A valued epistemological study

September 20, 2014

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The book studies Christian and Islamic traditions in a philosophically reasonable manner

Prof Dr Muhammad Iqbal Afaqi is a professor of philosophy and a well-known literary critic. His area of study relates to philosophy, anthropology, culture, aesthetics, criteriology, and post-modernism. His book titled Knowledge of God – A Comparative Study of Christian and Islamic Epistemologies is a valued addition to the extant epistemological literature.

The book is a philosophic exposition of the knowability of God. It is purported to be ‘an attempt to study epistemological frameworks of both Christian and Islamic traditions in a philosophically reasonable manner’. Revelation, religious experience and the light of reason are the main sources of divine knowledge.

The Christians and Muslims worship the same God despite their wide differences on conceptual, ritual, conventional and interpretational levels. According to the author, ‘they define Him both as immanent and transcendent, and claim that though He is hidden behind the clouds of unknowing, He is knowable’.

The book has six chapters. The first seeks to explain terms, notions and concepts bearing on its content. Epistemology is concerned with the nature of knowledge, its possibility, scope, and general basis. It is focused on an inquiry into the modes of acquiring knowledge such as perception, memory, reason, introspection, and intuition through telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition. The definition follows a summary of epistemological theories, the concept of religion and its cognitive approaches. Essential features of religious consciousness of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam come next.

The writer is of the opinion that despite numerous incompatibilities, Muslims and Christians preach the same salvific message and derive knowledge from the similar modes of ‘revelation, inspiration and experiential awareness and illuminating reason’

The theistic religious experience has been classified into five kinds by Swinburne. In the first, a man looking at the moon, may suddenly realise and exclaim that this is all God’s handiwork. The second type of experience involves unusual public objects but the believer thinks that what he has experienced is absolutely true. In the third category, religious experience arises from sensations private to the individual who undergoes it. In the next category fall those extraordinary experiences which the subject undergoes like some kind of audio-visual sensations private to him. In the final stage, personal ego is dissolved; the temporal is gone leaving behind the eternal one.

The rationality and meaningfulness of religious faith-claims within the context of the traditional dispute between faith and reason forms the subject of the second chapter. The author has relied upon the approach of ‘soft perspectivism’ which stipulates that there is a distinctive theistic way of seeing the world. However, he does not immunise it against critical evaluation and assessment.

The third chapter deals with the philosophical grammar of ‘belief’ and ‘faith’ as categories of knowledge. Iqbal’s argument on this point is quite pertinent, and comprehensive too, when he affirms that ‘faith is not merely a passive belief in one or more propositions of a certain kind; it is a living assurance begotten of rare experience’. In the Kantian epistemic framework, religion is rooted in faith which is held on subjective grounds. Since Kant’s philosophy does not provide assurance about the experiential knowledge of the Divine, it does not find wide acceptance in the theological circles. In this connection views of William James and Martin Luther have also been analysed.

In the next chapter the Christian concept of ‘Faith’ (both in Catholicism and Protestantism) has been studied in detail. It gives ‘a full account of Christianity as a community of prayer and worship, and also as a great vehicle of knowledge of the Divine’. As per the Christian religious tradition the authentic sources of the knowledge of God are: the Hebrew religious tradition, Old Testament and scriptural concept of revelation, New Testament and the doctrine of self-manifestation of God, religious experience, faith and trust, prayer and worship, and assent of the light of reason.

‘The idea of monotheistic God implies that the mankind must transcend the limitations of self-regard, ethnic prejudices, and belligerent righteousness.’ Relevance of these observations to the realities of the contemporary world is quite obvious’

The fifth and penultimate chapter of the book is devoted to ‘a detailed exposition of the Islamic tradition of prayer and worship, in full view of its faith structure, its epistemic efficacy and its saving appeal at the universal level’. Islam draws on the Abrahamic tradition of monotheism. Tauhid as a central doctrine of Islam dwells on the idea of unity and uniqueness of God for redemption. Faith in Tauhid opens the gate of knowledge unto the believer by ‘tearing the illusory web of plurality’. The Qur’an is ‘the main source of sure and unerring knowledge of the real with its absoluteness’. Revelation in Islam is ‘a redemptive message to the community of faith and prayer which, works according to the Law (Shari’ah) to ensure justice, peace and harmony in this world’.

The last chapter is focused on the study of comparative epistemologies of Christianity and Islam. The writer is of the opinion that despite numerous incompatibilities, Muslims and Christians preach the same salvific message and derive knowledge from the similar modes of ‘revelation, inspiration and experiential awareness and illuminating reason’.

The concluding remarks of the author sum up the theme of the book: ‘Since the quest to know God is a salvation-oriented project, it needs a lot of imperative to moral actions. The religious moralism demands that the believer should work hard for the implementation of God’s will in establishing a just and decent society for the people of God. A just and decent society can only be established by practicing the virtues of compassion, love and sacrifice. God is merciful, compassionate and caring, those who believe in Him are required to reject all kinds of cruel and intolerant practices. The idea of monotheistic God implies that mankind must transcend the limitations of self-regard, ethnic prejudices, and belligerent righteousness.’ Relevance of these observations to the realities of the contemporary world is quite obvious.