✿ Modern Crisis of Knowledge and the Human Pursuit of the Unseen ✿
The world resembles a sealed chamber —
✘ No doors, no windows, no escape routes.
✔ Every wall seamless, every surface perfect.
Man is trapped within, unsure whether this existence is a home, a path, or a dungeon.
All around are bewilderment, fear, and confusion.
➤ Being: A sequence of questions without answers.
➤ Life: A continuity of pain and suffering.
➤ Consciousness: A labyrinth of tangled inquiries.
Man wonders: Is this cosmos a prison? If so, is there any escape, any solution?
These questions force introspection into his inner self and relationship with the universe.
Humanity recognizes that the darkness within can only be dispelled through knowledge.
But what kind of knowledge?
① Sophists (Ahl al-Safsata):
➤ Deny the possibility of true knowledge.
➤ Nothing, according to them, can be known with certainty.
② Rationalists (Ahl al-ʿAql):
➤ Accept knowledge only through observation and experience.
➤ Deny the unseen (ghayb) as a valid source of truth.
③ Religious Thinkers (Ahl al-Dīn):
➤ Affirm knowledge through revelation (waḥy).
➤ To them, empirical observation is real, but it gains meaning only through revelation.
➤ They believe in the interconnectedness of the unseen and the seen.
The religious worldview sees ghayb as the axis of consciousness and existence.
Consciousness acts like a barzakh (intermediate realm) — a meeting point between the unseen and the seen.
Historically, the rationalists overcame the sophists, and then overpowered the religious worldview.
This shift transformed human behavior and worldview — but at what cost?
➤ It led to a crisis of meaning.
⤷ From the Enlightenment to Postmodernism, man has:
✘ Lost meaning,
✘ Lost hope,
✘ Lost beauty.
Even scientists like Oppenheimer, after witnessing the atomic bomb's power, remarked in despair:
“Now we are all sons of bitches.”
But modern man has deteriorated further:
He seeks to become a nameless being — neither human, nor animal, nor machine — but something undefined and absurd.
Knowledge rests upon two pillars:
① Determining the source of consciousness — so that reason has a foundation.
② Belief in something beyond consciousness — to make discovery possible.
Even modern science operates with assumed "unseens" — theoretical constructs, hypothetical particles, and invisible forces.
But these are merely rational assumptions, not transcendent truths — hence modern knowledge is laced with absurdity.
✦ Ghayb through Shahādah:
→ Revelation bridges the unseen to the observed world.
✦ Shahādah through Ghayb:
→ Metaphysical and spiritual knowledge derive meaning through the lens of revelation.
Modern man assumes knowledge is possible without belief in the unseen.
But this pursuit leads only to:
✘ Emptiness
✘ Confusion
✘ Despair
Without the religious paradigm, the foundation and sustainability of true knowledge is not possible.
❖ The World: A Prison or a Path?
The world resembles a sealed chamber —
✘ No doors, no windows, no escape routes.
✔ Every wall seamless, every surface perfect.
Man is trapped within, unsure whether this existence is a home, a path, or a dungeon.
All around are bewilderment, fear, and confusion.
❖ The Dilemma of Existence and Consciousness
➤ Being: A sequence of questions without answers.
➤ Life: A continuity of pain and suffering.
➤ Consciousness: A labyrinth of tangled inquiries.
Man wonders: Is this cosmos a prison? If so, is there any escape, any solution?
These questions force introspection into his inner self and relationship with the universe.
❖ Knowledge: The Search for Light
Humanity recognizes that the darkness within can only be dispelled through knowledge.
But what kind of knowledge?
Three Major Ideological Schools:
① Sophists (Ahl al-Safsata):
➤ Deny the possibility of true knowledge.
➤ Nothing, according to them, can be known with certainty.
② Rationalists (Ahl al-ʿAql):
➤ Accept knowledge only through observation and experience.
➤ Deny the unseen (ghayb) as a valid source of truth.
③ Religious Thinkers (Ahl al-Dīn):
➤ Affirm knowledge through revelation (waḥy).
➤ To them, empirical observation is real, but it gains meaning only through revelation.
➤ They believe in the interconnectedness of the unseen and the seen.
❖ The Connection Between Ghayb (Unseen) and Shahādah (Observed)
The religious worldview sees ghayb as the axis of consciousness and existence.
Consciousness acts like a barzakh (intermediate realm) — a meeting point between the unseen and the seen.
❖ The Victory of Rationalism and Its Aftermath
Historically, the rationalists overcame the sophists, and then overpowered the religious worldview.
This shift transformed human behavior and worldview — but at what cost?
➤ It led to a crisis of meaning.
❖ The Tragedy of Modern Man
⤷ From the Enlightenment to Postmodernism, man has:
✘ Lost meaning,
✘ Lost hope,
✘ Lost beauty.
Even scientists like Oppenheimer, after witnessing the atomic bomb's power, remarked in despair:
“Now we are all sons of bitches.”
But modern man has deteriorated further:
He seeks to become a nameless being — neither human, nor animal, nor machine — but something undefined and absurd.
❖ The Prerequisite for Knowledge: Belief in the Unseen
Knowledge rests upon two pillars:
① Determining the source of consciousness — so that reason has a foundation.
② Belief in something beyond consciousness — to make discovery possible.
Even modern science operates with assumed "unseens" — theoretical constructs, hypothetical particles, and invisible forces.
But these are merely rational assumptions, not transcendent truths — hence modern knowledge is laced with absurdity.
❖ Relationship Between Religion and Knowledge
✦ Ghayb through Shahādah:
→ Revelation bridges the unseen to the observed world.
✦ Shahādah through Ghayb:
→ Metaphysical and spiritual knowledge derive meaning through the lens of revelation.
❖ Conclusion: A Crisis Rooted in Denial of Ghayb
Modern man assumes knowledge is possible without belief in the unseen.
But this pursuit leads only to:
✘ Emptiness
✘ Confusion
✘ Despair
Without the religious paradigm, the foundation and sustainability of true knowledge is not possible.
