Sep-Dec 2021
When the following verse was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH): “Surely you (humans) have been given very little knowledge.” (Qur’an: 17:85) The Jews and disbelievers mockingly said to the Holy Prophet (PBUH): “Surely you (Muslims) have been given less knowledge.” In response, the Prophet (PBUH) said that it was addressed not only to Muslims but to all human beings.
This statement of the Prophet (PBUH) reflects the reality. This was true not only with regard to that period, but also of the limitations of human knowledge of the present age, which is considered to be the age of extreme advancement and development in terms of all the science and technology. Rather, in the true sense, the present advances in science have made man realize the limitations of his knowledge.
There are two great realities of our universe: the first is spirit or soul and the second is the matter. Science is completely ignorant of the soul. The great scientists have even denied the existence of the soul, because the soul has not yet been grasped by the physical laws. Therefore, modern science is ignorant of such an important reality of our universe which is the essence. This is the first dimension of the limitations of human knowledge.
The second dimension of the limitation of human knowledge is related to matter itself. Human knowledge about matter is too limited. The amount of matter that modern science has so far claimed to have discovered in our universe is less than one percent of the total matter in our universe. The trillions of stars, planets, moons, galaxies and other celestial bodies found in our vast universe are only 0.4% of our total discovered universe. An additional 3.6% is made up of intergalactic gas. The remaining 96% of matter is unknown, consisting of dark matter and dark energy.
The third dimension of the limitation of human knowledge is antimatter. There exists another kind of matter in our universe, which the modern science is unaware about it completely. This is called antimatter. The particles of the antimatter also have the same mass as the particles of ordinary matter; however the particles of the antimatter have the opposite electrical charge than the particles of the ordinary matter. As a result, matter and the anti-matter cannot coexist. When they come into contact, they annihilate each other within no time. Therefore scientists suggest that our universe not only contains remote galaxies completely made up of anti-matter but there might also exists a complete anti-universe consisting of anti-galaxies, anti-stars and anti-planets.
The fourth aspect of the limitations of human knowledge is the ignorance of man of the noumenon. Scientists believe that the natural objects have two aspects: phenomenon and noumenon. Science is confined to the knowledge of phenomena. Understanding of the noumena can never fall under its scope. (Qur’anic Concept of Knowledge, Allama Md. Shihabuddin Nadvi)
In this context, if the limitations of human knowledge are analyzed, it will be seen that man on the one hand is unaware of the essence of life, i.e., the soul. Secondly, he has been able to detect less than one percent of matter in the universe so far. Thirdly, he is aware of only the phenomena of this one percent substance, and he is utterly ignorant of its noumena. Fourthly, he is totally unaware of how many other kinds of matter are there in this universe and how many other universes and what other beings are there beyond it? Therefore, the reality of human knowledge in this vast landscape of the present world is nothing more than a flickering light in the midst of the darkness of his ignorance. Modern science has also convinced us that no matter how much man progresses, he will never be able to acquire knowledge about these unknown realms. This is the meaning of the above verse: “Surely you (humans) have been given very little knowledge.” (Qur’an: 17:85)