows that in order to emulate the life of the prophet, one would need great deal of details of his life. It turns out that the most important work of historical reconstruction of the legacy bequeathed Humanity by Prophet Muhammad was accomplished by Muhammad Bukhārī (810-870), the first person to have compiled a complete treatise of the Prophet's biography. Bukhārī tracked down and verified over 3000 of sayings and traditions of the Prophet, cited over 7000 times (including repeats). As a point of reference, the Qur'an is the only book that remains intact in its original content for over 1400 years. This book is claimed to be the Creator's word, related verbatim by Prophet Muhammad, who didn't know how to read to write. Following that is the book of Hadith or the sayings of Prophet Muhammad. The word Hadith refers to 1. Description of Prophet Muhammad's actions; 2. His verbal statements; 3. Actions of others that he condoned or didn't correct despite knowing about it. ! Figure 4. With true major and minor premises, the conclusion will always be phenomenal. Where do the premises listed above promote existential objective truth, a minor premise, and promotion of long-term cognition? Indeed, the Qur'an, which assumed as true, clearly proposes external truth (Qur'an 112:2-4), and promotes long-term consequentialism (in reference to the post-death 'hereafter;), and it is universal (as in until day of judgement). Natural deductive cognition becomes aphenomenal if one of the following situations arise 19 (Islam et al., 2016). Islam pointed out that in case a third premise that contradicts with one or 20 both of the fundamental premises is invoked, the cognition axis is no longer a deductive tool, as it would be an inherent hyperbole. In Arabic, this would stand for 'dhawallin' – a word reserved in prophet's time to describe people that believed in Trinity. Figure 5 shows how such introduction of a third point makes all conclusions inherently aphenomenal, even though the major or minor premise is true. The best-case scenario for the third-point cognition is when the third point is aligned with major and minor premises. It is clear that the introduction of a third premise should be avoided because it adds nothing to the robustness of the cognition axis. ! 16 ! Figure 5. The introduction of a third point creates inherently dogmatic conclusion that is aphenomenal, even when one of the premises might be true. Equally flawed cognition arises when there is only a single premise. For instance, Atheism, Capitalism, and Communism all have just one premise, making the cognition process equivalent to cognitive schizophrenia. In theological terms, this is the effect Qura'nists (those who reject 21 the authority of Hadiths) use. They can pick up any verse of the Quran and extrapolate it based 22 on another premise that is their invention (befitting their desired conclusions). This is the case that was discussed in the Quran as an example of Maghdboub (literally meaning the cursed ones). In brief, it means, such cognition process allows for anyone to be the transmitter of knowledge (and ultimately causing everyone to become the transmitter), while in reality it is only ignorance and arrogance that are gained by this process. In absence of two true points of cognition, the cognition becomes schizophrenic with numerous possibilities. This is the natural progression of dogma culture. Today, the essence of Atheism is, everyone is correct and as long as the self cognition matches the desire, a person is entitled to following any cognition path. ! ! 5 Sufficiency of the Absolute Premises It is important to investigate if the above set of premises are indeed sufficient. Two questions arise, "how do we make sure everyone is hardwired to cognize with this logic"? and "What guarantees that a person doesn't fall in the dogmatic deviation phase?" In Part 1, we have explained the nature of the Caliphate model of humanity. Every human is created in perfect form (Qur'an 95:4). Every human is also inherently duty-bound being Allah's viceroy by nature (2:30). It might not be obvious but Qur'an reminds people that they should not forget they were all infants with no memory of infancy, yet they accept the fact that they were infants and they should also accept what is being told by Allah about their nature and their ! 