Tawhidic Epistemology: Finding “The One in the many” in Greek and Islamic Philosophy

By, Megawati Moris

More than two thousand five hundred years ago, Greek philosophers were gazing at the sky and observing nature to learn about the nature of reality. They witnessed and experienced a multitude of different existing things in the universe, but their investigation finally led them to the belief that there must be something or an entity which unifies these many and variegated things. This entity must exist and is One for it to be the source of all existence. It must be permanent and unchanging to unite these diverse things which are constantly in motion or in a state of change. The Greek philosophers call this entity the Primordial Principle.

This One is what appears in the Qur’ān (112:1), “Say He is Allah the One (Aḥad).” The testimony of faith or the shahādah: “There is no god but God (Allāh)” is the definitive statement of the concept of tawḥīd (oneness) of Allāh in Islam. He is the Origin, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and everything in between. Human beings must find the deepest meaning of this statement to know the nature of reality and of their existence. Their quest is the search for the One Creator in the many-ness of creation.

The early Greek philosophers or the Pre-Socratic philosophers who engaged in the investigation of the principle and process of the changing world began with the claim that the primordial principle was material for example, Thales known as the first Greek philosopher considered it to be water and Anaximenes considered it to be air. The use of reason and empirical evidence over time aided subsequent philosophers such as Pythagoras to propose that the principles to know the structure of reality lie in mathematical concepts or numbers and no longer material. 

However, the two philosophers Heraclitus and Parmenides were the pioneers to introduce metaphysical principles of being indicating unity and permanence and becoming representing plurality and change. Plato whom Muslim philosophers revered and gave the title “Aflatūn Ilāhī” (divine Plato) viewed that metaphysical reality constitutes the world of forms and the highest of which is the form of the Good. Plotinus whose philosophical views exerted influence on Muslim philosophers called the Transcendent Being as the Unity or the One (to hen). Aristotle, who defined metaphysics as first philosophy or the discussion of things that do not change (in contrast to physics or the discussion of things that change) conceived of God as the Prime Mover or Unmoved Mover. 

These ideas of Greek philosophers on the nature of reality attracted the Muslim philosophers. They identified Greek philosophy’s conception of the Primordial Principle with their conception of Allāh as the One (al-Aḥad). Furthermore, they identified Greek metaphysical concepts of being, unity and permanence with the concept of tawḥīd within the Islamic framework. 

When we speak about the One as an objective reality (ḥaqīqah), the knowledge constitutes metaphysics generally. When we speak about reality as an experiential or discoverable truth (ḥaqīqah) known by the human subject the knowledge constitutes epistemology. Hence, epistemology is about finding and knowing the nature of reality or explicitly the One. In Islamic philosophy there is no duality between the objective and subjective realms. Ḥaqīqah is both reality and truth. Metaphysical knowledge is about the subject finding (wajada) the objective existence (wujūd) of the One. 

However, since in the daily experience of humans in this world, the individual witnesses and experiences a myriad of existent things, knowledge must also include these things or entities. The main purpose, however, is the finding or discovery of the oneness of reality within the midst of the many-ness i.e., the One in the many (waḥdah fī al-kathrah). 

Turning to the significance of Tawhidic epistemology, as a focus and approach to the concept of knowledge, its purpose is to relate the purpose of knowledge and education with the purpose of objective existence (wujūd). Hence, the purpose of Tawhidic epistemology is to know the truth and reality (haqīqah) of all existents and ultimately the existence of the One. 

The correspondence between the universe or cosmological realm with the psychological or the realm of the soul is hence of great significance to Tawhidic epistemology. Knowledge must reflect the cosmological and ontological realms to bring out true and certain knowledge. Verse (41:53) in the Qur’ān, “ We shall show them Our signs on the horizons (al-afāq) and within their selves (anfus) until it will be manifest unto them that is the Truth” indicates and attests to the accessibility of this knowledge through the phenomena of the universe and the soul, the latter of which includes the intellect (al-‘aql) as a constituent of human being’s spiritual reality.  

The universe is hierarchical in nature, and it consists of levels of existence (marātib al-wujūd) ascending from the physical to the spiritual realm or (‘alām al-shahādah) and (‘alām al-ghayb) as revealed in the Qur’ān. Hence, knowledge must also be hierarchical in its composition. In the cosmology of Islamic philosophy, the descent of the Necessary Being (Wājib al-wujūd) to the intelligible world down to the physical realm of the animal, plant and mineral worlds constitutes the process of emanation (fayḍ) through intellection (al-ta‘aqqul) and human beings’ return or ascent to the Necessary Being occurs through the levels of intellects through the process of knowledge (al-‘ilm). In this process of descent and ascent the Necessary Being remains Absolute, Transcendent and One. 

Each level and world consist of different and various types of sciences or branches of knowledge, for example, physical sciences, psychological, religious and spiritual sciences. Scholars in the Islamic intellectual tradition deal with this aspect of epistemology in the classification of knowledge. Aristotle known as the “First Teacher” classified knowledge in Greek philosophy and among the well-known Muslim scholars who expounded on the classification of knowledge in the Islamic intellectual tradition are al-Fārābī known as the “Second Teacher”, al-Ghazzālī and Quṭb al-dīn al-Shirāzī (refer to Osman Bakar, Classification of Knowledge in Islam: A Study of Islamic Philosophies of Science, (Kuala Lumpur: IIUM-ISTAC, 2006)). 

The classification of knowledge proposed by these Islamic philosophers reflect the metaphysical view of the different levels of reality. According to Tawhidic epistemology this classification of the different sciences and branches of knowledge must be applied to an education system to ensure that the knowledge attained reflects the true nature of reality with its attendant qualities of particularity, hierarchy, universality and unity. The goal of knowledge is to attain knowledge of “the One in the many” and an ideal education system would ensure the attainment and realization of this highest knowledge.***

(These are the views of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Megawati Moris, affiliated with the Department of Usul al-Din & Comparative Religion & Philosophy at AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia which do not represent IIUM Today’s.)