Divine Revelation A Sociological Approach
English Essay on "Divine Revelation A Sociological Approach"
Divine Revelation: A Sociological Approach
Revelation is a sort of divine command which only prophets had to feel and carry out. God has specified a class of human beings for this purpose: holy prophets, who were bound to appear in their respective ages at certain times. They were ordered to obey the Divine Commands descended unto them. This divine command was descended unto them via angel who brought the message of God to them placidly. This message might be an order to carry it out at au costs or a directive to start a mision without looking into its consequences. It is also said that the prophets had felt the divine revelation on their heart. Later they compiled those messages and leave for the generations to come to act upon it. This revelation was also descended unto the Last Prophet (PBUH) for near about 22 years. He collated them and shaped it into a Holy Book. It contained all necessary commands for mankind to live a life and built a social fabric on the Divine lines. It stands for us as an order to whom we are morally and religiously bound to obely. Our all steps whether forward or backward should be communing with this Revelation. This affects our social, cultural, economic life. It has its deep roots in our life set-up. No Muslim society can be built without its general application to all spheres arid walks of life.
We must at first differentiate between the Revelation and the Quran called variously as Holy Book. The Quran documentalises various life patterns in accordance with its laws, principles, values meanings and norms whereas Revelation is its content and subject matter. Thematically Quran has its own universe, and Revelation, its consent, other. To remove all doubts and misinterpretations made by man, it has been repeatedly emphsised that revelation is not something arbitrary, abstract and fantastic, nor away from human understanding and variegated avenues of rationality, consciousness and knowledge about or knowledge of acquaintance in relation to life. It is not at all supernatural or superhuman. It is a universal phenomenon of life force and a psycho-spiritual vital need for the adequate function of the entire creation of heaven and earth. According to their own inherent function and capacity, each of them, even a tiny honey bee has received revelation. Man stands very high in the scale. He has received revelation to:
(i) discover the Divine Being;
(ii) Subjugate the world of psche and outside;
(iii) develop his personality;
(iv) identify, discover and systematise in all types of cognition, knowledge and truth;
(v) complete social machinery, and
(vi) build value oriented meaningful culture in accordance with Divine guidance, affirming categorically that he cannot chalk out an intellectual and morally integrated code of life for himself.
The conduct and ways of life of the entire creation are deterministic and innate. All things and creatures are given revelation in the framework of innate behavioral and action orientation, funded by the consciousness of kind and social relativity. Each creation has its own communal associational, and social formation in a particularistic way. The framework of life in man is highly elaborate, institutionalised, socialised, cultured and internalized. The entire creation behaves innately and genetically in their social attitudes. Man is free to act and behave according to his inferential reasoning and paradigmatically oriented consciousness. The innate behavioral and action orientation in man s case has become a creative force with the aptitudes of reception, manipulation and transmission. Because of this psychological dynamism, man is not born innately socialised, accultured and value patterned, as the entire creation are, nut is to be socialised and accultured by the institutions, the structural, ramifications of the society, according to the societal and social mannerism and cultural milieu. That is why all the institutions of society, according to the Quran, should be interdependent and inter-disciplinary, with a formative ideal to realise. For the formation of the socio-cultural and personality system in cogent relations with the spiritual forces, man was divinely guided through Revelation and the human agents, -- the Messengers of Allah Patternising themselves after the form, content and meanings of the Revelation, these agents served and played the roles of
(a) reference individuals; ..
(b) value orientation patterns;
(c) value systems;
(d) belief system; and,
(e) action system .
These revelation-oriented leaders become archetypal personalities and architects of the society and culture of their respective historical periodicities. They come into being as leaders of mankind under the definitive orientations and precept that man cannot live and build himself in all forms of his existence without model or pattern. This is another thesis of the universality of Revelation.
