Islam and Peace
Faith and Reason
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quadruped might be converted into a giraffe” (p.
169).
In this case, the existence of differences between the
various offspring of a goat is itself a known fact. But
the accumulation of this difference, generation after
generation, over millions of years resulting in a new
species known as ‘giraffe’ is wholly unobservable
and unrepeatable. This conclusion has been inferred
from observation only; the whole process of
mutation developing into a new species has never
come under our direct observation.
Exactly the same is true of the subject of religion.
One aspect of the study of religion is the study of its
history, its personalities, its injunctions, its rites and
its rituals. The above division (knowledge of things
and knowledge of truths) amounts to a study of the
‘things’ of religion. In respect of religion, objective
information is likewise available. As such, the study
of religion too can be done on the basis of direct
observations exactly as is done in the study of
biological evolution.
The second aspect of the study of religion is what is
termed, in general, beliefs pertaining to the unseen