17 covenant with Allah (Qur'an 56:62). For them Qur'an is made easy (54:17) and a guidance for those that seek out consciously (Qur'an 2:2), use aql (40:67), and Allah doesn't misguide anyone other than fassiq (transgressor) those that break Allah's covenant and create Fassad (mischief) (Qur'an 2:26). Everyone is born Moumin, They are born with all 99 expressed traits of God, the first quality being empathy (rahma – via the root word is Rahm). This is entirely in conformance with the viceroy status. A human keeps in contact with the Monarch ('salat' in Arabic and yoga in Sankscrit both mean "communication") and manages the finances with utmost care (generosity and charity is fundamental trait that is mandated) and acts the same manner the Monarch would 23 have acted in case the viceroy were not there. So, how does one act like the Monarch? He follows His traits. That is when the first revealed verse of Qur'an becomes handy. It says, "iqra (deduce) in the ithm (natural trait) of Allah" (Qur'an 96:1). How is that trait embedded? The word 'Deen' in Arabic and Dharma in Sanskrit both mean 'natural traits' and not religion as commonly translated. In fact, the word religion and 'Deen' are opposite of the cognition spectrum. It is also logical that a good Monarch would prepare his viceroy well and give him enough provision. Most importantly, for a viceroy to be held accountable, a viceroy must have certain freedom. This freedom happens to be mentioned in the first Hadith of the book of Bukhārī that states that people are judged for their intentions. Islam gives the freedom of intention, wheras everything else (including provision) being part of the universal order for which he has no accountability. The role of intention is central to the human cognition and anything else that goes with the responsibility of the viceroy. This ownership of intention makes him unique as no other entity other than the Creator has any freedom whatsoever. Of course, the ultimate of all freedom belong to God, but humans are given freedom of their intention. In addition to being the absolute owner of his intention, each human being is equipped with 99 good traits that are similar to Creator's, albeit at miniscule level. Let's review some of the traits: 1. Ar-Rahman (literally means 'a womb' that extends to infinity in space). Humans are, therefore, born with rahma, the simplest translation is 'empathy' for everyone and everything; 2. Ar-Raheem (literally means 'a womb' that extends to infinity in time). Humans are, therefore, born with empathy at all times; 3. Al-Malik (literally means 'the owner of everything'). Humans are, therefore, born with one item that they have full control over. This happens to be intention. It is logical, because first hadith of Book of Bokhari confirms, we'll be judged by our intention. Now, does this ownership risk violating universal order? No. Intention has no continuity with anyone other than the individual whose intention is in question. So, what it does is gives people the freedom to intention, without disturbing the universal order, thereby holding him responsible for the intention that he had full control over; ! 18 4. Qur'an names a total of 99 such traits of the Creator and asserts that humans are created with those qualities so they are prepared to be the viceroy of the creator. It was mentioned earlier that the most important feature of humans is their freedom to make intention. A true intention indeed involves consciously seeking guidance, followed by seeking knowledge in order to be aware of the duties to be discharged. Both the Qur'an and book of Hadith are clear about this obligation to seek knowledge through scientific cognition. 24 6 Scientific Cognition Based on the Absolute Set of Fundamental Premises The essence of Section 7 is that a set of fundamental premises make it possible for humans to cognize on their own and discharge their duty as the viceroy of the Creator. This process is the most important step before any action can take place. The most famous Hadith states static (original) intention (niyah) to be the source of all actions and accountability and ask followers to optimize dynamic intention (qsd), in line with niyah and niyah in line with his role as a khalifah (viceroy). Prophet Muhammad said tht the "cure to ignorance is to question." This cognition model was introduced by the Prophet Muhammad and subsequently forming the core of Islamic socio-political and justice system. Note that this model was not formally recognized as a branch of education, as compartmentalization of