Duality that Governs Our World Written by Najah Kadhim
Feb 02, 2007 at 12:46 PM Two states exist in our world. In other
words, it is a binary state that rules the dynamics of society. It is duality
that governs our world. It is the positive state and the negative state; it is
the measure and the countermeasure; it is conformity and diversity.
These two states meet at times and separate at other times, thus creating the
basis of balance and motion in the world. It is the positive versus the
negative at one moment, and the positive born of the negative at another moment.
In the digital world of the binary logic of electronic circuits, there is one
state (ON) versus the other state (OFF), or according to its mathematics
(Boolean algebra): ones versus zeros. It means that the possibilities or states
cannot exist at the same time.
Yet in the principles of quantum mechanics that are being applied to the
development of quantum computers, the two states of positive and negative (or
zeros and ones) exist at the same time.
This situation has implications for the possibility that diversity leads to
motion, which results in coordination.
It seems that diversity, with its variations, initiates the principles of
organization. Organization develops from the continuous motion of uniformity
and divergence, which, in turn, creates different or new situations or
possibilities.
The probability of whether an event will occur or not does not mean
disorganization or coincidence, as some people believe, or that there is no
purpose to the existence of this universe. As modern science has demonstrated,
even if the mathematical versions or patterns that underpin its theories are
not right, they are not necessarily wrong.
The presence of uniformity and diversity at the same time in some states and
one versus the other in other states leads to new probabilities. The relativity
of an event not happening does not negate its absolute happening. The
relativity of recognizing and understanding new situations does not negate the
origin of the absolute.
Electricity, the pulse of modern life, is generated as the result of the
polarization of the positive and negative charges. It is the flow of these
opposing charges in the electrical circuits which gives it the required
coordination. Atoms, the basis of life, cannot exist unless there is a balance
between the electrons (negative charges) surrounding the nucleus and its
protons (positive charges) of the same number.
On the other hand, as postulated in quantum electronics, the positive and
negative charges are happening at the same time in optical computers as a
result of the reduction in time as well as an increase in the momentum of these
charges.
The Holy Prophet, Muhammad, said in a well-known hadith:
اختلاف أمتي
رحمة
Divergence from my Ummah is a mercy.
On the other hand, however, he said:
وترى
المؤمنين في
توادهم
وتراحمهم
كمثل الجسد
الواحد اذا
اشتكى منه
عضو تداعى له
سائر الجسد
بالسهر
والحمى
The believers in their affection, compassion and kindness are like one body. If
one organ complains, then the whole body suffers from fever and insomnia.
Does the first hadith contradict the second? No, apparently not, since
diversity in human society is not only meaningful but necessary. The uniformity
and diversity of its motion give birth to the factors of its development.
Diversity stimulates competition, the characteristic of a living society,
which, in turn, generates new ways of thinking and concepts, and so on and so
forth.
Keeping things as they were a thousand years ago, say, by impeding renewal as
the situation demands from time to time, not only produces a society that
breeds stagnation and useless traditions but is also contrary to Allahs
Sunnah, for it has been shown that duality is the basis of the functions of the
world.
Let us apply the concept of duality to some practical examples for Muslims.
Muslim communities resident in the West could easily adopt the duality of
living and feeling both East and West, that is, living and feeling as Muslims
in the heart of a Western or multi-cultural society. Muslims can be Western,
just as Westerners can be Muslim. In other words, being a Muslim means being a
good citizen living in a society where interdependence is a fact of modern life.
Muslims could live and feel todays world, which is just as important as living
and feeling the past. Indeed, living and feeling the future is equally
important, for the Holy Quran highlights the future trend in some of its
verses.
For example, Surah Yusuf (12) tells the tale of Prophet Yusuf, whose management
planning for the future saved Egypt from an acute economic crisis. Or Surat
al‑Rum (30:14), in which the Holy Book tells the Muslim community in
Mecca, who were feeling depressed at the defeat of the Roman Christians by the
Persian unbelievers, that the Romans would defeat the Persians in a few years
time, thus referring to the future with some good news:
Alif, Lam, Mim. The Romans have been defeated in a nearby land. However,
although they have been defeated, they will be victorious in a few yearss
time. Allahs is the Command in the past and in the future. On that day, the
believers will rejoice.
Living and feeling the self-respect that generates respect for the
psychological and physical space of the Other. It is a reciprocal situation.
The understanding and application of the concept of duality should also find
their way into the reform of theology.
The very early Muslim philosophers harmonized the classical Greek intellectual
philosophy with the Islamic creeds (aqāid). It is not the same today, for
the dialectics of the modern intellect is aiming to create a single integrated
world. Muslims should face this huge challenge with peaceful coexistence with
unbelievers, instead of confining themselves to accepting only the People of
the Book. In other words, the acceptance of faith (imān) and intellect
could meet at some points and diverge at others, rather than each trying to
annihilate the identity of the other. A reading of the Quranic verses
indicates that there is room for unbelievers (atheists) or kuffar. The Quran
states, for example:
To you be your way, and to me mine. (109:6)
To each among you, We have prescribed a law and an open way. (5:48)
Therefore, to remind you, for you are only a reminder. You are not a watcher
over them. (88:2122)
*Najah Kadhim: Director of IFID and a Senior University Lecturer.
saiyed shahbazi
www.shahbazcenter.org
