I like your observation that “Data gathering serves the purpose for the fulfilment of our goals”
As Muslims, therefore nature of our data is fundamentally different to the data of scientists which is going to be based necessarily on tangibility of the data and it will ignore those factors that instead of exposing even more beauty and complexity leading to even more questions, rather is busy trying to simplify the impossible.
For those who have no belief in their judgement are not necessarily the people who desire power, rather they move to do everything to satisfy their own desires ensuring there are no hurdles from others to come in their way. Hurdles will always come, so the ones who seek power, do so to remove those hurdles and those who do not seek power try to avoid those hurdles or are not too bothered about others subduing them and hence let themselves become subdued.
Another class of people exist which do not actively try to gather data at all. They are like animals and prevent cogent cognisance in themselves and simply dwell. Such people may gather data simply for when and where the next meal will come and what to do to mate with the next person. The people who seek power are in fact matured and advanced versions of such beings. Those who engage in science for power are beings that do so in an even more advanced manner. For sure some people will be undertaking philanthropic and charitable acts for no greater reason than self-fulfilment – sex and nourishment.
Even some religious movements try to achieve this end.
In the Qur’an we see that only those who submit to the Will of God are truly in a state of belief, not just the ones who say “we believe”
Which beings me back to your point which is that we may actually be doing the same thing all the others are doing, such as conservation work, charity, police, education, etc … but we do so not to fulfil personal hegemony over the world. But rather to declare that hegemony belongs only to God and we are here to serve Him. And we will lead by example to the people who do not realise this for them to conform without force to the same state of realisation.
You say, “Scientists worship knowledge and talent” and this is technically true for those people who are godless. However, where it concerns Muslims we should seek to empower ourselves with knowledge and talent so we can converse with scientists on their level so they can see the fundamental flaw in their self-praise based on their self-acclaimed purposes of life.
A scientist will inevitably conclude that we are advanced forms of animal, yet a philosopher will conclude that we need to be better than animals, because we experience a condition that makes us conscious of our existence. As an advanced form of animal we have tendency to justify the feudal and “survival for the fittest” mindsets, but as philosophers we see that we have undertaken better data gathering because we have observed that we “take care” of our weak and sick and we operate with wisdom rather than impulse.** Some believers in evolution argue that humanity has declined or devolved by not maintaining the precepts of “survival of the fittest” and actually nurturing the sick. So it appears that uncomfortable data is either dismissed or creates new hypotheses in such people but they never question their basis which is “does God therefore exist?”** they will rather produce sophisticated reasons for why something does not fit their model of life.
So where does this bring us in our conversation?