knowledge wasn't introduced yet. The very first educational institutions of the Prophet Muhammad's movement were quite informal. Mosques were used as a meeting place where people can gather around an Islamic leader (e.g. prophet, his rightly guided Caliphs), attend Friday 'state of the Union' lectures, study the Qur'an, and gain knowledge on every subject of practical relevance, always focusing on the purpose of humankind. This tradition continued even after the Rashedun Caliphate ended and autocratic rule was introduced in violation of Islamic rule. Some of the greatest scholars of Islam learned in such a way, and taught their students this way as well. This science of knowledge gathering continued over 1000 years subsequent to the dismantling of Rashedun Caliphate. During this period, there was an unprecedented rise in achievements that encompass a wide range of subject areas; most notably Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine, Physics, Alchemy and chemistry, Cosmology, Ophthalmology, Geography and cartography, Sociology and Psychology. Outside of the dogma infested Europe as well as Islamic society, the sciences, which included philosophy, were viewed holistically. The individual scientific disciplines were approached in terms of their relationships to each other and the whole, as if they were branches of a tree. In this regard, the most important scientists of Islamic civilization have been the polymaths, known as hakim or doctors. Their role in the transmission of the sciences was central. The hakim was most often a poet and a writer, skilled in the practice of medicine as well as astronomy and mathematics. These multi-talented sages, the central figures in Islamic science, elaborated and personified the unity of the sciences. They orchestrated scientific development through their insights, and excelled in their explorations as well. Today, it's widely recognized that Ibn sina (Avecina) is the father of modern medicine and alchemy, Ibn Rushd (Averröes) the father of ! 19 secular philosophy and Education, Ibn Haitham (Alhazen) the father of modern optics, Al-Kindi (Alkindus)father of information processing, Ibn Khaldoun father of modern social sciences, Al-Khwārizmī the founding father of algebra and mathematics, and Al-Farabi named the father of epistemology and metaphysics. How did those people of the medieval age could garner such a feat? It was because they used Islamic cognition tool even outside of political Islam. Ironically, Averröes introduced this very model in Europe and yet he is known as 'the father of secular philosophy' in Europe. In other part of the world, this knowledge model is known as the Islamic model. Prophet Muhammad's teaching style and the education system he instituted has been studied in great details. Islam et al. summarized the scientific cognition process adopted 25 by Islamic scholars for some 1000 years, during which these scholars excelled in all aspect of scholarship. It can be summarized in the following: 1. Start off with the Major premise: There is no Ilah (someone worthy of being obsessed with) except Allah and the Minor premise: Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. 2. Memorize the Qur'an (Quran being 100% from Allah and 100% in its original form). Start each deduction (Iqra) from the Qur'an (as per Qur'an 96:1). This forms the axiom. 3. Use Hadith (Books of Hadith are preserved for some 1200 years) to form an axis in order to time-scale (qias) to any time or époque of interest. 4. Use stories of the past as recounted in the Qur'an or in the book of Hadith as case laws. 5. By inference, use 'rightly guided' Caliphs as the other case laws. Islam pointed out that Averröes, like all other Islamic scholars, understood the value of 26 scientific cognition that starts with the Qur'an. For every verse of the Qur'an there are contextual Hadiths, forming yet another axis of acceptable or permissible lifestyle. Once again, the deduction axis remains the same, as depicted in Figure 6. This graph is not reversible or the sequence is not exchangeable. For instance, if one starts with Hadith to fit the desired conclusion, it creates misplacement of cognition process. Such misplacement is the core meaning of the word Dhulm that is usually translated as 'oppression'. ! 