The prophets received the revelation to build the life of man and to lead him in all directions and multivariant situations and spects ,of life, whereas the non-prophets, i.e., the entire human species recive the Revelation to behave, believe and act as guided by the prophet. This is why obedience to Revelation and the Prophet is binding. For the validity and truth of the Revelation not only man is guided to study the Genesis, nature and working of each and every objet of the phenomenal world of nature but to study his own psyche, his own experiences, attitudes, in short his own psychic system and sense involvements. He is sure to find in all their depth and level the working and the integral and active influences of the Revelation.
Man’s creation unfolding in all elements and systems of culture -- religion, rfaith, knowledge, art, philosophy, science, behaviour, architecture, in short in all parts and wholes of the culture evolution, process, being and becoming, depend entirely on the flashes and guidance of the Revelation, and the involvements of religious experience in the day to day life of man and in his creations unfolding in intellectual, moral, spiritual, cilvilisational contributions on the other depend on the intuitional flashes. The West has touched the very low level of Revelation in its recognition on intellectual flashes. Neither the philosophers nor the sociologists have gone more steps forward than intuition the very subterranean levels of Revelation. In religious experience, the integral part of Revelation is a veiled realm of value experience and knowledge for the West. West has to learn much from the Islamic experience. Revelation as a source of unfolding life in its multivariant and multi-causation form is methodical, situational and life condition of man. Modern psychology is an elaborate system of knowledge. It talks much about the psychic phenomena as a system and functioning whole but has nothing to say abut Revelation the greatest force and the highest converging point of spirituality, and transcendental unity. Intuition is the lowest order of spirituality. Not institutions alone but the entire order of Revelation is involved with life and experience. The total constellation leads man to discover the final truth either in religions, discoveries and other fields of knowledge, systems and super system of culture and spirituality, etc.
Since man needs guidance for the evolution of life in all its ramifications and frameworks of reference, the indispensability of the Value system, patterns systems, belief system, action system, and sociological system stands established. These systems cannot come into being alone; hence the need of knowledge, and cognition of truth as disclosed by the very first revelation, given expression in the Sura Alaq. The knowledge needed for the building of life in the strict guidance of these systems, is the knowledge which is to be well oriented with the sociological perspectives. It is not the individuals but the entire sociocultural systems that should be given primacy and preponderating importance. By virtue of sociological orientation, the Revelation in Islam, as distinguished from those of the previous scriptures, in itts framework of religion and knowledge, has enunciated two things basically important for the evolution and devlopment of the civilisational culture of Islam. In its framework of religion as involved in the sense of Din, the concepts of the sociology of religion and the sociology of culture are intertwined. In its knowledge framework as the existential base for religion, knowledge as systems of culture, the concept of the sociology of knowledge is involved as these system are related to organise, and integrate and are value patterned in their respective fields, the Revelation in Islam acquire another unique feature unknown to the previous revelations. It is paradigmatic, logical and philosophical. As revelations are methodic al, systematic and phenomenological oriented, and are above all related to the psychological involvements and permanent life conditions of men, they should be scientific, well coordinated and efficient to answer and guide man in all circumstances of life, genuine and spurious, flexible and permanent.
Thus the universality of the Revelation for Islam has got cognitive value for all times, all durations and spaces. In case of past religions. Revelation was particularistic because they related to a particular segment of mankind, specific in time and space durations. The universalistic nature of Islam has made it meet all the challenges successfully. The main trends of the past revelations were in the direction of specificity, individualism, space-temporal limitations, segmentalised in their address. Hence they were hardly idealistically integrated,, Revelation in Islam knows no such thing. The revelation in other religions is ideational-directed to the other world. Revelation in Islam is a totality. It leads men in both the directions of the material and other worldly life in all its elements and essentialities, components, parts and wholes.
