Islam promotes rationality
Arafat Fani
The intellect is the foundation of knowledge. No one can deny the importance of reason in this age. The reason is the tool that protects our thinking from errors and mistakes. The reason is also the criterion for understanding revelation and distinguishing truth from falsehood. That’s why Quran is appealing to our intellect time and again.
Allah said: He has subjected for you the night and day and the sun and moon, and the stars are subjected by His command. Verily, in that are signs for people who reason. Surat An-Nahl 16:12.
Allah has embedded innate instinct within the human soul through which he recognizes right and wrong present in the holy text. This innate instinct is referred to as “Fitrah” in the scripture. Every child through this innate instinct (fitrah) recognizes GOD because every child is born on the faith of Islam and those who want arguments for GOD’s existence have corrupted their pure reason and innate instinct.
Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The foundation of a man is his intellect, his honor is in his religion, and his chivalry is in his character. Source: Adab al-Dunyā wal-Dīn 17.
Al Ghazali writes that how the reason which is the means of happiness in the life and hereafter could be doubted?
Ibn Taymiyyah writes: Reason is a requirement for acquiring knowledge and performing righteous deeds, through which knowledge and deeds are perfected.
He further writes: Thus, the circumstances resulting from the denial of reason are defective, and ideas that contradict reason are false. Source: Majmūʻ al-Fatāwá 3/338
Ibn Al-Jawzi writes: If you find a prophetic narration disagreeing with sound reason, contradicting established revelation, or conflicting with the principles, then know that it is inauthentic. Source: Tadrīb al-Rāwī 1/327
If rational or scientific proofs contradict scripture what is to be done? The indubitable rational proofs lead us to establish something and then we find scriptural evidences that seem to be in conflict with our rational proofs.
There are four possible scenarios mentioned by al-Razi in his book “The foundation of Sanctity”. Both rational and scriptural proofs be believed in.
The apparent meaning of the scripture be denied but the rational proofs be accepted.
Accepting “aqal” and rejecting “naql”.
Both rational and scriptural proofs be denied. The scripture be believed in but the intellect be denied.
Imam Razi argues that accepting and rejecting both is logical impossibility. If we were to accept the meaning of scripture and deny our intellect, this in fact is the rejection of the scripture as well. This is because we only know the truth of the scripture from our intellect.
So if we accept “naql” and reject “aqal” this he says is the rejection of both. On the other hand accepting intellect and rejecting scripture is kufr (unbelief).
All possibilities mentioned above are impossible. It forces us to invent fifth possibility and that is; we affirm the “aqal” (intellect) and then believe that the “naql” (scripture) means something other than what it says it means. Thus the meaning of the scripture has to be reinterpreted.
There are two ways.
1. Tafwidh
2. Tawil
“Tafwidh” is normally defined as declaring the obvious meaning invalid but refraining from providing any specific alternative interpretation.
“Tawil” is normally defined as assigning to a revealed text-a meaning other than its obvious (Zahir).
Razi says this is the universal rule “al qanun-ul-kulli”. Classical scholars of Islamic tradition were in full favor of natural sciences as well as using intellect. Scholars of Islamic Jurisprudence have extracted numerous problems and their solutions through analogy.
Analogy is a fundamental source of Islamic tradition which is rational approach toward problems of “Shariah” having no roots in Quran and Sunnah. Those who reject the importance of reason in the modern era weaken religion. They are enemies equally of religion and science. The duty of scholars is not just to criticize a system or make something halal and haram but they are also responsible for presenting alternatives.
As our scholars of Islamic Fiqh write: Those who are unaware of contemporary challenges, culture, and dominant knowledge of their period are ignorant.
Unfortunately, in modern world Muslims present much a disdaining picture and sorry tale. The conditions that of ours, is regrettable and lamentable one. In Medieval ages the Muslims scholars contributed to the evolution of both rationalist and Islamic sciences. Within Islamic frame of reference they enjoined people to innovate in all fields of knowledge by providing incentives for them. It was a kind of liberal Islamic society where one had freedom of speech to prove his religion and strongly criticize Islam on intellectual ground. In such circumstances Muslims felt the need of supporting Islamic doctrines with rational evidences.
For this purpose they built the base of new knowledge known as ‘ilm-ul-kalam’. Muslim theologians did many debates with and non religious thinkers under tutelage of Muslim rulers and by winning the war of arguments they proved the fact that Islam is prevailed through power of arguments not sword.
Theology served as the foundation of natural sciences and people especially Muslims showed intense interest in rational knowledge. Unfortunately colonial rule brutally disrupted Muslim society thus eroding incentives to innovate within Islamic framework and isolating Islamic and western knowledge which did not exist historically.
Muslim scholars lost their creativity and intellectual energy that were evident in earlier Muslim scholars. Today we are facing the same situation. Traditionalists thought of religious discourse as a static and infallible because GOD is above any error and consider the renewal of religion (Tajdeed) as an act of surrender to western modern culture and contemporary epistemology while it seems to modernists a legal demand because in their point of view religion is not a static rather a dynamic entity.
According to modernists Divine revelation is infallible and above any error but not our understanding of the text. It may be far from what is intended which can lead to high level of corruption. Tajdeed is not the necessity rather the religious responsibility as Prophetﷺ himself said, indeed, Allah sends for this ummah, at the onset of every century, those who renew the religion for it.
That’s why those who call for Tajdeed should not be denounced. To present peaceful and transparent image of Islam we should wipe the gap between theory and practice. In theory Islam is peaceful religion but in practice it is synonym of violence. Certainly it is a fault of individual’s not Islamic discourse, but for world Islam is but actions of Muslims.
We are now coming back to our discussion of intellect. There are different opinions pertaining to the role of human intellect. It’s one role is to examine the tradition and aims (maqasids) of Shari’ah. Mu’tazilah believed that human intellect alone is capable of discerning good and bad (hasan and qabeeh) and also responsible for it.
Ash’ari opposed it while Maturidi and Ibn Taimiyya maintained a middle position between these two extremes. They argued that human intellect is partially capable of discerning good and bad because it is clouded by personal desires, ego and prejudice etc. He also attributed to the majority of Ahl us-Sunnah, the intellect has a great role in drawing the roadmap by ensuring a solid understanding of the Shariah.
Imam Al Qurtabi writes about Hazrat Idrees(AS):
He was the first to study the knowledge of stars their calculations and their movements. There is no contradiction among the Quran, prophetic narrations, and the sound reason. If a person sees that religious text is contradicting reason then there is a problem with his reason, rather the Quran.
Regarding contradiction between text and science, Imam Al Ghazali (RA) said that common person should adhere to literal meaning (Zahir) of the text while philosophers and scientists may go beyond zahir and derive a metaphorical meaning to make it compatible.
The Prophet (SAW) has warned us of time that before the Hour an upheaval and killing will come. Some of the people said; O’ Messenger of Allah will we be reasonable on that day?
The Prophet (SAW) said; No, reason will be removed from most of the people, and remaining will not have the ability to reason. So it is concluded from the Hadith that the denial of reason leads to violence and killing.
(The author is a student of Science, Philosophy and Theology)