20 ! Figure 6. Cognition starts with the Quran, then time scaling is performed by putting in the context of contextual hadiths Khan and Islam showed that the above graph (Figure 6) is equally applicable to Figure 7. They 27 used the premise 'Nature is perfect', thereby, placing natural phenomena in the place of Qur'anic verses. By placing sustainable lifestyle in the context of idealization, Figure 7 shows a set of permissible practices. Both figures show the existence of multiple practices or interpretations all of which are acceptable, as long as the intention of cognition is to conform with the truth. It is so because they satisfy all three requirements of phenomenal deduction procedure, outlined in previous sections. The latitude of permissible is valid only for individuals that started the cognition with a good intention. ! Figure 7. Requirements of sustainable technology development is similar to Islamic cognition ! 21 The true scientific cognition process is summarized in the following five stages: • Major premise: Must be a phenomenal premise, in conformance of natural phenomena; • Acceptance of the scientific process of cognition • Making the intention to conform with long-term interest (this one is in line with the definition of sustainability • Modelization of a society that adopted dogma free cognition • Use caselaws from the model society The cognition process may best be comprehended as a five-point cycle set out below, it being understood that humans' primary purpose is to be in conformance of universal order, according to which the seeking of knowledge is obligatory: • cognition starts with a real question that has only Yes (1,+) or No (0,-) answer. • make original intention (niyah in Arabic) to start the cognition process solely in search of the truth so a right decision is made at the end of the cognition process; • collect all available data and filter out questionable sources; • fuzzy logic (Manteq in Arabic) phase: ask questions of dialectical nature that will have qualitative answer (by collecting a series of yes/no answers). Each manteq questions should be motivated by qsd (dynamic intention) that is in line with niyah; and • logic (aql in Arabic) phase: Ask the final question to determine the yes/no answer to the question asked in Point 1. This five-point process constitutes the essence of 'seeking knowledge', something that is obligatory in Islam. A Hadith of prophet Muhammad clearly states: "It is obligatory for each Muslim man and woman to seek knowledge." Then the prophet qualified the knowledge as, "Whoever learns a knowledge should be used to seek the purpose of Allah 'azzawajal and does not learn it except in aspiration of the world, he will not meet (with) the fragrance of paradise on the day of resurrection." So, there is no value to knowledge that doesn't start with good intention. In other word, it is obligatory to seek knowledge in order to please the Creator or to conform with universal order (qadr in Arabic). When it comes to collecting and disseminating knowledge, this active seeking of knowledge is of utmost importance. For the first time in history, knowledge-gathering, knowledge-based practice and knowledge dissemination became an obligation from the moral as well as the practical point of view. Where does the knowledge gathering process start? By asking questions to which one does not yet have an answer. In scientific cognition, this is the most important aspect of research. In Islam, this is mandatory. 28 As shown in Figure 8, the Prophet Muhammad formalized the cognition process that remains unparalleled today. It should be noted that conducting research is synonymous to seeking knowledge, which is obligatory in Islam. ! 22 ! Figure 8. Decision-making in Islamic jurisprudence. The original education system meant increasing knowledge, whereas the current system means increasing tangible benefits, often associated with increased ignorance. Throughout ancient history, every nation had some form of pure logic, ranging from ancient Greek to ancient Indian, from ancient Chinese to Mayan. Contrast that with today's education system. Similar to what happened in science and engineering, education system is non-functional (Table 4). Table 4. How the Education system has been rendered artificial (from Islam et al., 2013) ! 7.1. Immediate outcome of the truly scientific cognition: Some examples There will be no paradox if the first premise is correct and it is followed by continuous logical pursuit, in line with the overall broad phenomenal intention. If the first premise is false, either ! 