The Truth is.....

What is TRUTH?

The funny thing about this question is that we all "know" what Truth is, and yet somehow that doesn't help us. Knowledge is measured by the clarity and relevance of expression, and yet when we try to answer the question of "What is Truth?", we stumble.

We can all give examples of Truth, but that is precisely because we all know what it is. But to explain it in itself, without recourse to our examples, is a totally different matter.

Some definitions...       
If pushed you might be tempted to use a circular argument...

"Truth is truth" obviously.... And then laugh nervously.

Or even a truncated, or reversed, circular argument ..
"Truth" ...is..."What IS!"...

Or you just might try to sound even more profound with the equivalent..
"That which IS".

Which are all really just saying ...
"Truth is that which is TRUE."

More Trials...        
And then realising the foolishness of your circularity, you might say...

"That which is Self Evident."    Think again, is that Truth REALLY?

How many times have you presumed something to be Self-Evident only to find later that it isn't?

And after that thought you might add the proviso..."That which is self evident to US as a collective", or even "to the majority of US". And then on consideration you might remember the many instances in History where vast numbers of people have been deluded. Or even that at one time vast numbers of people "Knew" that the World was Flat.

Kindergarten Child.             

The more we think on it, the more intractable and the more escapable it all becomes. And yet even a kindergarten child knows what it is and what it isn't!

It is that obvious, that self evident.

And when a child's innocence is broken, when he learns that there are lies too, does not his face screw up in disgust? Because he instinctively knows that Truth is beautiful, and Truth is good.

Just as we all instinctively know that there is but one Truth and not a plurality of truths.

This is the conundrum of Truth, that even a child knows it and yet we adults cannot lay our finger on it.

The language of Mathematics....

Of all of us, it is our Mathematicians and Philosophers who have best tried to capture and contain it. For them Truth is a property of a statement, or a well-behaved function of a statement that gives one of two values either "true" or "false".

In plain speech all this means, is what we already know, that Truth is not falsehood and that falsehood can never be true. And that any well-behaved statement must either be true or false.

Godel proved that there are statements (within any systematic language) whose "truth" or "validity" can never be proved. Within the language of maths, axioms are given and not proven. Godel went one step further and showed that even when we exclude our given axioms, no language can ever be sufficiently powerful or perfect enough when it comes to expressions of Truth or Falsity.

Truth remains and has remained the greatest of enigmas.

A Supplication.             

I started on this thought process by thinking on the supplication of the greatest of men, Muhammad ibn Abdullah (saw), Rasul Allah (the last Messenger of GOD sent to Mankind). May he (saw) forever be blessed, abundantly and infinitely.

For he (saw) asked of Allah t'ala, GOD Most High, "O Allah show us the nature of things as they TRUELY are!" and we ask "O Allah, show us the Truth as Truth, and Falsehood as Falsehood and give us the courage and strength to follow the Truth and deny Falsehood".

For a Muslim Truth is higher than Love.

And ALLAH t'ala is AL-HAQQ.... the Supreme Truth.

As I was thinking on the issue... I ah-hahed... and I realised the similarities between the Truth I spoke of above, and the Nature of GOD as we Muslims understand HIM.

Allah t'ala, GOD Most High.        

For us Muslims GOD is self- evident.

HE is obvious, without doubt.

In the Chapter of Purity, Surah Ikhlas, we read.. "GOD is the Self-Subsisting".. Sufficient is HE for HIMSELF, and HE has no need of anyone. Just like Truth which can only really be defined as and of itself and not in relation to any other. "GOD is Unique and ONE".

And just like the Kindergarten Children, We know GOD to be beautiful and the ever doer of Good!

For Muhammad (saw) said.. "GOD is beautiful and loves those things that are beautiful".

And GOD is AL-HAQQ, the Supreme Truth above all, and upon which all are dependant.

And all glory belongs to HIM who nourishes us and provides for us and opens our eyes that we might see. And we ask Allah t'ala to bless Muhammad (saw) abundantly and with the best of blessings for that he (saw) showed us the way. Ameen.

Shafi.