Faith and Reason In Islam

To be a believer in Islam, one needs to believe in Allah in all His Names and Attributes, in the angels, in the divine scriptures, in the prophets, in the Day of Judgement and in predestination. Each on of these are topics in themselves, which a person should study in order to believe in them. These concepts are not Islamic dogma as such but are from Islamic sources – the revelations from Allah in the Holy Quran and the actions and sayings of Prophet Muhammad (SWAS) – the Sunnah – as that was also inspired by Allah. The word “Islam” itself means submission to the Truth and these beliefs are part of the belief system that a person must submit to in order to be a Muslim.

These beliefs do not occur in a vacuum. The Quran contains many rational arguments and repeatedly asks the audience to ponder, use their reason, observation as well as their conscience to decide for oneself whether the beliefs that are elucidated in the Islamic sources make sense or not. 

“Indeed, the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah are the deaf and dumb who do not use reason.” (Quran 8:22)

“Thus, does Allah make clear to you His verses that you might use reason.” (Quran 2:242)

“Verily, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the ships which sail through the sea with benefits for people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every creature, and in His directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason”. (Quran 2:164)

“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”. (Quran 16:12)

Umar Al Khattab (RA) said:

“The foundation of a man is his intellect, his honor is in his religion, and his chivalry is in his character.”

Islamic philosophers like Abu Hamid Al Ghazaali wrote the Revival of Religious Sciences in Islam, in which he took a rational approach logically walking through the reader to believe in each of the Islamic beliefs and practices. In his times, the scholars had become obsessed with Greek philosophy and rational arguments. Thus, he went about explaining the beliefs and practices of Islam in clear, rational arguments for his readers. In the Revival of Religious Sciences in Islam, Al Ghazzali wrote: “Reason is the source and fountainhead of knowledge, as well as its foundation. Knowledge sprouts from it as the fruit does from a tree, as light comes from the sun, and as vision comes from the eye. How then could that which is the means of happiness in this life and the Hereafter not be considered the most honored? Or how could it be doubted?” In supporting the validity of the natural sciences, Al Gazzali wrote: “As for natural sciences, they consist of examining the world of the heavens and the stars and the distinct substances that lie beneath them such as water, air, dirt, and fire, and the contingent substances such as animals, vegetation, and minerals, and the causes that alter them, transform them, and blend them. That is like the doctor’s examination of the human body, its primary and secondary parts, and the causes of change in its disposition. Just as it is not a condition of faith to reject medicine, neither is it a condition of faith to reject this knowledge.”

Ibn Sina believed that as long as Islam is properly interpreted it will be understood to be made up of an area of truth like philosophy, where a person can use his intellectual abilities to rationalize and follow logical arguments. The foundation of his theory was on the strong mutual compatibility of faith and reason. This agreed with the rational claims of earlier Greek philosophers while also being compatible with the principles of Islam. His studies in philosophy convinced him of the clear supremacy of Islam as a way of life. Ibn Rush also studied Greek philosophy and was less inclined to the belief of the mutual compatibility of faith and reason unlike Ibn Sina. In Incoherence of Incoherence, he attacked Al Ghazali's criticisms of using reason to explain religion. Nevertheless, Ibn Rushd did not think that rationality could explain all Islamic beliefs.

It is important to realize that the origin of knowledge is Allah Himself - Al Aleem – the Most Knowledgeable.

"Behold, your Lord said to the angels: I will create a viceregent on earth. They said: Will you place therein one who will make mischief and shed blood? While we do celebrate your praise and glorify your holy name. He said: I know what you know not" (Surah Baqarah V. 30).

"And He taught Adam the nature of all things, then placed them before the angels and said: Tell me the nature of these if you are right" (Surah Baqarah V. 31)

"They said: Glory to You of knowledge we have none, save what You have taught us. In truth it is You who are perfect in knowledge and wisdom" (Surah Baqarah V. 32)

In Islamic theology, it is Allah who gave humans the capacity to pursue knowledge by themselves. He taught Adam the "names" of things, implying he gave him reason to pursue independent knowledge. The Quran mentions those who use their reason and those that do not and compares them to the living and the dead or the seeing and the blind.

