Islam distinguishes strongly between the two types, while Western epistemology holds that we cannot tell the difference between useful and useless knowledge. These slides explain that the difference arises because secular modern mindset considers life to be meaningless, while Islam considers our unique and precious lives to be infinitely valuable. For English Video-Lecture, see: bit.do/uvukaz - For Urdu Video Lecture see: bit.do/azuvuk

1. USEFUL KNOWLEDGE
VERSUS
USELESS KNOWLEDGE
ENGLISH VERSION OF INITIAL SEGMENT OF LECTURE 8
REVIEW OF MIDTERM ON ISLAMIC ECONOMICS 2019, DR ASAD ZAMAN
COURSE WENSITE: BIT.DO/IE2019
ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW BLOG POST, WITH URDU VIDEO LECTURE, ON THIS TOPIC: BIT.DO/AZUVUK
LINKEDIN ENGLISH VIDEO AND POST: BIT.DO/UVUKAZ

2. Islamic Teachings Distinguish Strongly
between useful & useless knowledge
O Allah, I seek your protection from
knowledge which is not beneficial

3. Western Point of View
There is no such distinction – All knowledge is equal
• We do not know now whether or not knowledge would be useful
• Example of Bats – Study of bats led to knowledge of SONAR
• Bats are blind and emit sound waves. By listening to the reflection of the sound waves they learn the
location of objects

4. Puzzle: Why is there such a big difference between
Western and Islamic conceptions of Knowledge?
• Why does the West deny the distinction? – we will see that this is related to the “meaning of life”
• What have been the EFFECTS of this denial, in Western education?
• Failure to distinguish has led to the inclusion of a lot of useless, and actually harmful, knowledge on the
syllabus, without awareness of this.
• This is especially evident in economic theory – where a huge amount of theory which has no relation to
reality, and is of no value in understanding the world – is routinely taught to students for years in
multiple complex courses.
• A few quotes to show that this is widely realized by leading economists.

5. See: Quotes Critical of Economics
https://bit.do/azquo
“Modern economics is sick. Economics has increasingly become an intellectual game played for its own
sake and not for its practical consequences for understanding the economic world … Economists have
converted the subject into a sort of social mathematics in which analytical rigour is everything and
practical relevance is nothing.” Mark Blaug Disturbing currents in modern economics
"Existing economics is a theoretical [meaning mathematical] system which floats in the air and which bears
little relation to what happens in the real world“ Ronald Coase
Julie Nelson in “Poisoning the Well: How Economic Theory damages the Moral Imagination” argues that by
portraying selfishness as rational, economic theory has made many types of anti-social and publicly
harmful behavior socially acceptable. It has also influenced, many businesspeople, judges, sociologists,
philosophers, policymakers, critics of economics, and the public at large to come to tolerate greed and
opportunism, or even to expect or encourage them. Her paper gives examples of the harms inflicted in the
areas of law, care work, the environment, and ethics itself.

6. In contrast, Islamic Teachings Emphasize
The Virtues of Knowledge
• Allah T’aala introduces Himself as the ONE who gives knowledge to man of that which man does not
know
• Angels spread their wing underneath the feet of the seeker of knowledge.
• The ones who know are far superior to the ones who do not.
• Knowledge is among the Greatest Gifts of God
• It was the thirst for knowledge created by the teachings of Islam that led the early Muslims to
leadership of the World, and a Civilization that enlightened the world for a thousand years.

7. Definitions of Useful Knowledge
Useful knowledge teaches how to make the best use our unique and precious lives.
• Each moment is precious, and cannot be purchased for all the treasure in the world.
• But HOW to make our lives valuable?
• This requires learning who we are, what we are meant to be,
• how can we achieve the infinite potential which we are all born with?
• Useful knowledge us teaches us how to live our lives to the fullest
• HARMFUL knowledge deceives us into making the wrong efforts and wasting our lives.

8. Determine Purpose of Life
In order to assess whether “knowledge” is useful
• Without knowing purpose of life, we cannot tell what is useful or useless
• West thinks that life is meaningless – Universe was created by an accident.
• In this case, all knowledge is the same, because life has no purpose.
• Even this issue requires debate, discussion, thought – is life meaningless or is it meaningful.
• Cannot pass by this question in silence, give an answer without any discussion

9. So HOW can we determine Purpose?
• If we are Muslims, purpose is given to us by the Quran –
• It is to please Allah, by doing the best of deeds. To strive for success on the day of judgment
• To achieve excellence in conduct, following the Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammad SAW
• For those who are not muslims, they should PONDER the bigger questions? Was this universe created
by accident, or is there a CREATOR? Listen to both sides of the argument. Try to decide who is right.
• Explore the different factions and see which one appeals to your heart.

10. The Prayer for Guidance:
Essential Aspect of the Search for Meaning in Life
CONDITIONAL prayer for guidance: O God (I do not know who you are, or whether you exist)
Please guide me, for I cannot reach you without YOUR HELP.
See my own experience with this prayer: my autobiography
See the conversion experience of Dr Laurence Brown, who made the same prayer.
Watch from 3:55 to 9:00 if constrained for time YOUTUBE VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/_J5_VETwfew?t=235

11. Multiple Gods VERSUS One God
• PURPOSE (What we are trying to achieve, WHO we are trying to please, THESE are our GODS)
• Islam teaches us to REJECT all gods, and make ONLY ALLAH T’aala our God.
• Focus on PLEASING ALLAH only, even if the WHOLE WORLD is displeased.

12. LINKS TO RELATED MATERIAL
For Video-Lecture in English based on these slides, see LinkedIn Post – Shortlink: http://bit.do/uvukaz
FOR a Video Lecture in URDU, see Shortlink: https://bit.do/azuvuk
This material is initial segment of Lecture 8 in Islamic Economics, on the purpose of life
Download: AUDIO recording in URDU of the full 2-hour discussion on the purpose of life,
Islamic Economics Course Website: https://bit.do/ie2019 - with links to all the lectures
Islamic WorldView Blog: https://bit.do/aziwv

13. A Western education poisons our minds in many different ways. One of them is the complete neglect and
disregard of the meaning and purpose of lives, which is the central question we all must answer, in order to learn
what our lives are about, and how to make the best of our few precious moments on this planet. Some other
poisons are discussed in the posts linked below:
• The First Poison: Eurocentric History: A Western education teaches us the history started in sixteenth century
Europe, when mankind first learned to throw off chains of ignorance and superstitions, and learned to reason
and develop science, technology, democracy, and all good things known to man. A counter-narrative is
presented in "An Islamic WorldView: An essential part of an Islamic Education"
• The Second Poison: Secular Knowledge - The idea that there are two separate realms of knowledge, and
worldly knowledge and religious knowledge are different and separable.
• The Third Poison: Meaning of Development - A Western education teaches us that development is acquistion
of wealth, fame, power, popularity, pleasure. In fact, these worldly and materialistic goals are false gods,
which do not have the power to satisfy us - as those people who achieve them learn from bitter personal
experience.
• The Fourth Poison: Homo Economicus - The idea that men have no hearts and souls is central to Western
social science. This leads to a stupid definition of "rationality" as being short-sighted greed and the search for
pleasure. This idea influences people and prevents them from achieving the spiritual development which is
essential to developing our hidden capabilities and potentials for excellence. In this connection, see "Islam's
Gift; An Economy of Spiritual Development".