Friday Note(english-2!2!07)najah Kadhim

Duality that Governs Our World Najah Kadhim*

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: ‫اختلف أمتي رحمة‬1 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 والحمى‬2 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 Allah’s 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 today’s world, which is just as important as living and feeling the past. Indeed, living and feeling the future is equally important, for the Holy Qur’an 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 (30:1–4), 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 years’s time. Allah’s 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 (aqā’id). 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 Qur’anic verses indicates that there is room for unbelievers (atheists) or kuffar. The Qur’an 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. (88:21–22)

*Najah Kadhim: Director of IFID and a Senior University Lecturer.

1 2

Mohammad Radh Mudhafir (al-Saqifa), p.46. http://www.islamprophet.ws (al-Bukhari & Muslim).