Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 723
ATTEMPTS TO PHILOSOPHICALLY JUSTIFY. THE FINALITY OF NON-LAW-BEARING PROPHETHOOD become self-sufficient in every aspect of his moral and spiritual requirements. . As far as the concept of maturity is concerned, it is also falsified by the realities of history. After the passing away of prophets the division and multiplication of religious sects, based on doctrinal differences and varying interpretations, is a universal trend that has not spared the followers of any religion including Islam. Hence, it is not simply his intellectual maturity which helps man to draw right conclusions from the scriptures, he must also be. Divinely guided. . If ‘maturity of man' is taken to mean that he becomes independent in drawing his conclusions from the study of scriptures, then there must ensue a perfect unity of agreement on all the fundamental aspects of religious teachings. Alas, what we observe in real life fails miserably to support this view. Muslims, the proud recipients of the last perfect Book, are no less divided among themselves in the matter of interpretation than are the peoples of all other religions. To what avail therefore, is the so-called maturity of man? The history of religion proves that people once split into sects and schisms have never been reunified by human effort alone. The same inevitably applies to the. Muslims today. Without the agency of a Divine Reformer, they cannot be assembled again under the single flag of. Unity. But they have outrightly rejected this Divine measure, the only avenue of hope left open to them. . The existence of about seventy-two doctrinal divisions among them, despite a well-preserved book and a well-documented record of traditions, throws a dismal light on the Iqbalian philosophy of the maturity of man. . Their differences are not merely marginal. They are fundamental and deep-rooted, further multiplying and proliferating as time goes by. Add to this the moral 681