The Quranic sociology of knowledge, explicitly and implicitly involved in all depth and levels of revelation, takes on pertinent under definite complex of social, culture, psychological and spiritual conditions. With increasing sociocultural and religious conflicts and differences in the values, meanings, ideas, ideal attitudes and modes of thought inter, intra and extravert groups develop to the point where orientation is overshadowed. According to the Sura Baqara. previously they formed the common base of their life and thought pattern. Not only did they develop different universes and segmentalised sectarian outlooks but set one universe to challenge the validity and legitimacy of the others. These challenges are seen in the rivalries of the antiprophetic groups with the prophets of the time. For instance Abraham was opposed by Nimrod, Moses by Pharohah the Holy Prophet by infidels of the Quraish? The co-existence of these conflicting perspectives and interpretations within the same social system is contrary to the unity of life, unity of mankind and unity of ideal. Revelation is meant to resolve them.
We must at first differentiate between the Revelation and the Quran called variously as Holy Book. The Quran documentalises various life patterns in accordance with its laws, principles, values meanings and norms whereas Revelation is its content and subject matter. Thematically Quran has its own universe, and Revelation, its consent, other. To remove all doubts and misinterpretations made by man, it has been repeatedly emphsised that revelation is not something arbitrary, abstract and fantastic, nor away from human understanding and variegated avenues of rationality, consciousness and knowledge about or knowledge of acquaintance in relation to life. It is not at all supernatural or superhuman. It is a universal phenomenon of life force and a psycho-spiritual vital need for the adequate function of the entire creation of heaven and earth. According to their own inherent function and capacity, each of them, even a tiny honey bee has received revelation. Man stands very high in the scale. He has received revelation to:
(i) discover the Divine Being;
(ii) Subjugate the world of psche and outside;
(iii) develop his personality;
(iv) identify, discover and systematise in all types of cognition, knowledge and truth;
(v) complete social machinery, and
(vi) build value oriented meaningful culture in accordance with Divine guidance, affirming categorically that he cannot chalk out an intellectual and morally integrated code of life for himself.
The conduct and ways of life of the entire creation are deterministic and innate. All things and creatures are given revelation in the framework of innate behavioral and action orientation, funded by the consciousness of kind and social relativity. Each creation has its own communal associational, and social formation in a particularistic way. The framework of life in man is highly elaborate, institutionalised, socialised, cultured and internalized. The entire creation behaves innately and genetically in their social attitudes. Man is free to act and behave according to his inferential reasoning and paradigmatically oriented consciousness. The innate behavioral and action orientation in man s case has become a creative force with the aptitudes of reception, manipulation and transmission. Because of this psychological dynamism, man is not born innately socialised, accultured and value patterned, as the entire creation are, nut is to be socialised and accultured by the institutions, the structural, ramifications of the society, according to the societal and social mannerism and cultural milieu. That is why all the institutions of society, according to the Quran, should be interdependent and inter-disciplinary, with a formative ideal to realise. For the formation of the socio-cultural and personality system in cogent relations with the spiritual forces, man was divinely guided through Revelation and the human agents, -- the Messengers of Allah Patternising themselves after the form, content and meanings of the Revelation, these agents served and played the roles of
(a) reference individuals; ..
(b) value orientation patterns;
(c) value systems;
(d) belief system; and,
(e) action system .
These revelation-oriented leaders become archetypal personalities and architects of the society and culture of their respective historical periodicities. They come into being as leaders of mankind under the definitive orientations and precept that man cannot live and build himself in all forms of his existence without model or pattern. This is another thesis of the universality of Revelation.
The prophets received the revelation to build the life of man and to lead him in all directions and multivariant situations and spects ,of life, whereas the non-prophets, i.e., the entire human species recive the Revelation to behave, believe and act as guided by the prophet. This is why obedience to Revelation and the Prophet is binding. For the validity and truth of the Revelation not only man is guided to study the Genesis, nature and working of each and every objet of the phenomenal world of nature but to study his own psyche, his own experiences, attitudes, in short his own psychic system and sense involvements. He is sure to find in all their depth and level the working and the integral and active influences of the Revelation.
