About a month ago, I was invited to deliver a brief talk on the topic of the Universe being the Created Book, which is one of the constitutive, conceptual elements of the Worldview of Islam.
As expected, just like what had subsequently happened in many of my other lectures on some such elements, a question was posed, rather unhesitatingly, during the question and answer session: “How can we translate this concept into action?”
Yes, one thing I have personally found recurrent when deliberating on conceptual subject-matters with a largely Muslim audience is the question: “How are we going to apply them?”
The translatability of any concept into any sort of positive actions-or if you like, its applicability-is often taken by many Muslims to mean that it is a beneficial knowledge (al-‘ilm al-naafi‘).
Its applicability is then linked-in fact, in many instances, is assumed to be equivalent-to its relevance, relevance being regarded as the determinant of its worth and importance.
One can therefore discern a somewhat reductionistic pattern here: a concept’s worth and relevance being finally reduced to its pragmaticality.
Such experience, however, is by no means personal only to me. Many of my colleagues who are equally serious, if not more, with things conceptual and theoretical, let alone those whom I regard as my intellectual masters, have also been asked with basically the same questions.
Some of those who raised such questions may well be prompted to do so because they have got rather fed up with too many slogans and years of empty talks.
They may also have been raised due to one’s conviction that actions, as well as results, are what matters. And, to such a person, a concept’s being relevant or not basically consists in whether or not it can be translated into any form of actions with tangible outcomes.
But can a true Muslim really hold such a conviction without ultimately involving himself, or herself, in some sort of paradoxes concerning matters of pure knowledge and belief, at the very least?
The answer to this, to my mind, very much depends on what such a conviction really means and entails. And it is indeed important to make people with that conviction aware of what it truly means and entails.
Such awareness in turn partially revolves on what is actually meant by “a theory’s being put into practice,” or “a concept’s being translated into action.”
This naturally leads us to ponder, “What is a concept, in the first place?” Generally, by one’s having a concept of something, one is basically meaning “one’s grasp of something.”
For sure, the act of “grasping” therein is by no means physical, but rather is mental and immaterial. To use a much less ambiguous word, one is here concerned with “understanding.” (By the way, I had also touched upon this subject in my article in The STAR of May 2006, available also at the IKIM website.)
One’s understanding of something may well result in one’s expressing it verbally or in writing, especially if one needs to convey it to others for whatever purpose and reason.
Nevertheless, once a concept is formed in one’s mind, regardless of whether one keeps it to oneself or one makes it manifest through written or verbal words, one is said to be possessed of it.
In this regard, spoken or written words, as long as they are not translated into actions, will remain conceptual or theoretical, even if they are put together nicely in the form of a book, titled with such appealing headings (read words) as “a practical guide,” “an application,” “a pragmatic approach,” etc..
Having said that, there are still a set of related questions which any Muslim seriously concerned with the practical translatability of a concept cannot but meaningfully address in order to avoid the aforementioned paradoxes.
“Must every concept be translated into action to remain useful and be beneficial?”
“What kinds, or modes, of concepts and actions are there?”
“Are there concepts which one can never put into practice-in the sense of making or doing-but nonetheless have great and lasting impacts in moulding one’s character, attitude and actions?”
In other words, can there be concepts which, notwithstanding their being not directly practical, are no less important in our lives?
Is not the conception of God, which is the pivotal concept in the Worldview of Islam, the most conceptual and abstract of all notions?
Yet, isn’t this concept the one that gives direction, meaning and value to any sort of actions worth undertaking. And by comparison, are there no other concepts of a similar nature?
One cannot unqualifiedly undermine the importance of abstract concepts without in one way or another also undermining the importance of the concept of God, thereby ridiculing the very foundation of one’s Islam.
A Muslim, therefore, must be fully aware of the fact that there are indeed abstract concepts which are indispensable in rendering his or her life meaningful.
And, likewise, to the question “Must all concepts be translatable into action?”, he or she should be cognizant of what the correct answer is.