23 because of 'belief' in a theory with aphenomenal assumptions or an intention that has an ulterior motive (e.g. other than seeking the truth). This point is made in Figure 9. ! Figure 9. Cognition becomes aphenomenal either with false first premise or false original intention. Consider the example of the case of Earth itself. In Ibn Kordathyah, an Arab scientist mentioned the earth is not flat in his early books Al-Masalik and Al-Mamlik in the 800s. So, what shape did he think the earth was? It is the word 'baidh' or 'baidha'. In the modern Europe-dominated word, it is translated as "elliptical". In reality, an ellipse is an aphenomenal shape, meaning it doesn't exist anywhere in nature. The true meaning of this word is "Ostrich's egg" or its nest, which, obviously, is not elliptical, but ovoid. The inspiration of Ibn Kordathyah came from the Qu'ran (Chapter 79, verse 30). Contrast this with western "science," for which the starting point would be the outline circumference of a circle rendered as an ellipse that has "degenerated" into some kind of ovoid. Then the egg is elaborated as an extrusion into 3-D of a particular case or class of a non-spherical somewhat ellipsoidal circumference. Why not just start with the egg itself, instead of with circles and ellipses? Eggs are concrete, demonstrative example. We can know all their properties directly, including everything important to know about the strength and resilience of its shape as a container for its particular contents, without having to assume some simple ideal and then extrapolate everything about it and an egg from abstractions that exist solely in someone's imagination. Going the other direction, on the other hand, is the much richer scientific path. Once we have explored real eggs and generalized everything we find out, we can anticipate meaningfully what will happen in the relations between the form of other exterior surfaces found in nature and their interior contents. With the nature science approach, scientists knew 1200 years ago the earth is neither flat nor spherical and has a perimeter of 40,252 kilometres (today, we know it to be 40,075 km). 29 ! 24 Consider another example. Islam et al. (2013) presented a study of human embryology that exemplifies an especially masterful approach taken to using contemporary research findings in the highly specialized field known as embryology to illuminate previously inaccessible meanings of key passages from the Holy Qur'an. Picture 4 shows how various stages of embryonic development could be unraveled only in late the 20th century, whereas were known to Medieval Islamic scientists that those pictures as part of the description in the Qu'ran. Such starting point led them to become 'father' of respective fields of science and social science. Contrast the above cognition with the so-called Evolution theory. Let's evaluate the validity of Charles Darwin's evolution theory. Following is an excerpt from the The Telegraph: 30 Next year, we will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, and the 150th of the publication of his On The Origin of Species, which revolutionised our understanding of biology...But what if Darwin was beaten to the punch? Approximately 1,000 years before the British naturalist published his theory of evolution, a scientist working in Baghdad was thinking along similar lines... In the Book of Animals, Abu Uthman al-Jahith (781–869), an intellectual of East African descent, was the first to speculate on the influence of the environment on species. He wrote: "Animals engage in a struggle for existence; for resources, to avoid being eaten and to breed. Environmental factors influence organisms to develop new characteristics to ensure survival, thus transforming into new species. Animals that survive to breed can pass on their successful characteristics to offspring." At the outset, it would seem like Al-Jahith had written Darwin's theory some 1000 years before Darwin, similar to the work of Ibn-Khaldoun whose social theories are strikingly similar to those of Karl Marx. Could it be taken as evidence that intention or original premise does not matter? An objective review is necessary before answering this question. History tells us that Al-Jahiz and Ibn-Khaldoun both had Qu'ran as the original premise, similar to Averröes and numerous other contemporary scholars. Al-Jahiz was the author of many books; Kitab al-Hayawan (The book of Animals) is one of his famous work. It is an encyclopedia of seven