Man’s creation unfolding in all elements and systems of culture -- religion, rfaith, knowledge, art, philosophy, science, behaviour, architecture, in short in all parts and wholes of the culture evolution, process, being and becoming, depend entirely on the flashes and guidance of the Revelation, and the involvements of religious experience in the day to day life of man and in his creations unfolding in intellectual, moral, spiritual, cilvilisational contributions on the other depend on the intuitional flashes. The West has touched the very low level of Revelation in its recognition on intellectual flashes. Neither the philosophers nor the sociologists have gone more steps forward than intuition the very subterranean levels of Revelation. In religious experience, the integral part of Revelation is a veiled realm of value experience and knowledge for the West. West has to learn much from the Islamic experience. Revelation as a source of unfolding life in its multivariant and multi-causation form is methodical, situational and life condition of man. Modern psychology is an elaborate system of knowledge. It talks much about the psychic phenomena as a system and functioning whole but has nothing to say abut Revelation the greatest force and the highest converging point of spirituality, and transcendental unity. Intuition is the lowest order of spirituality. Not institutions alone but the entire order of Revelation is involved with life and experience. The total constellation leads man to discover the final truth either in religions, discoveries and other fields of knowledge, systems and super system of culture and spirituality, etc.
Since man needs guidance for the evolution of life in all its ramifications and frameworks of reference, the indispensability of the Value system, patterns systems, belief system, action system, and sociological system stands established. These systems cannot come into being alone; hence the need of knowledge, and cognition of truth as disclosed by the very first revelation, given expression in the Sura Alaq. The knowledge needed for the building of life in the strict guidance of these systems, is the knowledge which is to be well oriented with the sociological perspectives. It is not the individuals but the entire sociocultural systems that should be given primacy and preponderating importance. By virtue of sociological orientation, the Revelation in Islam, as distinguished from those of the previous scriptures, in itts framework of religion and knowledge, has enunciated two things basically important for the evolution and devlopment of the civilisational culture of Islam. In its framework of religion as involved in the sense of Din, the concepts of the sociology of religion and the sociology of culture are intertwined. In its knowledge framework as the existential base for religion, knowledge as systems of culture, the concept of the sociology of knowledge is involved as these system are related to organise, and integrate and are value patterned in their respective fields, the Revelation in Islam acquire another unique feature unknown to the previous revelations. It is paradigmatic, logical and philosophical. As revelations are methodic al, systematic and phenomenological oriented, and are above all related to the psychological involvements and permanent life conditions of men, they should be scientific, well coordinated and efficient to answer and guide man in all circumstances of life, genuine and spurious, flexible and permanent.
Thus the universality of the Revelation for Islam has got cognitive value for all times, all durations and spaces. In case of past religions. Revelation was particularistic because they related to a particular segment of mankind, specific in time and space durations. The universalistic nature of Islam has made it meet all the challenges successfully. The main trends of the past revelations were in the direction of specificity, individualism, space-temporal limitations, segmentalised in their address. Hence they were hardly idealistically integrated,, Revelation in Islam knows no such thing. The revelation in other religions is ideational-directed to the other world. Revelation in Islam is a totality. It leads men in both the directions of the material and other worldly life in all its elements and essentialities, components, parts and wholes.
The Quranic sociology of knowledge, explicitly and implicitly involved in all depth and levels of revelation, takes on pertinent under definite complex of social, culture, psychological and spiritual conditions. With increasing sociocultural and religious conflicts and differences in the values, meanings, ideas, ideal attitudes and modes of thought inter, intra and extravert groups develop to the point where orientation is overshadowed. According to the Sura Baqara. previously they formed the common base of their life and thought pattern. Not only did they develop different universes and segmentalised sectarian outlooks but set one universe to challenge the validity and legitimacy of the others. These challenges are seen in the rivalries of the antiprophetic groups with the prophets of the time. For instance Abraham was opposed by Nimrod, Moses by Pharohah the Holy Prophet by infidels of the Quraish? The co-existence of these conflicting perspectives and interpretations within the same social system is contrary to the unity of life, unity of mankind and unity of ideal. Revelation is meant to resolve them.
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