The Search for How vs. Knowing How

Humans have always sought to find their direction in life. In orientating ourselves we have focused on the question 'why'. However the development of Western civilisation has charted a course from the search for purpose to the search for descriptions of mechanisms. Today the West is actually hindered by an obsession with the question 'how' as opposed to 'why'. Asking 'Why' is innate in humans Allah (swt) created humans with a discriminating mind. This mind is capable of choosing the correct belief or the wrong belief. 

''And we showed him (man) the two paths (of good and bad).'' [Quran 91:8] 

''And inspired it (with conscience of) what is wrong of it and what is right of it.'' [Quran 90:10] 

'Why'; is the most central question that the creed of Islam answers. We were created by Allah (swt) to worship Him (swt). Our existence is a test, to see how well we perform in terms of this worship. The creation and the destruction of this world are definite realities that lie within Allah's (swt) decree. All the answers about our purpose were answered for us by Allah (swt) through the Prophets (as), al-anbiyya'a. Hebrew and Arabic contain the same word for Prophet. Nabi means someone who received inspiration from Allah (swt) about our purpose. Thus even in Judaeo-Christian tradition (the precursor to the West today) the question of 'why' was paramount to their outlook on life. Once the fundamental question of 'why' has been settled in our minds we have the luxury of proceeding through life with ease and tranquillity. We get on with life fully aware of our purpose and direction. We care little for in-depth descriptions of how the world came into existence and how it will end. We are informed that the end of the world will be horrific beyond description and that we are compelled to prepare for it. 

Most children go through a period of asking 'why' for almost everything. Many parents ignore this, putting it down to the various annoying traits associated with post 'troublesome-two' toddlers However, ignoring these questions diverts the energies behind these questions. The child is genuinely striving to understand things that many adults have taken for granted for decades. In the West, this energy is re-channelled to describing the 'how' of things, rather than the 'why' of things. The answer to many of these questions is, Allah (swt) made it that way. This is a standard answer to many things that a child, or adult, may ask. However, if the one who answers the question does not believe in Allah (swt), then he/she will ignore the question. It may seem Freudian to relate things back to the parents shunning them in child-hood, but there is a certain truth in the fact that Westerners find most of these questions unanswerable. Child psychology has many disparate schools of thought about how to manage these questions. Western education at every level is tinged with this approach; describing how things work, whilst zapping the energy of why.

'Why' is changed to 'How'

A perpetual searching for holy grails predominates in Western philosophy; how did things happen? How will things happen? For example; how the Big Bang was meant to have occurred, how the continents drifted apart or how the chemistry of life supposedly emerged from the primordial soup etc. Scientists still ask the same questions posed by Aristotle: How is the universe constructed? Where is the mind? Much of the new science relates to old questions, only this time, asked in a different way. In answering them they end up obsessively chasing their own tails. However, 'how' is not a substitute for 'why'. Taking the question of why is grass green and not blue. The answer to the question 'why' is that Allah (swt) made it that way. The current 'scientific answer' is that chlorophyll absorbs blue and red light and reflects green . 
This is an answer to the question 'how', but it is being passed off as an answer to the question 'why'. The Seeking of How things work vs. Why things work. 'How' seeps deep into all aspects of the Western way of life; covering philosophy, research and manufacturing and every level of education. European Enlightenment placed humans as their own legislators. Humans, as their own guides, obviously found the question 'why' much harder to tackle than the question 'how'. They therefore exhausted their energies on describing how things work. An in-depth study of the mechanistic and material aspects of things resulted. Fascinating phenomena were reduced to formulae. Awe inspiring observations were reduced to a series of mundane, detailed descriptions. The ground's ability to hold down bodies is a happening experienced by us all. We all manipulate and utilise this. It is a divine quality that Allah (swt) instilled in the earth (qadr). However Newton reduced this entrancing experience to a dull equation and term gravity. Supposedly an apple fell on Sir Isaac's head and he suddenly thought, ''Ah, F=ma!''. This apple is on a par with the apples of the William Tell and Sleeping Beauty stories. Many ancient philosophies considered the heart to be the centre of thought and emotion. However the metaphor of the heart was lost when it was described as merely a pump in the chest. The remnants of this such as the love heart are out of place in the modern age. However they lay testament to the importance of the old understanding of the heart in Western philosophy. Rasool Allah said; 

''Truly in the body there is a morsel of flesh which, if it be complete, all the body is complete, and if it be diseased, all of it be diseased. Truly it is the heart.'' (Bukhari and Muslim) 

Einstein gave an explanation for space time and everything. Crick and Watson reduced all the intricacies and complexities of inheritance and development to a spiral shaped molecule (DNA). Hubble described the origin of the universe and inferred from this its ultimate fate. These are just a few landmark discoveries, without any mention of Charles Darwin. Islam's position on describing the World about us Even the very young are taught, with some detail, the water cycle. They may understand and accept that water circulates from the sky, to the ocean and to sky again, in an auto-regulating manner. Conceptually it is implicit that this cycle has no need for an external regulator. 
Therefore, Allah (swt) is not necessary in the equation. Regardless of whether the water cycle is an accurate description of how this works, it is more important that we and our children believe that Allah (swt) sends down the rain. Allah (swt) informed us that, 

''It is He Who shows you the lightning, by way both of fear and of hope: It is He Who raises up the clouds, heavy with rain.'' [Quran 13:12] 