volumes of poetic descriptions of varieties of animals. He was the first person who studied the influence of the environment on animals. The fact stops here. The rest of the commentary, such as below, are nothing but matching Darwinism with Al-Jahith's nature science work: Al-Jahith considered the effects of the environment on the likelihood of an animal to survive, and thus he became the first person to describe the struggle for existence. His idea on the struggle for existence is not very different from Darwin's idea on this subject. In the Book of Animals he has summarized it like this; Animals engage in a struggle for existence; for resources, to avoid being eaten and to breed. Environmental factors influence organisms to develop new characteristics to ensure survival, thus ! 25 transforming into new species. Animals that survive to breed can pass on their successful characteristics to offspring. What we know about him is that he was poor and studied Quran and Hadith at early age. It would mean he was motivated by inherent desire to increase his knowledge as required in Islamic faith. He had no illusion about the purpose of life and the role of animals in the lives of humans. Why is it important to study the role of environment? It is because the Quran is very clear as to the role of the human who must ensure a clean environment because any 'pollution' is tantamount to 'corruption' (Fassad). It certainly was not based on the aphenomenal theory of evolution that puts dogmatic assertion about the onset of a new species. Yet, the connection was later made by even those that sympathize with Islamic faith (Dargan, 2006). Another observation of Al-Jahiz was that animals depended on each other as each formed a section of the food chain. According to them, humans are not any different in that 'aspect'. This simple notion of harmony and humanization of the environment was well known in the Native American community. They were no Darwinists, nor were they Creationists. It is no surprise that Darwinists as well as Creationists have used this connection alike and they are both wrong. Figure 10 clarifies this point. To clarify, it is not to say that the Qur'an or Hadith are to be considered a fact-book of all knowledge. Rather, these two points serve as starting points in a consistent process of logical deduction. ! Figure 10 Approach of obliquity is the essence of truly scientific cognition 7.2 What Logical Assumptions are we to Take? ! 26 Table 5 summarizes the historical development in terms of scientific criterion, origin, pathway and consequences of the principal cultural approaches to reckoning, and reconciling, the tangible-intangible nexus. Table 5. Criterion, origin, pathway and end of scientific methods in some of the leading civilizations of world history People Criterion Origin Pathway End Za tzman and Islam (2007) ∆t !∞ Intention f(t) Consequences Khan (2006) ∆t !∞ Intention Natural Sustainability (Zatzman and Islam, 2007a) ∆t !∞ Intention Natural Natural (used ∆t !∞ to validate intention) Einstein t as 4th-D "God does not play dice..." Natural N/A Newton ∆t !0 "external force" (1st Law) No difference between natural & artificial Universe will run down like a clock Aquinas Bible Acceptance of Divine Order All knowledge & truth reside in G o d ; c h o i c e r e s i d e s w i t h Man Heaven and Hell Averröes AlFurqan الـــــفُــــــــرقـــــان ( m e a n i n g T h e C r i t e r i o n , t i t l e o f Chapter 25 o f T h e Q u r ' a n ) s t ands fo r Qur'an Intention (first hadith) A m a l s a l i h a (good deed, depending on good intention) Accomplished ( a s i n M u f l e h o o n , ,(ٱۡلُمــــۡفلِــــُحوَن , 2:5 Good (+∞) Losers (as in K h a s h e r o o n , ِسُروَن ـٰ ,(58:19 ,ٱۡلَخ Evil (-∞) ! 27 What we can determine, keeping in mind the scope of this paper, is identifying the contrast between two starkly dissimilar pathways of cognition (∆t=∞ and ∆t=0). From what we know from existing literature and history of our civilization, before the rise of Islam in the 7th century, no social order or ideology encouraged or supported the idea that the individual has a moral and existential responsibility to increase his knowledge. Even though it has long been recognized that the thirst for knowledge is inherent to being a human and as stimulating as opium, the notion of 31 seeking knowledge as an individual obligation is uniquely related to Islam and the teachings by Quran