We shall do well to give careful thought to Rashdall's views on the
human self and on the purpose in the universe:
The universe itself must have a purpose or rational end, a purpose
which a perfect reason would pronounce to be good.(14)
Regarding the self he says:
The self is a permanent reality: that reality is spiritual in so far as it has a
permanent life of its own, not identical with the changes of the
material organism with which it is (in whatever way) connected; and
that the acts of man really proceed from and express the nature or
character of the self for the simple reason that, only if we suppose that
the present life of human beings has an end which lies in part beyond
the limits of the present natural order in so far as that order is
accessible to present human observation, can we find a rational
meaning and explanation for human life as we see it; and by far the
most natural and intelligent form of such a world-end is the belief in
immortality for the individual souls which have lived here.(15)
Substantially, the same view is expressed, in simple and direct
terms, in the Qur'an. The Qur'an assures us that the creation of
heaven and earth has a meaning. "They have been created in truth
and for a purpose" (45:22), in order that "every soul may be repaid
what it hath earned" (45:22). We are advised to reflect on the doings
of the man "who has made his base desire his god" and, in
consequence, "has lost his way, in spite of his knowledge, insight
and experience (45:23). This misguided person equates the real self
with the physical body and pays heed only to the demands of the
body. It is men like him who say: " There is naught but our life of the
existing world. We live and we die and naught destroys us save time"
(45:24). But the Qur'an emphatically asserts that "they have no
knowledge whatsoever of all that: they do but guess" (45:24).
The Nabi is advised to "withdraw from them, as they desire but
the life of this world" (53:29). Their mind is imprisoned within the
narrow confines of present experience and the vast and limitless
spaces of existence are shut out from their view.
Deen, as well as moral life, is possible only for a being which
possesses a permanent self. Value is relative to the person who
experiences, and a system of absolute values has meaning only in
relation to a real self. To deny the existence of a permanent self is to
deny absolute values and the denial of absolute values entails the
denial of moral standard too. An ethical code is based on a system
The Role of Reason in Deen 135