"Is then who does know that which has been revealed onto you from your Lord is the Truth like one who is blind? Is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition" (Surah Raad V. 19)

In fact, reason is so important that Prophet Muhammad made the pursuance of knowledge obligatory on all Muslims -- male and female. The purpose of knowledge in Islam is to know Allah, while the purpose of reason is to help one to come to the Truth. It is important to know the limitations of reason. Reason is not infallible, thus when a someone realizes that Islam is the Truth, he must submit to all of it, whether he completely understands it or not. In Western secular thought reason sits in judgement over the Truth, while in Islam reason is supposed to take you to the Truth and increase you in faith.

"Behold! Abraham said: My Lord! Show me how you give life to the dead. He said: Do you not then believe? He said: Yes! But to satisfy my understanding. He said: Take four birds, tame them to turn to you. Put a "portion" of them in every hill and call to them. They will come to you with speed. Then know that Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise" (Surah Baqarah V. 260)

The Islamic belief system is an integrated whole in which each part plays a role in supporting and enhancing the other, making complete holistic rational sense. In order to make sense of any of its parts, one needs to qualify for it. Among its qualification is the belief in its basics. Just like one can carry out elaborate proofs in geometry only after accepting certain geometrical laws to be true, the same way one can get to use reason, inductive/deductive logic in Islam after accepting the basics from the Islamic sources – the Quran and the Sunnah.

In the Islamic paradigm of reality, what is present in the unseen (ghaib) and the seen are an integrated whole. About the unseen, the Quran says:

“And He revealed unto His slave that which He revealed. The heart in no way falsified what it saw. Will you then dispute with him concerning what he saw?” (Surah Najam V. 10-12)

Events taking place in the unseen affect the events in the seen and vice versa. In order to understand the unseen, the Muslim depends on the revelation – the Quran and the Sunnah as he does not have a direct access to the unseen except through true dreams. The seen world, on the other hand, can be subjected to observation and scientific inquiry in light of the revelations. It is through the combination of faith in revelation as well as observation and reasoning in light of the revelations that a Muslim tries to make sense of the universal reality. 

It is through a continual process of studying the revelations, seeking knowledge, observation, reasoning and contemplation that a Muslim starts to get inner insights into reality while staying within the tenets of his faith. He feels ecstasy, spiritual and mental delight at uncovering truths which embellish his understanding of the complete Truth. Thus, his use of reason, enhances the conviction of his beliefs. It is this interconnected understanding of the whole system of reality that develops wisdom in him. 

“He granted wisdom to whom he pleased and he to whom wisdom is granted is granted has received indeed a benefit overflowing. But none will grasp the message except men of understanding” (Surah Baqarah V. 269) 

Prophet Muhammad (SWAS) has been reported as saying: “When Allah wishes good for someone, He bestows upon him the understanding of religion.”

Thus, Islam is not a religion of blind faith. Having submitted to the Truth, one has the right to use reason in the path to understand things. A Muslim will develop an insight in to the Truth. His firasa (Islamic intuition) will make him penetrate the mysteries of this life.

Faith and Reason In Christianity

According to the Catholic church, faith without reason leads to superstition, while reason without faith leads to nihilism and relativism. Nevertheless, there is little on which the Christians can base their reason upon. Their holy books have been lost and what is available is full of errors and omissions. They are accounts from people who lived hundreds of years after Jesus (AS). The present-day Christianity is not based on the teachings of Jesus (AS) who was sent by God, but rather on the philosophies of Paul, who changed Christianity from a purely monotheistic faith for the Jews to a global religion based on superstition, pagan beliefs, Greek and other philosophies.

The use of reason, without the guidance from true revelations and without a formal method of interpretation based on the methodology from a prophet and his companions, has resulted in the Christians deviating away from the Truth throughout the centuries after Jesus (AS). The deviation in Christianity started in between the year 51-55 AD when the first convention was held which brought the surviving disciples of Jesus (AS) together in their first meeting. It agreed on the prohibition of adultery, the consumption of ritually un-slaughtered animal meat and the meat of animals that were slaughtered for the idols. Eating pig meat, dealing in usury and drinking wine were introduced in Christianity.