and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad. In western society, this is an ideal that is paid much lip-service, but not taking up such a responsibility carries no downside, thus trivializing the aim. As a result, what we have is redefinition of a scientific oscillation in knowledge cycle (Figure 11) to a self serving narration of history that launched the civilization into a spiraling down mode (Figure 2.20). Different starting points of logical derivation (i.e. different premises) result in different outcomes: true cognition results in morally-justified actions, and false cognition (by definition) results in moral degeneration. Aristotle A or not-A (∆t=0) Natural law Natural or artificial agency Eudaimonia (Eudaimonia, tr. " h a p p i n e s s " , actually more l ike "Man in harmony with universe") Ancient India S e r v i n g o t h e r s ; " w o r l d r e v e a l s itself" I n s p i r a t i o n (Chetna) Karma ( deed with inspiration, chetna) K a r m a , s a l v a t i o n through merger with Creator Ancient Greek (pre-Socratics) t b e g i n s when Chaos of the void ended the Gods can interrupt human intention at any time or place N/A N/A Ancient China (Confucius) N/A Kindness Q u i e t (intangible?) Balance ! 28 ! Figure 11. Throughout history logic has been taken to heights by great savants and prophets (modified from Islam et al., 2013b) 8 Summary and Conclusion This paper brings back the fundamental question of what constitutes the truth. Looking at historical narration dating back to ancient civilizations, it is discovered that truth cannot be a function of time. For instance, if the same system determined that a person is a heretic and then later determined he was a saint, it simply means the system is inherently corrupt. Today, we haven't made much progress about defining what is true and what is falsehood, but we have certainly added a lot of arrogance to our mindset. In this paper, key questions answered are: Is there any law that has moral justification? Is there any morality without fundamentally correct premises? If so, what makes the law uniquely necessary and sufficient? In absence of universal and external criterion, there is no meaning of the word 'moral compass', 'natural justice', or other related words. This paper establishes the need of an external criterion, then defines moral and natural on more concrete terms. At the same time, this paper debunks the fraud of false premise-based. It recounts how the 'enlightenment' phase of European history made the entire process of fulfilling purpose of life travel further down the degradation route, called the HSSA (Honey-Sugar-SaccharineAspartame) degradation mode. The original purpose of life was perverted by the Roman Catholic church to be 'salvation through Jesus' – a dogma the post 'enlightenment' replaced with replaced by notions of inalienable natural rights and the potentialities of reason, and universal ideals of love and compassion gave way to civic notions of freedom, equality, and citizenship. There the definition of 'natural' and 'universal' remained arbitrary, devoid of any reasoning of logical thought (i.e. soung logical derivation). That made these notions of 'freedom, equality, and citizenship' more dogmatic and original dogma itself. ! 29 Based on the logic that truth should have a true basis, continuous in time, and have true criterion, authors present a consistent and comprehensive tool for answering the question: What is true? The paper concludes that 1. The current socio-political system is inherently dogmatic due to the absence of a universal and time honored standard and criterion of truth 2. The scientifically correct cognition must start with fundamentally sound major and minor premises 3. With the correct set of premises, there is a paradigm shift in all aspects of scientific cognition 4. Any policy based on this truly scientific cognition will become the impetus of a social revolution, leading to fundamental change in direction in our civilization 5. Unless the scientific cognition process is followed, all laws and systems are inherently dogmatic, hence unlawful in terms of true universalism. ! 