Secular Contradictions (Marxism)

But Marx’s enormous popularity does not change the fact that his work is little better than a collection of glaring contradictions. For example, Marx considers the existence of class as the root of all evil in the world. According to his philosophy, class distinction is derived from the system of private ownership, and the control exercised by the bourgeoisie over the means of production which enables them to plunder the lower laboring class.

The solution prescribed by Marx consisted of confiscating the properties of the capitalist class and putting them under the administration of the laboring class. Thus, he claimed, a classless society would come into being. But herein lies the basic contradiction of Marx’s philosophy. For what comes into existence as a result of this transfer is not a classless society, but a society in which one class takes over where the other leaves off. Where one class previously controlled the economy by virtue of ownership, another class now controls it by virtue of administration. Marx’s so-called classless society was in fact one in which capitalist ownership was replaced by communist ownership.

What Marx had condemned in one place, he condoned in another. But due to his great antipathy for and antagonism towards the capitalist class, he was unable to see his own contradiction in thought. He was in favour of taking the control of economic resources away from capitalists and entrusting it to officials. But, blinded by prejudice, he did not see what he was doing. He gave separate names to two different forms of the very same phenomenon: in the one case, he called it plunder of the many by the few, in the other, he termed it ‘social order’.

The Quran, on the other hand, is completely free of self-contradiction of this nature, and there is absolute harmony in its discourses. Yet, even so, opponents of the Quran have tried to prove that there are contradictions in it. All the examples they cite in this regard, however, have absolutely no connection with the case they are trying to prove.

They say, for instance, that in the sermon of his Farewell Pilgrimage, the Prophet stated that all men were from Adam, and Adam was from the earth.

According to this principle women should enjoy the same status as men. In practice, however, this is not the case, say opponents of the Quran. On the one hand, Islam says that men and women are equal, yet at the same time women are allotted an inferior position in Islamic society. They then cite the fact that the testimony of two women is considered equal to that of one man. This is a total misunderstanding. It is true that in Islam the testimony of two women is, under normal circumstances, considered equal to that of one man.

But the basis of this rule is not discrimination between the sexes. It is something quite different, as is made clear in the verse of the Quran where it has been laid down. The verse deals with the written recording of debts:
‘And take two male witnesses. If there are not two men, then one man and two women—you may select the witnesses of your choice. If one woman forgets, the other will be able to remind her.”

The wording of the verse shows quite clearly that the basis of this rule is—not discrimination between the sexes—but rather the memorizing ability of women. The verse alludes to a biological fact—that women are not as good at remembering things as men. This is why, if one is going to accept women’s testimony in loan cases, there should be two of them: so that if at any time in the future, they are required to give evidence, one of them should be able to compensate for the other’s poor memory.

It is good to remember here that modern research has confirmed what the Quran said—that women’s memory is weaker than that of men. Russian scientists have gone into this matter in great detail, and their conclusions have been published in book form. A summary appeared in the New Delhi edition of the Times of India on January 18, 1985, under the caption, ‘Memorizing Ability’:
‘Men have a greater ability to memorize and process mathematical information than women, but females are better with words, a Soviet scientist says, reports UPI. ‘Men dominate mathematical subjects due to the peculiarities of their memory,’ Dr. Vladimir Knovalov told the Tass news agency.

The Quranic rule, far from evincing any contradiction, proves in fact that the Quran has come from One who has absolute knowledge of the facts of nature. He sees things from every angle, and so is in a position to issue commandments that are in total harmony with nature.

Now we turn to external inconsistency. External inconsistency in a literary work occurs when what it asserts is contradicted by some reality in the outside world. It is illuminating in this connection to make comparisons of the differing accounts of historical facts given by the Quran and the Bible. (to be discussed in the next note)