Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 305
AL-BAYYINAH – A MANIFEST PRINCIPLE. AND AL-QAYYIMAH – AN EVERLASTING TEACHING _. He created man;. And taught him how to express himself and differentiate. ². Hence, the faculty of speech is clearly claimed to have been bestowed by God upon man, which leads to the inevitable conclusion that the first language taught to him was taught by God Himself. In the light of this, the enigma of the human faculty of speech does not remain as incomprehensible as it would otherwise be. The faculty of speech separates man from the rest of the animal kingdom by such a wide margin as cannot be explained by the doctrine of evolution alone, however much it may be extended. Hence, Al-Bayān, the faculty of speech has to be a gift of Divine revelation. . Thus both the Bayān and the Bayyinah have the same common origin and both possess the same quality of differentiation. Despite this similarity however, there is a characteristic difference between the two. While Al-Bayān is intrinsically bonded to verbal expressions, Al-Bayyinah is not confined to this alone. It may at times carry verbal pronouncements, but at others it may manifest itself without the medium of speech. This silent display of AlBayyinah is like the radiance of a midday sun in which all ever-lasting Divine teachings bask. While on the one hand it draws its strength from God, on the other it lends support to those who lean on it. "Al-Qayyimah", the other term, applies to all such fundamental teachings as have a quality of permanence about them. It is there that the two terms seem to merge together into one. The philosophical terms of absoluteness or universality of values can also fully apply to the values which are expressed by the religious term Al-Qayyimah. . But whether there can be any ideas or values which can in reality be described as absolute or universal is the question 296