Africa Speaks — Page 23
At present, we are not so well aware that all things in this world have unlimited possibilities, unlimited properties. If we happen to have fallen back in the race for knowledge and discovery, therefore, we need not feel discouraged. We need not think that everything of importance has been discovered and there is nothing very much more for us to discover. The true scientist who has seen something of the vastness of nature and limitlessness of the properties with which all things in nature are endowed, will not sayar think so. But lesser students of science would think or say so. The lesser scientists need to know and remember that our Lord's creation is infinite in its vastness, that the properties of all things in His creation are also infinite, and that is but a reflection of the infiniteness of the powers and attributes of our Lord, Allah. The voyage of discovery, therefore, can never come to an end. My message, tYlerefore, is: Pull yourselves together. There is much more left for you to discover than has been discovered in the past. There may be much more-very much more-in store for you than you imagine. Maybe the knowledge you will now acquire is not only more extensive but more meaningful and more relevant to the purpose of existence, therefore, more pleasing to Allah, our Lord, Creator and Master. Give serious thought to my plea for prayer in the pursuit of knowledge. Remember, prayer does not acquire its full character unless it is accompanied by a proper awareness of Allah as our Lord, Creator and Sustainer, Lord of all that is in the Heavens and the Earth. Turn to Him, it may be, only half-believing. He will turn back and answer your prayer and enter all the tasks you undertake for His sake and for the sake of His creatures. This is an attitude more appropriate to the pursuit of knowledge. There is something more you may do; and this is to try and offset the cramping influence of specialization which has become such a feature of modern knowledge and modern education. Specialization I know is inevitable, even useful. There is so much to know in every field, and there are so many more fields which keep cropping up that nobody can afford to apply himself to more than one or two fields of knowledge. Even so, I feel something can and should be done to correct the present situation in education and research. A proper attitude, again, can make all the difference in the world. The attitude I advocate is the attitude which makes you curious about fields of knowledge other than your own. This is the attitude which helps you eventually to view Allah's entire creation as a whole with. 22