By Kausar Ali, Freelance Author in Qur’an Specialization
The Human Pursuit of Knowledge and Its Limits
Man is blessed with an eternal thirst for the pursuit of knowledge. The scope of knowledge is expanding over time. However, the extent of valid knowledge is limited by the constraints of Logical Positivism.
The Mind and Heart are two primary sources of knowledge. The Mind, enriched with the attribute of Reason or Intellect, is the seat of logic and logical analysis. The Mind is dedicated primarily to acquiring knowledge about perceptible things and beings through reasoning. The empirical knowledge collected through the mind is verifiable, true, and valid. With the fast-growing age of artificial intelligence (AI), logical analysis has, in many cases, surpassed the human level of analysis and reasoning.
Artificial Intelligence and the Boundaries of Human Reason
The power of reasoning in terms of speed, accuracy, and precision is found to be far superior in AI than at the human level of reasoning by the Mind. The Machine Learning Model is found to be superior to the human level of logical analysis or reasoning. However, the scope of inference or Reason by the Mind is restricted to knowledge only about perceptible things and beings.
People may differ in their degree of reasoning, commonly measured in terms of Intelligence Quotient (IQ). People are expected to differ in their level of intelligence. They are not equal on the basis of intelligence. The intelligence of people differs based on time, geography, education, opportunity, community, etc. It is foolish to assume that intelligence alone may significantly influence behavior or attitude.
Intelligence is not concerned with the acknowledgement, recognition, or appreciation of value elements or virtues of any sort and hence does in no way lead to a change in behavior. Humanity, as a desired value element, is falsely presumed to be an attribute of appreciation by man with reason and rationale. It is the attribute of the Heart, which is the source of appreciation of virtues by man blessed with common sense.
It is the non-existence of a heart at its source that makes a machine unable to appreciate virtue. That is why a machine cannot be made responsible for its actions, behaviors, and performance.
With an inert and unresponsive heart, albeit a throbbing one, man is unable to appreciate virtues and respond with a change of behavior. He or she is entitled to attract consequences for a non-performing heart.
{Allah will not call you to account for thoughtlessness in your oaths, but for the intention in your hearts; and He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Forbearing.} [Al-Baqarah 2:225]
The Central Processing Unit (CPU) of a computer is functionally comparable to the human Mind as the seat of data processing and data analysis. The CPU is called the Mind or Brain of a computer. A CPU enhanced with Artificial Intelligence (AI) closely resembles a highly efficient Mind as the seat of powerful reasoning and logic.
The computer, in possession of a so-called Mind or Brain, is restricted to reasoning and logical analysis of empirical data only. A computer enabled with AI is rapidly replacing the human Mind for a host of tasks related to data processing, reasoning, and logic.
However, a computer or any machine enabled only with a Mind has no Heart to infer realities beyond perceptions. It has no Heart to react or respond voluntarily with a change of behavior—a characteristic attribute of personality.
As a computer has no inherent freedom to decide or define its attitude, it is not liable to be treated as synonymous with a person entitled to rewards or punishments for its actions and responses.
Man is superior to all other creatures due to possession of a highly developed Mind.
The Mind is the seat of superior Intellect—the attribute of intelligence, reasoning, and analysis.
Why the Heart Is Superior to the Mind in the Qur’an
The Heart helps in the cognizance of realities beyond our range of perception, viz. subjective entities and realities beyond this temporal world, e.g. the Hereafter, Heaven, and Hell.
The Heart is the seat of inference with the aid of Reason in coordination.
Man is exceptionally unique and truly superior due to the possession of a Heart, not a Mind. The fate of the 3H shall be decided by the Heart, not the Mind.
People are surprisingly identical in terms of appreciating and inferring realities beyond the realm of perception. People blessed with common sense can easily infer and appreciate the realities and incidents of 3H, i.e. the realities of the Hereafter, Heaven (Paradise), and Hell.
{Your Allah is one Allah: as to those who believe not in the Hereafter, their hearts refuse to know, and they are arrogant.} [An-Nahl 16:22]
It is thus a general fallacy to presume an entity with a Mind to be superior to a living being with a Heart. The organs of distinction are meant to perform unique tasks differing in nature, class, and category.
Man is truly superior within humankind due to the possession of a healthy Heart manifested through a wholesome personality.
The Wholesome Personality is the behavioral status of an individual acknowledging the greatness of God; sincere in submission to the Almighty; and free from the evils of ingratitude, arrogance, lust, hypocrisy, injustice, and the like.
A pure and healthy heart, free from impurities, has a natural tendency toward submission in totality to God Almighty. A person blessed with such purity of heart possesses the Wholesome Personality worthy of rewards in the Hereafter.
{Your Sustainer is fully aware of what is in your hearts. If you are righteous [He will forgive you your errors]: for, behold, He is much-forgiving to those who turn unto Him again and again.} [Al-Israa’ 17:25]
Diseases of the Heart and the Qur’anic Cure
The attributes of sincerity, indebtedness, gratitude, love, modesty, humility, compassion, integrity, loyalty, etc. are recognized as symptoms of purity of heart.
The opposites of these attributes, viz. arrogance, pride, ingratitude, hatred, cruelty, excessive lust for wealth, hypocrisy, a sense of absolute independence, attachment to Taghuts, disloyalty, dishonesty, etc. are categorized as diseases or evils maligning the heart.
“In their hearts is disease, and so God lets their disease increase; and grievous suffering awaits them because of their persistent lying.} [Al-Baqarah 2:10]
Islam, based exclusively on divine revelations preserved in the Qur’an, provides a holistic approach to curing such cardiac diseases originating from unbelief in God and His blessings extended through revelations preserved in the heavenly scriptures. The symptoms of a diseased heart are reflected in a person’s attitude and behavior.
{And if We had made it a non-Arabic Qur’an, they would have said, “Why are its verses not explained in detail [in our language]? Is it a foreign [recitation] and an Arab [messenger]?” Say, “It is, for those who believe, a guidance and cure.” And those who do not believe—in their ears is deafness, and it is upon them blindness. Those are being called from a distant place.} [Fussilat 41:44]
The Qur’an as a Source of Wisdom Beyond Academic Knowledge
The Qur’an is a book composed of texts that are learning in nature, distinct from texts that are academic in essence.
Learning texts are conclusive, precise, discrete, and instructive in nature. Wisdom is the specialty of learning texts, attached with dire consequences for negligence or approval through behavioral acts of response.
The Qur’an, as a treasure of wisdom, benefits all those who acknowledge and appreciate its wisdom.