does not hesitate to throw away money and save his life. Here
instinct backs his choice; but the same man may be forced to choose
between life and honour. It is a cruel choice and the man may not
reconcile himself to the loss of either of the two extremely precious
things. Reason will advise him to save honour at the cost of life, but
he may not be entirely convinced by rational arguments. He may
even make the right choice but for wrong reasons. He may choose
honour, not because he values it more than life, but because he is
afraid of incurring social disapproval and recoils with horror from
the prospect of being a social outcast. He has made the right choice,
yet has missed the feeling of fulfilment which should accompany
the right choice. Choosing the higher value is an act of conviction or
Eiman; conviction in the Revelation and in the Hereafter. On the
basis of knowledge and experience, we may not be able to decide
which of the two values is the higher. Reason may counsel
suspension of judgment. We can suspend judgment but we cannot
postpone action and when we have acted, we have already made the
choice. We have no option but to decide on arbitrary grounds or on
the basis of Divine Revelation. When the light of reason fails, we
should let ourselves be guided by the light of Revelation. Revelation
tells us about the ends of the human personality, which, by seeking
to attain them, qualifies itself to continue its existence on a higher
plane after death. To sum up, our only source of knowledge
regarding ultimate values is Divine Revelation.
IV. Eiman is IndispensableWe hope that a few words on the necessity of Eiman and on its
organic relation to reason will not be out of place at this point.
Without it, man is like a boat without a rudder, drifting aimlessly and
at the mercy of every gust of wind; with it, he is carried forward,
step by step, to the objective of self-fulfilment and self-realisation.
To the question: “Eiman in what?" the answer can only be, Eiman in
God who sustains the universe, which reveals a few of the infinity
of His aspects; Eiman in the reality of the human self and in its
unlimited capacity for development; Eiman in the absolute values
which set the goal to both human endeavour and cosmic process;
and finally Eiman in a purposive universe.
Islam: A Challenge to Religion 134