Paul abrogated all the teachings of Torah as he claimed that it was a curse and they needed to get rid of it. He claimed that the Messiah came to change an old era for a new one. As a result of his philosophy and the influence of Greek philosophy of that time, he had borrowed the idea of the connection between God and His creation on earth. He introduced the idea of son of God and the Holy Spirit. He also introduced the concept of salvation through crucifixion. According to this he claimed that Jesus (AS) will rise to heavens and will sit on the right hand of God and will judge humanity on the Day of Resurrection based on their accepting him as divine. Initially there was a lot of resistance to Paul’s ideas. Nevertheless, the seeds of trinity and idolatry were sown in Christianity. 

Thus, the modern Christian, does not have a genuine form on revelation present with him to base his reason on, unlike the Muslims. Where the Muslim’s faith in based on reason from the revelation – the Quran - that of the Christian is baseless. The American philosopher, Alvin Plantinga describes Christian belief thus: "Christian belief is produced in the believer by the internal instigation of the Holy Spirit, endorsing the teachings of Scripture, which is itself divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. The result of the work of the Holy Spirit is faith”. This demonstrate the fallacy on which the Christian belief is based on. Neither are their scriptures sound, nor can they be sure that what they are being inspired to is from God or from Satan or even their own thinking.  Paul argues that in fact anyone can attain to the truth of God's existence merely from using his or her reason to reflect on the natural world. Without true revelation to guide thought, how can a person know if what they are thinking is the truth or a delusion?

The fact of the matter is that most Christian belief is not based on their Scriptures but is based on the dogma and doctrines of the Church. This is especially true about the Catholic and Orthodox churches. In these churches, the followers are completely dependent on the interpretation of the religious doctrine by the clergy. A church representative said: ”‘dogma has been the fundamental principle of my religion: I know no other religion; I cannot enter into the idea of any other sort of religion; religion, as a mere sentiment, is to me a dream and a mockery”. 

In the words of Vatican II: “it is not from sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed. Therefore, both sacred tradition and sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of loyalty and reverence.”

The only recourse to reason that a follower of these churches can use is to think about phenomenon based on the church doctrine. The Protestant Church is better as they have diminished the role of the clergy and encourage their followers to study their scriptures and use reason based on them. Nevertheless, their scriptures are corrupted, full of contradictions and have very little divine content in them. 

It is not surprising that in the Middle Ages, the people in Europe suffered from the authoritative role of the church on their thought and way of life. The church called scientists who used their reason to advance knowledge like Galileo, heretics and executed them. Whatever truth that was in conflict with their dogma, was knocked down. This resulted in a reaction during the Enlightenment era, in which philosophers used reason to discredit the church. They turned people against the church and developed a dislike for all religion based on their experience with the Christian church. The modern era saw the emergence of secular philosophical thought which was based on reason, replace the church doctrines which were increasingly seen as irrational. 

Made up irrational Christian concepts such as original sin, trinity, confessions to and exoneration from the clergy for personal sins, Jesus (AS) dying for the sins of man, etc. leaves an ordinary Christian no choice but to either believe in them, corrupting his thought process so that it cannot understand rationality, or to reject church doctrine and develop a free mind without any limitations. 

The catholic church tries to explain them away by the use of sophisticated terminology: “The doctrines of the Trinity and the Eucharist are beyond reason in the sense that it is beyond our finite powers to understand them, but not at all in the sense that they are inherently unintelligible; they are supra-rational, if you will, but not irrational. “

Thus, it is not surprising that secular and agnostic thoughts have penetrated modern Western society so deeply, as it became difficult to rationally use their minds while simultaneously accepting the irrational beliefs of the church. The modern West has thus indulged in the other extreme of doubting everything, even areas which are not supposed to be the realm of our minds. 

In order to try to explain the dichotomy between reason and faith in Christianity, Rev. James Brent writes:

“In sum, it takes time, teaching, and effort to learn how to integrate faith and reason. Our sins and our weaknesses make it difficult to learn to fly with both wings of the human spirit. The history of the last several centuries has moved our civilization away from an intellectual synthesis that shows us how this can be done. Finally, our contemporary culture does not teach people how to fly with both wings, and it is populated by vocal minorities who confuse people about even the possibility of synthesizing faith and reason. Is it any surprise that for nearly all people today it seems that faith and reason are opposed to one another?” 