''It is He who sends down rain from the sky: from it you drink, and out of it (grows) the vegetation on which you feed your cattle.'' [Quran 16:10] 

There are literally dozens of verses of the Qur'an that make mention of Allah (swt) sending down the water from the skies. Allah (swt) actually criticises those who do not acknowledge that the rain is sent down by His (swt) command, 

''And if indeed you ask them who it is that sends down rain from the sky, and gives life therewith to the earth after its death, they will certainly reply, 'Allah!' Say, 'Praise be to Allah!' But most of them understand not.'' [ 29:63] 

''Do you bring it down (in rain) from the cloud or do We?'' [ 56:69] 

''In the rain which Allah sends down (Here) indeed are Signs for a people that are wise.'' [ 2.164]

''The likeness of the life of the present is as the rain which We send down from the skies: ... We explain the Signs in detail for those who reflect.'' [ 10:24] 

A similar example can be seen in iron. When carbon was added to iron preparations, it replaced bronze in its use in weapons and tools. 

''We sent aforetime our apostles with Clear Signs and sent down with them the Book and the Balance (of Right and Wrong), that men may behave correctly forth in justice; and We sent down (the ability to make use of) Iron, in which is (material for) mighty war, as well as many benefits for mankind, that Allah may test who it is that will help, Unseen, Him and His apostles: Allah is Full of Strength, Exalted in Might (and able to enforce His Will)''
[Quran 57.25] 

The West consider it was the use of tools that changed man from hunter-gatherer to farmer, supplying and ensuring his own stock of food. This differentiated the animal from human. Regardless of what the West say, there is no doubt that the use of tools and in particular iron has been one of the things that set us apart from the rest of Allah's (swt) creation. There is no doubt that the use of iron has been one of the main issues that has moulded the development of human kind. Whether it was in primitive armoury, the machines of the industrial revolution, the tools of agriculture or ballistic missiles. We believe it is Allah (swt) who taught us the use of iron. Earlier on in the verse Allah (swt) states that He (swt) created humans with this discriminating mind, able to make the correct judgement. This principle is linked with the fact that Allah (swt) created humans uniquely. We are able to understand the issue of tools and the power of iron in war and manufacturing. The education system should not just describe these issues. Every attempt must be made to relate these phenomena back to Allah's (swt) Decree.

Conclusions

If we are to observe the world about us correctly it should surely increase our faith. This should be the basis of all Islamic education. Indeed this is an attitude taken directly from the Qur'an. 

''So, also did We show Ibrahim the power and the laws of the heavens and the earth, that he might (with understanding) have certitude. When the night grew dark upon him he beheld a star. He said, 'This is my Lord'. But when it set, he said, 'I love not things that set.' And when he saw the moon rising, he exclaimed, 'This my Lord.' But when it set, he said, 'Unless my Lord guides me, I surely shall become one of the folk who are astray.' And when he saw the sun rising, he cried, 'This is my Lord! This is greater!' And when it set, he exclaimed, 'O my people! Lo! I am free from all that you associate (with Him) Lo! I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah.''' [Quran 6:75-79]

The West's account of history, many Hows but no Whys 
2 Million BCE Man started to use primitive tools 

4000 BCE Bronze casting begins in Near East, use of plough. 

3500 BCE Invention of the wheel and plough (Mesopotamia) and the sail (Egypt) 

3000 BCE Use of Bronze in Thailand. Egyptians work iron into implements 

1000 BCE Start of the iron age. Iron replaces bronze for weapons and tools. 

512 BCE Chinese produce cast iron from blast furnace. 

430 BCE Democritus suggests that everything is made up of atoms. 

622 CE 1st of Hijrah calendar

1521 Reformation of the Christian Church

1543 Copernicus presents his heliocentric theory suggesting that the sun and not the earth is the centre of the universe. 

1609 Galileo develops a telescope that brought new evidence supporting the theory of Copernicus.

 1610 Europe's Scientific Revolution. Kepler (1571-1610), Bacon (1561-1626). Galileo (1564-1642), Descarte (1596-1650) 

1628 William Harvey discovers how blood is circulated around the body.

1687 Isaac Newton describes the laws of motion in his Principia. 

1839 Theodor Schwann suggests cell theory: all living things are made up of cells produced by other cells. This was later 'proved' by Rudolf Virchow. 

1709 Abraham Darby discovers coke-smelt processing of iron. 

1760 European Enlightenment. Voltaire (1694-1778), Diderot (1713-84), Hume (1711-76). J.-J. Rousseau's Social Contract (1762) 

1760 Start of industrial Revolution in Britain. 

1859 Darwin publishes The Origin of the Species. 

1897 J.J. Thompson discovers the electron. Fundamental particle that give main characteristics to most substances. 

1900 Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, beginning of psychoanalysis.

1905 Einstein's theory of relativity uniting space and time in one mathematical description. Also showing that mass can be converted to energy and vice versa. 

1915 Einstein's theory of gravitation, explains the arrangement of the universe. 

1924 Dismantling of the Khifafah 

1929 E T Hubble discovers that the universe is expanding. Thus leading to the Big Bang and the Big Crunch theories.

 
1953 Watson and Crick theorised about the role of DNA in inheritance. Biochemical recipe for regulating the life of all cells. 

1971 Transplantation of genes from one organism to another makes biotechnology a reality. 

1978 First 'test-tube' baby. 

1990 Human genome project starts. The first map of the human genome produced in France 1992. 1997 Dolly the sheep born. 

2001-Sept11th