30 Notes M.R. Islam, A. O. Islam, Garry Zatzman, "A theory of HumanityPart 1-Methodology and the 'Ideal 1 life," International Journal of Political Theory, vol. 1, issue 1 (2016). On August 3, 2016, Washington Post reports a survey that Trump and Clinton are tied as least honest 2 (according to 36% surveyed) and most non-trustworthy (according to 61% for Clinton and 62% for Trump) duo ever to run for the office of US President. Frank Lavin, Reagan Republican: Trump is the emperor with no clothes, CNN, Aug. 7, 2016.3 M.I. Khan, "Towards Sustainability in Offshore Oil and Gas Operations" (Ph.D. Dissertation, Faculty of 4 Engineering, Dalhousie University, 2006). G.M. Zatzman, M.M. Khan, A.B. Chhetri, and M.R. Islam, A Delinearized History of Time and Its Roles 5 in Establishing and Unfolding Knowledge of the Truth, J. Nature Science and Sustainable Technology, vol. 1, no. 4 (2007): 489-533. Garry M. Zatzman and Rafiqul Islam, Economics of Intangibles, New York: Nova Science Publishers, 6 2007. M.R. Islam et al., "A Theory of Humanity", 2016.7 A. B. Chhetri and M.R. Islam, Inherently Sustainable Technology Developments (New York: Nova 8 Science Publishers, 2008). Pasquale Porro, Thomas Aquinas (Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2016), 63.9 See, for instance: Jaan S. Islam, True Islam, Jihad, and Terrorism, The Science of Islamic Foreign 10 Policy (NY: Love Publishers, 2016), ch. 3; Jaan S. Islam, Political Philosophy in the East and West: In Search of Truth (Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, forthcoming), ch. 4. Jaan Islam, "Contrasting Political Theory in the East and West: Ibn Khaldun versus Hobbes and 11 Locke," Int. J. Pol. Theory, vol. 1, issue 1. Ryan Grenoble, Atheist Group Files Suit To Remove 'In God We Trust' From Currency, Huffington 12 Post, Jan. 15, 2016. M. Rafiqul Islam, Unconventional Gas Engineering, New York, Amesterdam: Elsevier.13 M.R. Islam, J.S. Islam, G.M. Mughal, M.A.H., Rahman, M.S., Zatzman, G.M., The Greening of 14 Pharmaceutical Engineering, Volume 1: Practice, Analysis, and Methodology (New York: ScrivenerWiley, 2015). Ibid.15 M.R. Islam, J.S. Islam, G.M. Zatzman, M.S. Rahman and M.M. Khan, "God, God's Particle, God's 16 Wrath and Force of Nature: Delinearized History of Mass, Energy and Time", Adv. Sust. Pet. Eng. Sci., vol. 6, issue 4 (2014). Gary Zatzman and Rafiqul Islam, Economics of Instangibles, 2007.17 This word is erroneously translated as 'read'. Prophet Muhammad did not know how to read or write.18 M.R. Islam, J.S. Islam, G.M. Mughal, M.A.H., Rahman, M.S., Zatzman, G.M., The Greening of 19 Pharmaceutical Engineering, Volume 2: Theories and Solutions (New York: Scrivener-Wiley, 2016). Jaan Islam, "Contrasting Political Theory in the East and West," 2016.20 M.R. Islam et al., "God, God's Particle, God's Wrath and Force of Nature," 2014.21 Jaan Islam, "Contrasting Political Theory in the East and West," 2016.22 Qur'an 2:5 gives these as the criteria for success. 23 ! 31 Consider the following passages: "Deduce (iqra) In the trait (ithm) of thy Lord who created man from a clot. Recite: And thy Lord is the Most Generous Who taught science (ilm) by the pen, taught man that which he knew not." (Quran, 96:1-5); "And they shall say had we but listened or used reason (aql), we would not be among the inmates of the burning fire." (Quran, 67:10); "Are those who cognize scientifically (ilm) and those who don't alike? Only the men of understanding (ulul albab ) are mindful. 24 " (Quran, 39:9); "And whoso delivers the truth and truly believes in the truth (saddaqa) such are the righteous." (Quran, 39:33); Every Muslim man's and every Muslim woman's prayer should be: "My Lord! Increase my knowledge (ilm)." (Quran, 20:114); "The acquisition of knowledge (ilm) is compulsory for every Muslim, whether male or female." [Sunan Ibn Mâjah (224) and others] "Whoever seeks a way to acquire knowledge Allah will make easy his way to Paradise." [Sahîh Muslim (2699)]. M.R. Islam, G.M. Zatzman, Jaan S. Islam, Reconstituting the Curriculum (New York: Scrivener-Wiley, 25 2013). Jaan Islam, True Islam, Jihad, and Terrorism, 2016.26 M. R. Islam et al., Reconstituting the Curriculum, 2013.27 It is said the only reasons someone doesn't ask questions are the excessive arrogance of the 'know-it-28 all,' or a preoccupation with false pride, e.g.,fear that the person being asked will think less of the questioner. Arrogance and false pride are also the first sins attributed to Satan, the jinn endowed with the same freedom of choice as humans. M. R. Islam et al., Reconstituting the Curriculum, 2013.29 Jim Al-Khalili, "Science: Islam's Forgotten Geniuses," The Telegraph, Jan. 8, 2008.30 EuorekAlert, 2006, http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/uosc-fk062006.php31 !