Comparing Faith and Reason in Islam and Christianity

Both, faith and reason, have been shown to be catalyst for a person coming and staying committed to religious belief. A person may come to believe in the veracity of a religion by using rational arguments, logic and facts. Whereas another person may become convinced of a religion after reading a holy book or hearing a preacher. Such a person might believe something to be true even in the absence of a logical proof or factual argument. 

Whereas faith is emphasized by religious people, reason is the preferred tool of philosophers. Religious people believe that faith is a must and that it must be adhered to even in the absence of rational proof and reason-based arguments. Philosophers, on the other hand, discount “blind” faith. They assert that truth is based on rationality and facts rather than faith and religious teachings.

It is interesting to study a religion in terms of which parts of it requires “blind” faith, and what is the role of reason in understanding its wisdom.  Some people claim that faith and reason are complementary whereas others say that faith and reason cannot be used together. 

In a time, when rationality predominates modern study of knowledge, it is important to look at the role of reason in major religions. Let us consider faith and reason in Islam and Christianity. Both these world religions were influenced by the rational thought of Ancient Greek Philosophy. In both the traditions, theologians as well as philosophers have explained the relationship between faith and reason using their own paradigms of reality. We compare and contrast the similarities and differences in Islam’s and Christianity’s explanation of a person’s use of faith and reason to understand and grow in the understanding of their respective traditions. 

Neglecting reason and depending on religious authorities blindly leads to exploitation by the religious establishment. It diminishes the status of man as someone who cannot rationalize and discover truths independently. Rational thought is the distinguishing characteristic of man and if he abandons it, he is not fulfilling the purpose of his creation. Nevertheless, the use of unbridled reason, which is not guided by the true revelation from God and the practices of the prophets, results in conjectures, delusions and Satanic influences which corrupts man’s understanding. It results in an extreme interpretation of reality.

The history of Christianity demonstrates how the church grappled with this problem. In its early history, it had complete control over its followers thought process. The clergy were very powerful and it was the church dogma and not their books which provided the principle of reasoning. Their clergy made many mistakes in interpreting their books which were already corrupted to come up with a dogma. Their followers considered the dogma infallible. Thus, their thought process was based on a false paradigm of reality. The conclusions that they drew from it were irrational.

This resulted in a pro-reason movement during the Enlightenment era led by the Renaissance philosophers who questioned the authority of the church and discredited their dogma. This resulted in large segments of Western society adopting secular thought in order to have a true rational conscience which the church teachings did not give them. Thus, in the absence of religion, reason became their new god. As reason by itself is not infallible, this resulted in bad repercussions in society. 

Islam, on the other hand, has the revelation from God intact, in the form of the Quran. Historians and scholars agree that it is in the same form as when it was first compiled. Also, intact is the method of interpretation of the Quran and rationally seeking knowledge through it as taught by the Prophet (SWAS) and his companions. Islamic history is full of scholarship in this methodology. There is no dogma or clergy in Islam and its followers are free to study the sources of their religion and develop rational arguments based on its principles. Islam requires faith in the principles that are outlined in its sources that are from God. At the same time, they are encouraged to use reason to develop understanding and insights from the principles of their sources. Ibn Taymiyyah has written:

“Reason is a requirement for acquiring knowledge and performing righteous deeds, through which knowledge and deeds are perfected, but it is not enough on its own. Rather, it is a faculty of the soul and an ability like the ability within the eye to see. If it is connected with the light of faith and the Quran, then it is like the eye receiving the light of the sun and torch. If it is left to itself, it cannot gain insight into matters that it cannot know alone… Thus, the circumstances resulting from the denial of reason are defective, and ideas that contradict reason are false.”

He also writes: “Every reliable narration from the Prophet is the truth and confirms one another. It agrees with the natural instinct of creatures, sound reason that has been placed within them, and noble purposes. It cannot contradict sound reason, nor a noble purpose, nor an upright instinct, nor an authentic and established revelation from the Prophet.”

Whereas Islam is pro-reason, other religions, including Christianity have been shown as being anti-reason. Islam does not encourage people to become blind followers.

The Prophet (SWAS) said: “Do not let yourselves become blind followers, saying that if the people are good then we will be good, and if they are unjust then we will be unjust. Rather, make up your own minds. If the people are good then be good, but if they are evil then do not be unjust.” (Tirmidhi)