Those who are wholly sucked up by worldly pursuits, surrender to the delusion of appearance and ignore the Reality beneath it. The contrast between the mirage of appearance and the eye-opening vision of Reality is the central point of the third episode of surah al-Kahf, the account of the encounter between Khidr and Moses. As reported by Bukhari on a certain occasion Moses was expounding Divinely inspired truths to his audience. A person asked as to who was the most knowledgeable person on the surface of the earth. Moses said that at that particular time no one was more knowledgeable than him. Although, relatively speaking, Moses, as a messenger of Allah, was right in staking his claim to superior knowledge but Allah did not like the absolutist way in which he asserted his claim to knowledge. To be disabused of this idea Allah instructed him to proceed for instruction to a place at the confluence of two waters. There he met a chosen servant of Allah, Khidr (AS), who granted his request to accompany him for a while to have a glimpse of the Reality behind the veil of appearance. Once in his company Moses witnessed certain shocking incidents. Khidr damaged a boat whose owner had ferried them across a river; he killed under Divine orders (as does the angel of death) an innocent child; and he repaired a dilapidating wall of a town whose inhabitants had refused common hospitality to him and Moses. Moses, contrary to his commitment to remain a mute witness, took exception to these actions which appeared immoral to him. Khidr explained the wise Divine plan behind each of the actions. The poor boatman would escape forced labour by a tyrannical king because of the defect in his boat and remain behind other boatmen to earn money. The child was recalled by Allah to ensure the respect and spiritual growth of his pious parents as well as a fair recompense for their loss. And the falling wall was rebuilt in order to preserve a treasure of two small children who will acquire it when grown up.
What this strange story teaches us is that action in this world moves on two planes – the apparent and the hidden – which may not always be in consonance. For prophets and seers the veil of appearance is lifted at times to allow them a glimpse of the Reality. For the common men only the apparent level is available which leads to gross misconceptions.
The veil of appearance is deluding in more ways than one. Sometimes it mesmerises us so flatly that we become oblivious of the fact that the terrestrial life is a sojourn of trial and examination and not a place of final reward and punishment. When we see good suffer and evil prosper, we begin to question Divine justice. God, in His wisdom, rarely intervenes in this process as such intervention would defeat the purpose of trial and testing. This spectacle misleads many into the belief that existence is absurd and meaningless. Besides absorption in mere appearance leads to lopsided and misdirected knowledge.
True knowledge emanates from a vision that pierces the veil of appearance. Even knowledge concerning the sensible reality is rightly directed and blessed if it is in consonance with the vision of Reality embodied in the great religious traditions of history – the sohia perennis. The greatest predicament of modern knowledge and science is the fatal dissociation between appearance and Reality. Modern man has been blinded by appearance leading to an almost total disregard of anything beyond it. Postmodernity has willingly and whole-heartedly opted for the surface. The result is that knowledge is getting out of hand and turning diabolical. One of the most perceptive diagnosers of modern malaise, Iqbal, overstates the crisis in order to bring home the bitter truth:
Hai wohi teiray zamaney ka iman-e ber-haq
Jo tujhey haazir-o mawjood sey beizar karey

Surface-bound knowledge separated from the Reality beyond appearance may achieve dazzling physical, mental and logical feats in terms of quantity but in the end it turns out to be a curse. On the other hand if it is organically connected with the Reality, it revives the spirit even as it registers great achievements in the realm of quantity. In Iqbal’s words again when knowledge is wedded to the vision of Reality it is Gabriel-like – soul illuminating; divorced from it, it becomes diabolical. This precisely is the crisis of modern knowledge:

‘Ilm azu ruswast ander shehr-u dasht
Jibraeel az suhbatesh Iblees gasht

Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST